Candidates and campaign
Azhar Ali, who had been a candidate for the Westminster seat of Pendle in 2015 and 2019, [27] was selected as the Labour Party candidate on 27 January 2024. He is a Lancashire county councillor and was, at the time of his selection, the leader of the Labour group on the council. He was selected from a shortlist of three, including Westminster lobby journalist Paul Waugh, and Nazia Rehman, a member of Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council and cabinet member. [28] During the campaign, the Daily Mail obtained a recording of a meeting at which Ali suggested that Israel had allowed the 7 October offensive to go ahead, in order to "green light" an invasion of Gaza. Upon the publication of the recording, Ali retracted his comments and apologised. [29] Following information about other comments made by Ali, [30] Labour withdrew its support on 12 February, and the party announced it would no longer devote resources to his campaign. [31] [32] Prior to the withdrawal, Ali had received abuse for Labour's position on Israel, despite his own support for Palestine. [33]
Simon Danczuk was selected as the candidate for Reform UK. Danczuk was the Labour MP for Rochdale from 2010 until 2015, when he was suspended from the party after it emerged he had exchanged explicit messages with a 17-year-old girl. [34] He then sat as an independent until the 2017 election, when he ran for re-election as an independent, but finished in fifth place with 1.8 per cent, losing his deposit. [35] Despite the right-wing orientation of Reform UK, Danczuk campaigned as an "old Labour" candidate with a focus on local issues, rather than what he describes as the "woke" politics of the Labour Party, or the Israel-Palestine conflict. [36] [37] According to Reform UK leader Richard Tice, Danczuk and Reform were the subject of violent threats during the campaign, including a threat to firebomb businesses whose owners campaigned for Reform. [38] One man was arrested for malicious communication for threatening Danczuk. [39]
Iain Donaldson was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate; he was also the party's candidate for the nearby constituency of Blackley and Middleton South at the 2024 general election. He stated that his intention would be to hold the government to account over the NHS, cost of living crisis, and tolerance of water pollution. He received the endorsement of Paul Rowen, the constituency's most recent Liberal Democrat MP. Donaldson was a councillor in Manchester for 19 years, and worked as an administrator at the University of Manchester. [40]
Conservative Party candidate Paul Ellison owns a local landscaping firm. He was named "Man of Rochdale" in 2019 for his involvement with the Royal Horticultural Society's In Bloom campaign. [41] [42] His focus was on improving the town centre, reducing antisocial behaviours, and protecting greenery in Rochdale. He expressed concern over Rochdale's negative image. [37]
Former Labour and Respect Party MP George Galloway contested the seat for the Workers Party of Britain. [43] He focused his campaign on support for Gaza. The Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, said Galloway's campaign focused on Muslim voters in Rochdale. [37] [33] [44] Freelance writer and socialist activist Michael Chessum wrote that Galloway's campaign sent out more than one letter to constituents during the campaign. One addressed issues most salient to Muslim voters, in particular focusing on the war in Gaza and using Arabic phrases such as "As-salamu alaykum" and "ummah", while the other highlighted "Galloway's record of backing Brexit, opposing Scottish independence and supporting family values". [45] [46] [47] [48] On 19 February, a Liberal Democrat candidate for the 2024 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council election was suspended by the party after being photographed campaigning with Galloway. [49] Galloway was endorsed by former BNP leader Nick Griffin, which Galloway rejected, describing it as "unwelcome". [50]
Guy Otten was selected as the Green Party candidate. He is a retired solicitor and tribunal judge. [37] On 7 February, after derogatory social media posts on Gaza and the Muslim faith he had made between 2013 and 2015 came to light, the party announced that they were no longer endorsing his candidacy. Otten subsequently said that he had "decided to leave the stage", and would not campaign in the election. [51] [52]
There were four independent candidates. The most successful was David Tully (b. 1974), owner of a local vehicle repair shop, [53] who campaigned on various local issues, [54] including the reinstatement of a local maternity ward, and support for local sports teams Rochdale AFC and Rochdale Hornets. [55] He began his independent campaign four weeks before the election and received 6,638 votes, more than the Conservatives and Labour combined. [56] [55]
Michael Howarth is a local business owner who owns a number of bars in Rochdale and campaigned on local issues and support for additional NHS funding. [37] [57] [58] William Howarth campaigned on issues related to the Rochdale child sex abuse ring and child sexual abuse at large, having previously founded the organisation Parents Against Grooming. [37] [59] Mark Coleman is a climate change activist and former vicar of Rochdale who campaigned for "radical action on climate". [60] He was jailed in April 2023 for his part in a Just Stop Oil protest in Bishopsgate, London. Despite running as an independent, he had the support of two local Labour Party officers. He formerly ran as a Green Party candidate for council elections in Liverpool. [61] The BBC reported that Green Party activists had been campaigning for Coleman, since their own candidate, Guy Otten, dropped out of the contest. [62]
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party, a joke party that is a perennial contender in by-elections, was on the ballot. Candidate Ravin Rodent Subortna campaigned for the introduction of a 99p coin and the eradication of homelessness amongst hedgehogs. [41] [37]
Reactions
The Israel–Hamas war dominated the campaign. In his election victory speech, Galloway said: "Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Gaza, in the Gaza Strip". [65] [44] [66] Alluding to the size of his win, over the Labour and Conservative candidates, he said, "Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight here in Rochdale." [67]
During Galloway's victory speech a heckler accused him of being a climate change denier. [68] [69] The heckler stated that Galloway said at a hustings that he wanted to "extract oil and gas from the North Sea". [70]
The largest Jewish community organisation in the UK, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, claimed that Galloway's victory marked "a dark day" for Britain's Jewish community. [71]
On 1 March, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held a press conference outside 10 Downing Street, at which he spoke about what he called the "shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality" in Britain. During the conference he said, "And it's beyond alarming that last night, the Rochdale by-election returned a candidate that dismisses the horror of what happened on 7 October, who glorifies Hezbollah and is endorsed by Nick Griffin, the racist former leader of the BNP". [72]
Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer issued an apology to the people of Rochdale, saying, "I regret we had to withdraw our candidate, and apologise to voters in Rochdale. I took that decision. It was the right decision." He stated that Labour's candidate in the next general election would be a "unifier". [73]
Reform UK performed worse than its Brexit Party counterpart in 2019, although Danczuk did win enough votes to retain his deposit, unlike his run as an independent in 2017. Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK, alleged that the election was rigged and said that Danczuk had received several threats during the campaign. [74]
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