London CNN —Britain’s opposition Labour Party, widely expected to win a general election due to be held within months, has lost one of its safest parliamentary seats to a pro-Palestinian former party member in a chaotic by-election. Labour initially stood by Ali, only to withdraw their support but too close to the by-election to put forward another candidate. Galloway was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 after he opposed then Prime Minister and Labour leader Tony Blair’s support for the war in Iraq. Galloway’s victory is noteworthy for the context in which it took place, but doesn’t necessarily tell us much about the general election that will take place at some point this year. It does send a warning, however, to Starmer and the Labour Party about the need to properly screen candidates, as it could be badly hurt by similar stories emerging in the run up to the general election.

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Persons: London CNN —, George Galloway, Azhar Ali, Israel, Ali, Galloway, Keir Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn, Tony Blair’s Organizations: London CNN, Labour Party, Veteran, Labour, Sun, CNN, Tottenham Hotspur, North London Jewish, Champion’s League, Press TV Locations: Rochdale, Gaza, British, Galloway, Britain, Israel, Iraq, Russia, Iran, Starmer