0042 Hrs GMT London
AADHIKAROnline accessed the following item on the DAILY MAIL web site at 0038 GMT Friday 30 March 2012:
I've taken prized seat away from Labour: George Galloway tweets he has claimed shock victory in Bradford West by-election
By GERRI PEEV
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Respect MP George Galloway has won the Bradford West seat
George Galloway claimed to have delivered a humiliating blow to Labour last night by snatching the Bradford West seat that the party had held for nearly four decades.
Labour had been hopeful of retaining the West Yorkshire seat in a bitterly fought by-election last night, with the Tories expected to be knocked into third place after a disastrous week for the Government.
Last night Mr Galloway tweeted: ‘By the Grace of God we have won the most sensational victory in British political history.’
He said: ‘It is a very comprehensive defeat for new Labour. It’s a miserable, pathetic performance by the Government and the parties.’
Losing the seat would be a major disappointment for Opposition leader Ed Miliband, who has failed to fully capitalise on what has been a shambolic week for his coalition foes.
Labour is thought to have suffered the biggest ever swing against it with Mr Galloway’s Respect party coming back from fifth place in the last general election.
A slump in the Tory vote, and an increase in support for the anti-EU UK Independence Party, appeared to have helped hand the maverick politician victory. But the focus will be on Mr Miliband and questions about his fitness to lead his party.
He will now face an anxious period as he waits to see whether the crushing result helps fuel another leadership crisis.
Activists were last night aghast at the prospect of failing to hold on to a seat following one of the worst weeks to date for the Tory-led coalition government.
Campaigning: Mr Galloway on his campaign trail in Bradford city centre in West Yorkshire ahead of the Bradford West by-election
Mid-term is normally the most difficult period for governing parties, and an opposition on course for victory would be expected to snatch safe seats from other parties, let alone hold its own.
Mr Miliband visited the constituency once during the contest: party leaders traditionally steer clear of by election contests for fear of jinxing them.
Mr Galloway, a former Labour MP, secured his shock ‘victory’ by courting the constituency’s large Muslim population. It is understood that young Muslim women voters in particular had backed him.
At one point he threatened to sue Labour for libel over allegedly defamatory material.
The Scottish-born Roman Catholic was himself accused of resorting to desperate measures after issuing a letter calling for Muslims to vote for him because he had never consumed alcohol and had always fought for Muslims at home and abroad.
Using his typically, dramatic prose, Mr Galloway wrote: ‘I, George Galloway have fought for Muslims at home and abroad, all of my life.’
The letter also said: ‘I, George Galloway, do not drink alcohol and never have.’
Earlier this week he predicted that support for him had blossomed like ‘daffodils in spring’.
Labour had criticised Mr Galloway for parachuting into the northern constituency from London for a few weeks.
But he hit back, saying it was an advantage not to be a local politician in an area which had suffered such severe economic decline under successive governments.
‘The city centre is filled with pound shops, pawn shops and payday loan shops,’ he said. ‘There is mass unemployment. Somebody coming from outside and offering a new start is an electoral plus.’
Mr Galloway joined the anti-war Respect Party after being expelled from Labour in 2003.
He beat Labour candidate Oona King for the Bethnal Green and Bow seat in East London in the 2005 general election after wooing the Bangledeshi community but made a failed attempt to win a neighbouring seat in the capital in 2010.
Mr Galloway has long been a controversial figure. He paid tribute to the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, telling him: ‘Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.’
Despite a scrape with the Charity Commission over a fund he ran called the Miriam Appeal and a humiliating, Lycra-clad appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in which he pretended to be a cat, Mr Galloway has again defied his critics.
The final result for Bradford West was expected in the early hours of this morning.
The victor will take over from Labour MP Marsha Singh who retired because of ill health.
The coalition parties expected dismal results, with the Tories bracing themselves for third place after the fuel fiasco, panic over pasties and granny tax in the budget.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats’ best hopes were for an embarrassing fourth place.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2122523/Ive-taken-prized-seat-away-Labour-George-Galloway-tweets-claimed-shock-victory-Bradford-West-election.html#ixzz1qYXdrutO
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