by George Galloway has doubled down on controversial comments about people who identify as homosexual after launching his party’s campaign in Tameside. The leader of the British Labor Party became the MP for Rochdale in the January by-election and will stand for re-election on July 4.
He told a gathering of a dozen outside Ashton Town Hall on Saturday (June 1) that he was one of 326 Labor Party candidates who will be campaigning for votes across the country over the next five weeks. Mr Galloway has ‘high hopes’ across Greater Manchester, following his victory in Rochdale and deputy leader of the Labor council in Manchester last month.
But the region is home to one of the largest LGBTQ+ communities in the country – and last month, Mr Galloway drew criticism for comments he made to Novara Media, when he suggested gay relationships were not ‘normal’. Left-wing campaign group Momentum blasted his comments as ‘blatant homophobia’.
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And gay Labor MP Chris Bryant tweeted that his sense of unease has increased significantly recently with moments like this. When asked if he recognized the upset in his comments, Mr. Galloway told the Manchester Evening News: “It hasn’t affected any of my constituents. You can round your question, I’ll give you the wards to go to.
“No, I’m a man of family values, I believe in mom, dad and the children as the way forward for society. I fully respect other lifestyle choices, I fully respect other trends, but if we run away from mothers, fathers and children., we run out of all humanity, and that’s all I said in that interview.
“It is the norm in Britain, nine out of 10 people in Britain and indeed in society around the world – because it seems that we are made in pairs, and if the pairs cannot procreate then the death of the species. So that it is not in my own constituency, it is not an issue that has been raised by anyone here – except you – so everything I want to say about it has really been said.
“I am a believer and I have a conscience and I am entitled to exercise it. There are many gay people in our party and there are some people who do not agree with my take on these things, and they are fully entitled to that because this is a matter of conscience.”
‘I think people want change’
Mr Galloway was given a warm welcome by the small crowd gathered outside Ashton town hall – and only one man walked past who chose to beat him, shouting that he should ‘go back to Scotland’. The leader of the Workers’ Party told the crowd: “If you want peace, if you want justice, if you want equality, vote Workers’ Party.”
He said he was looking to get ‘thousands and thousands of votes’ in Greater Manchester – naming Bury, Oldham and Ashton as towns he hoped to win – and insisted his party’s candidates ‘ a decisive difference to the outcome of the election wherever they expected it. stand’. Mr Galloway said Labor and the Conservatives were ‘unbelievable’, comparing them to ‘two cheeks of the same a***’.
He told the FIRs that the most he could promise Greater Mancunians was ‘change’. “I think people want change,” he said. “They want hope, they want respectable political leaders they can be proud of, rather than ashamed of.”
Mr Galloway said he believed he would be re-elected in the town because of the Rochdale by-election campaign and his work since then. He reiterated his position that the Rochdale maternity unit would be rebuilt, insisting that he had received a commitment from the Conservatives and ‘Labour will have to match it’ – despite the relevant NHS bodies telling the FIRs that they had not ‘ aware’ of the plans.
Members of the Labor Party held signs saying ‘For Britain, For Gaza’ as they stood alongside Mr Galloway in Ashton, and he suggested that voting for his party and other pro-Palestine candidates would be the ‘most effective to do’ for people who are concerned about it. the conflict. Mr Galloway also insisted he would work with any party if they needed Labor votes after the July 4 election – but that his support would come at a ‘price’, particularly on Gaza policy.
‘The spirit of life’
Much of Mr Galloway’s speech to the crowd – and his comments to the media later – was about Angela Rayner, the incumbent in Ashton. He insisted that Labor Party candidate Aroma Hassan would be a ‘great breath of fresh air for the town’ compared to the Labor deputy leader, adding: “She will surprise you with the votes she gets, I can promise you that.”
Addressing the crowd, Ms Hassan criticized successive governments which she claimed had shown ‘no humanity’ by using taxpayers’ money ‘to wage wars’. She also criticized the closure of Ashton swimming baths and Tameside council’s children’s services – which went into special measures earlier this year – as she promised voters in their place that she would be ‘accountable’.
She said: “You want to make sure you send a very loud message… to the establishment, to the status quo. What we’re trying to achieve here is the worst of all. Yes They’ve given us six weeks, less than that, to challenge them. Let’s show them they can’t stop this change, the change has already started.”
