The George Galloway "Unity Party" thread

[Biscuits]

Why does he need to wear that fuckin ridiculous hat?

[jimbaxters]

25 minutes ago, doulikefish said:

Tremendous,he really is a first rate grifter.Worrying times for the likes of Rayner and co 

Is big Claire no' deid?

Edited March 1 by jimbaxters

[Have some faith in Magic]

Strange that there were two Howarths on the ballot paper..

 

[Leith Green]

3 minutes ago, Biscuits said:

Why does he need to wear that fuckin ridiculous hat?

Must be a total spamheid

[jimbaxters]

4 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

 

@welshbairn I can lend you a score if you're stuck.

[Michael W]

3 hours ago, PossilYM said:

Rochdale you say.

Wasn't that the seat won election after election by thon big fat bloke who was a political celebrity on TV. A nice cosy Liberal, not too far to the Left or the Right. Really represented Rochdale and it's people. Think he might have originally been in the Labour Party. Sure he was the local Mayor way back in his career. Just a big happy go lucky larger than life type that really seem to care. 

Cyril Smith MP

Personal friend of Jimmy Savile.

Turned out he was one the biggest in every sense of the word, nonce, in the UK. Was one of a number found out to be flying to that children's home in the Channel Islands.

Destroyed the political legacy of David Steel ex Liberal Leader when it was outed that Steel knew and never went to the cops.

And Simon Danczuk, who had to resign after he was caught messaging a teenage girl. Obviously he has now washed up at Reform. 

This particular constituency really does have a liking for complete reprobates. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

It's a contest whether Galloway or Gove is the Unflushable Turd Of UK Politics.

[doulikefish]

13 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

It's a contest whether Galloway or Gove is the Unflushable Turd Of UK Politics.

It's always Gove

[D Angelo Barksdale]

Incredibly funny imo.

Wonder if he'll try to wear that hat in the commons.

[Caledonian1]

5 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Rarely has a bi-election received so much publicity yet 61.3% of all eligible voters could no be arsed having their say - thats ruly astonishing

[A Diamond For Me]

3 minutes ago, Caledonian1 said:

Rarely has a bi-election received so much publicity yet 61.3% of all eligible voters could no be arsed having their say - thats ruly astonishing

I suppose a fair a whack of those who didn't vote will be regular Labour voters who given the circumstances didn't want to vote for the Labour candidate they'd disowned and didn't fancy any of the others.  Maybe they felt that was a form of having their say, but in practical terms it's not distinguishiable from an entirely understandable apathy to the whole useless circus.

[orfc]

Now that's how you make political capital out of a humanitarian catastrophe. SNP take note.

[Dunning1874]

While such a result should be seismic, especially with another Independent coming second, the circumstances mean all the major parties are simply going to shrug. No one is actually going to learn anything from this, except perhaps welshbairn.

Galloway, while no one can deny he's been consistent on the UK's foreign policy and especially on the Middle East throughout his career, is a horrible grifting c**t who'll pick whatever position on domestic politics he thinks will appeal most to whichever local electorate he's performing for at the time. We're probably only days away from him saying something grossly offensive that alienates half of the 12000 who voted for him and ensures he loses the seat come a general election.

That 12K number is also pertinent. This is the lowest turnout a Rochdale election has ever had and while the vote has obviously been fragmented between several candidates, no one has won Rochdale with fewer than 19K votes since 1924, when women still had to be over 30 and either own property or be married to a man who did to vote, and the last time Galloway's 12K would have won it was 1910, when the entire size of the electorate was less than 13K. There are a lot of stay at home voters here to be won come a GE.

So Labour should be getting a wake up call about the scale of anger over their explicit support for Israel’s war crimes, but they'll cling to the above as a reason to ignore that warning. Even if by the time a general election happens there's been a further change in policy, they've finally shifted to calling for a ceasefire properly rather than the watered down shite they connived on last week and are no longer refusing to acknowledge the war crime of collective punishment, the simple argument that 'a vote for Labour is a vote for genocide' is not going to go away.

