George Galloway might stand towards Andy Burnham to be Greater Manchester mayor
George Galloway is contemplating operating towards Andy Burnham within the Greater Manchester mayoral race.
The divisive new Rochdale MP, who secured a shock by-election win, accused Mr Burnham of getting “abandoned” Rochdale, which is within the Greater Manchester space. But Mr Burnham hit out on the truth Mr Galloway was elected simply two weeks in the past and already had his eye elsewhere, proving that “Rochdale is just somewhere he has used for his own ends”.
Mr Galloway hinted to the Manchester Evening News that he’s contemplating standing towards Mr Burnham in May’s mayoral election. It comes after the brand new MP took goal on the northern mayor in his first speech in Parliament this week.
He instructed MPs he didn’t really feel any hostility in direction of Mr Burnham “until recently weeks”, including: “This town, which was once one of the most prosperous in England, is now one of the poorest, abandoned not just by the government but abandoned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester for whom I have no animus – quite the contrary, at least until recent weeks.
“But he has to grasp that he’s the Mayor of Greater Manchester, not simply the mayor of Manchester. What concerning the cities round Manchester that get the improper finish of the stick?”
Asked by the MEN whether he would stand against Mr Burnham, he said: “If I stand it could be on a platform of a greater deal for Manchester’s surrounding cities. Andy Burnham has been seduced by the undoubtedly brilliant lights of the metropolis. But it is pretty darkish and austere out right here in ‘Greater’ Manchester.”
A spokesman for Mr Burnham said: “Two weeks to the day after being elected, the brand new MP for Rochdale now says he desires one other job. Well he must select as he can’t do each.
“He couldn’t have made it clearer if he tried that Rochdale is just somewhere he has used for his own ends. He also seems unaware that Rochdale will see the biggest change in 40 years a week on Sunday as its buses go back under public control – an inconvenient fact which destroys the entire basis of Mr Galloway’s Mayoral bid.”
Mr Galloway was a Labour MP from 1987 to 2003, earlier than being expelled from the celebration. He then served as an impartial MP, earlier than becoming a member of the now dissolved left-wing Respect Party, for which he served as an MP between 2005-2010, and once more in 2012-2015.
He went on to discovered the far-left Workers Party of Britain, which he now leads. He is the one MP from the celebration to sit down in Parliament, alongside 348 Tory MPs, 199 Labour MPs, 43 SNP MPs and 15 Lib Dems, in addition to impartial MPs and people from different events.
Outside of politics, Mr Galloway is recognised by many as having appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006 the place he role-played being a cat and licked the hand of fellow contestant, actress Rula Lenska. In an interview with the Telegraph in 2022, she described the scene because the worst second of her profession.
