Latest news with #WorkersPartyofBritain
Spectator
a day ago
- Politics
- Spectator
George Galloway to stand in Holyrood election
What comes around goes around. After a short stint in Westminster after he won the Rochdale by-election in February 2024, George Galloway is now eying up a political comeback north of the border. The leader of the Workers Party of Britain has revealed that he will be the party's second option on the regional list in Glasgow next year, with new joiner Yvonne Ridley – formerly of Alex Salmond's Alba party – the party's lead candidate. How very interesting… The Workers Party has its eye on some rather high profile central belt seats, held by two former SNP first ministers. Ridley will also contest the Glasgow Pollok constituency seat – currently held by the outgoing Humza Yousaf – while Galloway told the Herald that his group also intends to target Glasgow Southside, which is the seat of one Nicola Sturgeon. 'Gorgeous George' claimed his movement was picking up support in Glasgow – 'We're hopeful that we can win in it,' he told the Scottish paper, 'We're going to put everything into trying to do so.' – with Edinburgh and Inverness also in his sights. Galloway has had quite the political journey, starting out in Labour until the early 2000s before going on to lead the Respect party and, in 2019, founding the Workers Party of Britain. His group will also focus heavily on the war in Gaza – a feature of his 2024 campaign that won him the Rochdale seat. Curiously, despite the name of the group he leads and his well-documented opposition to secession, Galloway will stand on a platform in favour of, er, a second Scottish independence referendum. The lengths people will go for power, eh?
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
George Galloway to stand as candidate at Scottish Parliament
Journalist Yvonne Ridley, a previous member of Alex Salmond's Alba Party, will also contest the Glasgow Pollok seat, which is currently held by former first minister Humza Yousaf. Speaking exclusively to The Herald following a party summit meeting in Scotland, Mr Galloway said his party plans to contest Glasgow Southside, the seat of Nicola Sturgeon, who is stepping down in May. He said: "We're going all out for it and we've got a lot of support." Asked if he was confident of winning, he said: "I wouldn't say confident." He added: "We're hopeful that we can win in it. We're going to put everything into trying to do so." He added his party had a growing movement in Glasgow, but had also had people come forward to ask if they can stand in seats in Inverness and Edinburgh. "But these seats in Glasgow are our current and number one target," he told The Herald, adding: "We're strong there." Read more: Mr Galloway founded the Workers Party of Britain in 2019, have previously led the now defunct Respect Party. He was a number of the Labour Party until 2003 and had served as an MP across five different constituencies, including Glasgow Hillhead between 1987 and 1997 and Glasgow Kelvin from 1997 to 2005. He then was elected in the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency in 2005 before losing losing in the 2010 general election. He returned for a three-year stint as MP for Bradford West, winning a by-election with Respect. The 70-year-old shocked in February 2024 with a by-election with in Rochdale, after he focused his campaign at Muslim voters. He lost the seat at the July 2024 general election. His Holyrood campaign will strongly focus on the crisis in Gaza, and the end to Israel's campaign. The veteran politician has also said he would back a second referendum on Scottish independence. He has been a long-standing opponent of Scottish independence and toured the country in the run up to the 2014 referendum to back to 'no' campaign. While he still does not back independence, he said Scots have a right to a referendum, with Mr Galloway pledging his party would run the election on a mandate for the plebiscite. This is not the first time he has contested a seat in the Scottish Parliament. He stood as a candidate for a regional list seat in Glasgow in 2011. He is a close ally of former first minister Alex Salmond, writing on X that his Workers Party would "shake things up". He wrote: "After the demise of Alex Salmond Scottish politics became a dull place. Lilliputian politicians whom nobody would cross the street for. But we are back and ready to shake things up."
