George Galloway plotting bid to oust Sadiq Khan as London Mayor next May
Ex-Labour rebel MP George Galloway is plotting a bid to topple Sadiq Khan as London Mayor.
The one-time Celebrity Big Brother contestant has been a constant thorn in Labour’s side since being booted out of the party 20 years ago over the Iraq War. In 2005 - two years after his ejection - Mr Galloway stood for the Respect Party and beat Labour’s MP in the East London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow. Seven years later, he won the Bradford West by-election for Respect after the sitting Labour MP resigned for medical reasons.
Now, Mr Galloway, 69, now leads the Workers' Party of Britain, is mulling a run for City Hall. Mr Khan will be seeking an unprecedented third term when the election takes place in May. But senior Labour figures believe the party is haemorrhaging support among Muslims because of Keir Starmer’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza - and his backing for Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists.
Turning up the pressure on Mr Starmer, Mr Galloway has confirmed he is considering running to become London Mayor. “My contest would be against Starmer. Khan is a miserable cypher for Starmer," he told the Sunday Times.
Mr Galloway reached an audience outside Westminster when he appeared in the Celebrity Big Brother house. During one task, he pretended to be a cat and was seen nibbling from actress Rula Lenska's hands.
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Mr Starmer faces a growing revolt over his position on Gaza. At least 18 frontbenchers have broken collective responsibility to demand or repost calls for a ceasefire. The Labour leader tried to quell the rebellion last week with a speech to the Chatham House foreign affairs think tank. But he refused to say that shadow ministers who ignored his pleas to end infighting would be disciplined.
"It is for me to address collective responsibility, I recognise that,” he admitted. "It matters and I take that duty extremely seriously, but I put it in the context of understanding what is driving people in the call for a ceasefire, which is in my judgement not the call that we should be making as things stand."
Hamas would be "emboldened" by a ceasefire and start preparing more atrocities, the Labour leader said. "While I understand calls for a ceasefire at this stage, I do not believe that it is the correct position now,” he told guests. A ceasefire always freezes any conflict in the state where it currently lies and, as we speak, that would leave Hamas with the infrastructure and the capabilities to carry out the sort of attack we saw on October 7 - attacks that are still ongoing; hostages who should be released, still held. Hamas would be emboldened and start preparing for future violence immediately."
Israel’s Defence Forces have launched a ground operation against Hamas terrorists who slaughtered at least 1,400 Israelis when they unleashed a series of attacks on October 7. Mr Starmer has called for a humanitarian “pause” to allow in vital aid and for people to flee the war zone.
Mr Starmer and Mr Khan's offices were contacted for comment.
A London Labour source said: “This election will be a close two-horse race between Labour’s Sadiq Khan, and the out-of-touch Tory candidate who backed Liz Truss’ Budget which sent mortgages soaring. Sadiq will stand on his record against anyone who chooses to run against him - building a better London for everyone including delivering free school meals, record numbers of council homes and being tough on crime and its causes.”
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