First reactions – George Galloway

Speaking to Sky News immediately after the declaration of the result, George Galloway MP confirmed that he had secured a majority of over 10,000 votes.  He was asked to explain what he meant in his victory speech by referring to the election result as a “Bradford Spring”.  Galloway said that the result was like the spring which saw an uprising of ordinary Arabs across the middle east in that it was peaceful and democratic and also because it was not finished but had only just begun.

Galloway was asked why he had spoken about the Labour Party in his victory speech, as he had left it.  Galloway pointed out that he left the Labour Party because Tony Blair had opposed him because he had opposed the war.  He confirmed that he does care about the Labour Party and he wants a Labour Government to succeed the Coalition Government, but he is worried that unless the Labour Party changes direction, this may not happen.  He pointed out that Respect, like the Labour Party, is part of the labour movement.

Galloway was asked whether his victory in Bradford had not, in fact, made a Labour General Election victory more difficult for Ed Miliband. He denied this was the case, adding that the Labour leaders Ed Miliband had sent to campaign in Bradford were not truly Labour, and Labour needs to be Labour again.

Galloway was asked what he would be doing when he returned to Westminster.  He replied that he would fight on behalf of the people of Bradford who suffer from mass unemployment, especially youth unemployment, and have a run down city centre.  He would also speak out on national issues, such as the economy and society in general, and on international issues, and in particularly he would try to stop the disastrous drift towards war with Iran.

Galloway was asked whether he would try to form alliances in the House of Commons, perhaps with the one Green Party MP or with anti-war left Labour MPs.  He replied that the House of Commons would be interesting now because it was now not clear that the Coalition Government could survive until 2015.  He said that he would be happy to work with Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP.  He said that he did have friends in the Labour Party, but he also had enemies in the Labour Party – who had turned out to be wrong.

Galloway said that he had told Tony Blair that he would rue the day he expelled him, and he thought Blair had now come to rue this on two occasions [Galloway’s two successful parliamentary elections].  Galloway was asked if he really thought Tony Blair was worried about the Bradford election result.  Galloway insisted that Tony Blair was ruing his actions towards him.  He added that Blair’s accolytes remained at the top of the Labour Party and were probably, even that night, plotting to replace Ed Miliband.  Galloway added that he had no grudge against the Labour Party.  He said that he cared about it and he cared about ordinary people who need a Labour Party to stand up for working people, the marginalised and the poor.  He said that Britain doesn’t have a Labour Party, which is why Respect had had to reinvent one.

•See our report of George Galloway’s victory speech at the count on http://www.eastlondonnews.com/galloway-trounces-labour-again.

•See our report of Labour and Tory interviews with Sky News immediately after the declaration of the election result on http://www.eastlondonnews.com/first-reactions-the-others.