Memri
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Memri
British Islamic Scholar Asrar Rashid at Birmingham March for Palestine: We Are Not Ashamed of Armed Struggle – We Have the Concept of Jihad in the Quran; Palestinians Are Justified in Fighting the 'Ba
British Islamic scholar Asrar Rashid spoke at a March for Palestine organized by the Workers Party of Britain in Birmingham on July 12, 2025. He said that Palestinian armed struggle is justified because they are resisting oppression and the 'banker state' of Israel. Rashid stated that Muslims take up armed struggle and are not ashamed of it, as the concept of Jihad exists in the Quran. He said there have been attempts to 'malign' Jihad by equating 'real Jihad' groups with terrorists, explaining that this has existed since 9/11 through Al-Qaeda, 'which was formulated by the West' for this purpose. Rashid called on the British government to arrest those in the Israeli embassy in the UK, but he said they will not do so because 'they control your capital, they control your finance, they write down the policies for you.' Other speakers at the march included former British MP George Galloway, musician Lowkey, and sociologist David Miller.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
George Galloway visits Moscow after picking up Hamas award
George Galloway has appeared in Moscow for Vladimir Putin's Victory Day celebrations, days after flying to Iran to collect an award named after a dead Hamas leader. The leader of the hard-Left Workers Party of Britain travelled to Tehran this week to collect an award in honour of Ismail Haniyeh, the assassinated political leader of Hamas, whom the former MP praised as a 'martyr'. He boasted during the visit that his most 'treasured' possession was Haniyeh's passport. Mr Galloway, 70, then travelled to Russia, where he witnessed Putin's military show of strength, which he said was 'moving, emotional, inspiring, humbling'. He was given the special Martyr Ismail Haniyeh award at a media festival in the Iranian capital. Haniyeh was the political leader of the terror group at the time of the October 7 attacks on Israel. The International Criminal Court (ICC) intended to apply for a warrant for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the proceedings were dropped following Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran, which has been blamed on Israel. Elected as the head of Hamas's political bureau in 2017, Haniyeh was accused by Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, of being 'criminally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians in attacks perpetrated by Hamas, in particular its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, and other armed groups on 7 October 2023'. At the ceremony, Mr Galloway said in his acceptance speech, captured on video and posted online: 'I am honoured to receive this award. I actually hold in my safe the passport of the martyr Ismail Haniyeh because when we arrived with one of our convoys to break the siege on Gaza [in 2009], he had promised me a Palestinian passport but they had run out of Palestinian passports. So he gave me his own personal passport and it is one of my most treasured possessions.' Credit: YouTube/ Sobh Festival Mr Galloway went on to thank the Iranian leadership 'for their steadfastness in support of the Palestinian people', adding: 'The truth is when Palestine is finally free, Iran will be able to take its place in the panoply of heroes who made it possible.' He was presented with the award at the Iranian state media festival in recognition 'of his outspoken defence of Palestine'. On Friday, Mr Galloway appeared in Moscow, posting a picture of himself on X in Red Square with his fourth wife Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, who is 30 years his junior. Included with the photograph was the caption, 'moving, emotional, inspiring, humbling'. The Russian president's Victory Day parade has been condemned for using the 80th anniversary VE Day to justify his ongoing invasion of Ukraine. It was attended by more than 20 foreign leaders, including Xi Jinping of China, and with troop contingents from Egypt and Burkina Faso. One legal expert said that although Hamas was a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, Mr Galloway's praise for Haniyeh, one of its senior leaders, was not in breach of terrorism laws. But the timing of the visit is also particularly awkward with tensions heightened between Iran and the UK following the arrests last Saturday of four Iranian nationals over an alleged plot to attack Israel's embassy in London. Credit: Reuters Mr Galloway picked up his award on May 5, two days after counter-terrorism police arrested the alleged Iranian terrorist cell at four locations in the UK. Stephen Brisley, from Bridgend in South Wales, whose sister Lianne Sharabi and two nieces Yahel, 13, and Noiya, 16, were killed on Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7, said: 'It's deeply disturbing to see George Galloway praising a former leader of Hamas. This is a cruel blow to the grieving families of those murdered, missing, or held hostage by Hamas.' Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'George Galloway's behaviour is appalling. Hamas is a banned terrorist organisation responsible for repressing its citizens in Gaza and murdering innocent civilians. It is despicable that Galloway has expressed admiration for a senior member of their leadership and that he has travelled to Iran, a state hostile to the West, to do so. 'The fact he has then topped it off with a visit to Vladimir Putin's Russia, another murderous regime, says all you need to know about George Galloway.' Mr Galloway was unavailable for comment. There is no suggestion that Mr Galloway supports Hamas's terrorist activities. In a debate at Oxford University in 2012, he previously said: 'I don't even like Hamas. I would never have voted for Hamas.' Mr Galloway is due to host a talk show from Moscow on Sunday evening which will be broadcast on X and other social media platforms. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
