WORKERS PARTY leader George Galloway told the launch of its election campaign that if you vote for the lesser of two evils, evil always wins.
Speaking on Saturday in Ashton-under-Lyne, where the Workers Party hopes to unseat Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, Mr Galloway added that in this election, “I could not tell you which is the lesser of two evils.”
The Workers Party intends to contest at least 326 seats in the July 4 election, notionally enough to form a Commons majority.
On the strength of that — the largest left-of-labour challenge in electoral history — Mr Galloway is threatening legal action to be allowed to take part in the party leaders’ televised debates.
His speech to the crowd in the town’s market place showered Labour’s hierarchy with invective. Mr Galloway, MP for nearby Rochdale since a by-election win in February, said that “Keir Starmer is a block of wood: I saw birds trying to nest in him.”
As for Ms Rayner, she was a “double-dealing, two-faced, forked-tongued deceiver,” particularly in relation to Labour’s support for the genocide in Gaza.
Ms Rayner was recently caught on video pleading for understanding of her position on the conflict, telling a group of Muslims that she would not hesitate to resign if she felt it could make a difference.
This attracted the scorn of her Workers Party challenger, local activist Aroma Hassan. “I want to be an MP because I can make a difference,” she said. “What is the point in being elected if you feel you can’t make a difference to anything?”
An unscientific sampling of marketplace opinion in Ashton suggested that Ms Hassan was far from alone in her criticism of the local MP. “She’s just a liar,” shrugged one shopper.
Mr Galloway said he believed that “thousands and thousands” would vote for the Workers Party or left-wing independents wherever they were contesting in the election, and they would at least affect the outcome in several seats.
Rebutting media charges that he spreads division, he told the rally that “it is MPs supporting genocide that is causing division in our communities.”
The party is standing on a 10-point platform which foregrounds “an end to imperialist wars” and Nato withdrawal; “decent, cheap, secure” housing; the rebuilding of British industry; “free and comprehensive healthcare with no waiting lists” and “the need to live sustainably and protect our natural environment.”
This will be Mr Galloway’s 13th and final parliamentary contest. He is confident of holding Rochdale and then a Starmer government to account, he told the Star.
