News - Middle East: Westminster’s House of Commons witnessed a seismic shift last week when prominent British politician George Galloway secured a decisive and landslide by-election win in northwest England's Rochdale.

Galloway, an outspoken and firebrand advocate of the Palestinian cause, dedicated the win to Gaza.
The founder of the Workers Party of Britain won the seat by 12,335 votes, succeeding the late Labour representative Sir Tony Lloyd, whose death in January paved the way for the by-election.
In his victory speech, Galloway referred to the disillusionment of voters with mainstream parties, dubbing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer as "two cheeks of the same backside."
“They both got well and truly spanked tonight here in Rochdale,” Galloway was quoted as saying.
“This is for Gaza,” the triumphant veteran politician said, directly addressing Labor leader Starmer, who has been criticized for his party’s duplicitous position on the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
“You have paid, and you will pay, a high price for the role you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on,” Galloway said, referring to the Gaza genocide.
The thumping by-election victory marked Galloway's latest and most significant political comeback, reflecting the sentiments of millions of Britons toward the unfolding crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Galloway echoed their sentiments, warning that they are underrepresented in the media.
“I believe I am speaking for millions of people in Britain whose hearts are broken, whose guts are wrenched by the slaughter in Gaza. And they are under-represented to the point almost of invisibility in the British media,” he was quoted as saying after his win on Friday.
“Even this evening, the political class in Britain are in a state of panic about [my win], both the Conservatives and Labour, because they know they have been rumbled.”
In his initial reaction to Galloway's victory, Sunak termed it "beyond alarming," accusing the newly-elected MP of extremism and sowing division in the country.
Galloway hit back at Sunak's comments in an interview with Sky News, which was shared widely on social media, emphasizing his democratic mandate and challenging the Prime Minister's credibility.
He told the reporters not to talk of the British Prime Minister as “someone who has come down from the mount with tablets of stone in his hand.”
Galloway rebuffed Sunak, echoing people’s disdain for him as their country’s leader while pointing to the overwhelming support he received from voters.
“You talk [of him] as if he is God! We are talking about little Rishi Sunak in the fag end of his prime ministership,” Galloway told a reporter in Rochdale.
“Who won the election? Me, or Rishi Sunak? I’ve got the democratic mandate here, not Rishi Sunak. He didn’t even come second. He was lucky to come third,” he hastened to add.
Galloway, without mincing words, said he “despises” the British Prime Minister like “millions of people” in the UK, adding that he “doesn’t respect the Prime Minister at all.”
Galloway was sworn in as an MP and introduced to the Commons by MPs Sir Peter Bottomley and Neale Hanvey on Monday, solidifying his presence in the Westminster political landscape.