Former UK MP George Galloway vowed to deliver another blow to the opposition Labour Party after throwing his hat into the ring in a hotly contested by-election in England.
The Batley and Spen by-election, scheduled for July 1, is expected to be a close campaign.
The seat has been held by Labour for decades, but the party recently suffered a series of defeats to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party in traditional Labour strongholds.
The party lost a by-election in the north English city of Hartlepool this month and defeat in Batley and Spen will be another major blow for leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Labour betrayed the working-class. On Brexit. On their infatuation with race and colour, with sex and gender and sexual orientation. Any issue to divide the people they wrap around themselves like a flag. They are a leaderless rump united in their dislike of the British people.
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) May 25, 2021
In a bid to improve its chances at the polls, the party altered its membership rules to allow Kim Leadbeater, sister of murdered MP Jo Cox, to stand as its candidate. Cox held the seat before she was killed by a far-right extremist in 2016.
Now Mr Galloway, a former Labour MP who has been a thorn in the party's side since he was expelled in 2003 for bringing the party into disrepute, has announced his candidacy.
He previously ousted Labour from long-held seats in Bradford and Bethnal Green and hopes to make this a third triumph.
“I’m standing against Keir Starmer. If Keir Starmer loses this by-election it’s curtains for Keir Starmer,” Mr Galloway said in a video posted online.
“So if, for whatever reason, you think that the current leader of the Labour Party needs to be replaced, I’m your man.”
Mr Galloway, a supporter of Labour's former leader Jeremy Corbyn, is a vocal anti-war campaigner and supporter of the Palestinians.
I fought hard for #Brexit. Unlike the unknowns I’m fighting in #BatleyAndSpenByElection I played a prominent role in winning it. I continue to defend @TeamGB pic.twitter.com/B4soTZZoSr
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) May 28, 2021
Labour won the Batley and Spen seat in 2019 with a slim majority of 3,525.
A by-election was called after the appointment of its former MP, Tracy Brabin, as mayor for West Yorkshire.
If Mr Galloway, who lost his Bradford West seat to Labour's Naz Shah in the 2015 general election, and his Workers Party of Britain take votes away from Labour, the Conservatives could take the seat.
“The message is loud and clear – if you want to see the back of Sir Keir Starmer, George is your man,” the Workers Party said on Twitter.
Mr Galloway, an outspoken critic of Israel, has been campaigning in the area and a Labour source recently told The Times that they fear he could exploit the situation in Gaza and split the Labour vote.
"Even if he wins only 2,000 votes, they're coming straight off our pile," the source said.
There has been an increase in racial tensions in the area recently after a teacher showed pupils a satirical cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, which led to protests by parents.
Far-right activists are focused on the area and Jayda Fransen, former deputy leader of far-right group Britain First, has been trying to galvanise support to stand in the by-election. Fransen was previously convicted of religiously aggravated harassment.
Dr Paul Stott, a research fellow at the Centre for the Response to Radicalisation and Terrorism at the Henry Jackson Society, told The National that he did not believe far-right groups would gain a foothold in the area.
“I do not think any party on the far right has any real chance of an electoral breakthrough in the constituency,” he said.
“I would say Kim Leadbeater is the favourite but there are so many different factors there.
“George Galloway, first he was Labour, then he took an anti-war stance, then he had his Respect Party and now his Workers Party.
"He is not necessarily going to move in the same circles as he did when he stood in Bradford and Bethnal Green but he is a skilled politician and will work on getting the momentum of the community leaders. That will only work against Labour.”
George Galloway has announced he is standing in the Batley and Spen By Election.
— WPB_Liverpool (@Wpb_Liverpool) May 27, 2021
Another forgotten region in Starmers Labour Party.
Time for a real voice of the working class to stand.
Time for common sense socialism.
It's time for the @WorkersPartyGB#BatleyAndSpenByElection https://t.co/LbeMBwBrY2
Mr Galloway has long courted criticism in British politics.
In 2019, an investigation by the Charity Commission into his aid group Viva Palestine, which ran convoys to Gaza, found "little or no evidence that humanitarian aid was distributed to those in need".
It came days after Mr Galloway was sacked from his UK radio show for sending an anti-Semitic tweet after the 2019 Champions League final.
But despite his chequered past, he is expected to threaten Labour's hopes of a victory at the polls.
