Would you like HIM to be the cat? Starmer’s purity police may have just handed George Galloway a real chance of winning the Rochdale by-election

I said in a blogpost earlier today that Labour’s decision not to withdraw support from Azhar Ali in the Rochdale by-election had made the SNP’s decision to instantly suspend Neale Hanvey in 2019 look even more ridiculous and extreme. I spoke too soon, because it seems Labour under Starmer will never, ever allow itself to be outdone as far as purity on the “antisemitism” question is concerned. They’ve belatedly pulled the plug on Ali which effectively means – extraordinarily – that they’re fully disengaging from a by-election in a Labour-held seat. It’s important to stress, though, that Ali will remain the Labour candidate on the ballot paper (just as Hanvey remained the SNP candidate in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath) so the reports claiming he’ll now be an independent candidate are technically inaccurate. It’s just that he’ll have to campaign without official Labour support and presumably won’t receive the Labour whip if elected.

The first question that formed in my mind when I heard the news was whether Gorgeous George Galloway may now have a genuine chance of returning as an MP. His candidacy previously threatened to embarrass Starmer, but that embarrassment would perhaps have come in the form of a strong second or third place. Few serious commentators really expected Galloway to win outright, but that may change if his star power (of sorts) no longer has to compete with a Labour campaign. I’ve just checked the Betfair exchange, and he’s currently odds-on favourite at 1.69.

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