This is not the kind of stain that is going to wash off Starmer with the changing of a news cycle and that could hurt them. What's more likely though is that they double down on their position, considering the reason for Ali's suspension, and cling to the belief that selecting a candidate they don't need to withdraw support for will get them over the line. There's the entirely feasible scenario that this leads to an even more authoritarian approach from their NEC and they start imposing candidates on constituencies entirely rather than just banning anyone to the left of Gordon Brown from shortlists on flimsy pretexts. While Ali was firmly aligned with the right wing Starmer and the NEC belong to, he wasn't their first choice as they were backing Paul Waugh. Expect him to be back writing for the Independent in the meantime before being the candidate in the GE.

[PossilYM]

1 hour ago, Michael W said:

And Simon Danczuk, who had to resign after he was caught messaging a teenage girl. Obviously he has now washed up at Reform. 

This particular constituency really does have a liking for complete reprobates. 

Love how these Labour minded types jump into bed politically without a thought with border line Fash outfits like Reform/Ukip.

[HTG]

Anyone know if he's got a Rochdale season ticket yet? 

[Theyellowbox]

Whilst this result is notable in its own right, there is an element of folk using it as a massive protest vote, safe in the knowledge there a GE coming soon.

However, it might also point to something a bit new in UK politics. In some seats, you will have this shift to 'far left?' Or however you want to define Galloway and in others, you will get a shift to the far right. Will all be local and locational. For all the current Tory part are touring the far right and Corbyns Labour courted the far left, neither party really want the extremes to gain momentum.

Probably makes the case for proportional representation stronger. People will still feel they can vote for parties that are smaller and marginal and that their voices are heard (however much we might not want to hear some) and you wouldn't get extreme results like last night.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

1 hour ago, orfc said:

Now that's how you make political capital out of a humanitarian catastrophe. SNP take note.

The very same 'humanitarian catastrophe' that you and SIR KEIR fully support of continuing indefinitely.

[Jacksgranda]

17 minutes ago, HTG said:

Anyone know if he's got a Rochdale season ticket yet? 

He'd need to be quick, Rochdale are in danger of liquidation - https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=b8b12dc2e174d219JmltdHM9MTcwOTI1MTIwMCZpZ3VpZD0xMGFlZDA1OS1iN2Q1LTYzMzItM2RmZS1jNDZkYjZkMzYyZTcmaW5zaWQ9NTIzMQ&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=10aed059-b7d5-6332-3dfe-c46db6d362e7&psq=news+about+rochdale+afc&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlZ3VhcmRpYW4uY29tL2Zvb3RiYWxsLzIwMjQvZmViLzI5L3JvY2hkYWxlLWZvb3RiYWxsLWNsdWItc2V0LXRvLWJlLXNhdmVkLWZyb20tbGlxdWlkYXRpb24tdGhyZWF0LWJ5LXVzLWludmVzdG9y&ntb=1

[oneteaminglasgow]

9 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

He really is a repulsive arsehole. 

 

In some ways, you have to just admire the fucking brass neck of this.

in many others, what a c**t. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

53 minutes ago, Theyellowbox said:

Whilst this result is notable in its own right, there is an element of folk using it as a massive protest vote, safe in the knowledge there a GE coming soon.

However, it might also point to something a bit new in UK politics. In some seats, you will have this shift to 'far left?' Or however you want to define Galloway and in others, you will get a shift to the far right. Will all be local and locational. For all the current Tory part are touring the far right and Corbyns Labour courted the far left, neither party really want the extremes to gain momentum.

Probably makes the case for proportional representation stronger. People will still feel they can vote for parties that are smaller and marginal and that their voices are heard (however much we might not want to hear some) and you wouldn't get extreme results like last night.

I never ever thought that I would write this but perhaps a combination of dire turnouts and piles of 'None Of The Above' ballots in the next GE may begin to concentrate minds.  I'm very seriously considering the latter for the first time since I started voting in 1974.