George Galloway

GEORGE Galloway is to come out of his self-imposed exile in Russia to stand in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

The former Labour and Respect MP who has a history of springing election surprises – including famously unseating Labour’s Oona King in Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005 – was selected as the Workers Party of Britain candidate.

He began with a series of attacks on Zack Polanski, including criticising the Green Party leader’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and his position on trans rights.

The Workers Party polled 466 in a Manchester council by-election last week, a figure which lead to claims that it had prevented the Greens from holding the seat from Labour. Mr Galloway said he was living in Moscow because he would be “in danger” if he returned to the UK but stood – unsuccessfully – for the Scottish parliament in May.

There were signs of division within the party, however, over whether Mr Galloway, a former contestant on Celebrity Big Brother, should stand at all and its deputy leader Chris Williamson, another former Labour MP, quit over the decision to field a candidate. He warned Labour would benefit if the Left did not unite around a single challenger, and said he broadly supported Mr Polanski.

Mr Galloway said Andrew Feinstein was “the candidate we should have all got behind” – but noted that the Greens had not stepped aside for the independent candidate in Holborn and St Pancras at the 2024 general election. “I am standing for many reasons,” he said. “But mainly this one: I believe that NATO and the EU are leading us into a catastrophic pan-European war in Ukraine. “A war which will consume us all. All the other parties support the war. We do not. It’s as simple as that.”