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Workers Party of Britain

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Not to be confused with Socialist Workers Party (UK).
Workers Party of Britain
LeaderGeorge Galloway
Deputy LeadersAndy Hudd
Chris Williamson
Peter Ford
FounderGeorge Galloway
FoundedDecember 2019; 5 years ago (2019-12)
Headquarters91 Church Road
Birmingham
B13 9AE[11]
Membership (November 2023)2,962[12]
Ideology
Political positionLeft-wing[6][7] to far-left[8][9]
House of Commons
0 / 650
Local government[10]
5 / 18,725
Website
www.workerspartybritain.org
This article is part of
a series about
George Galloway
Organisations
Parties
Bibliography
Media

The Workers Party of Britain (WPB), also called the Workers Party of Great Britain (WPGB) or Workers Party GB,[13][14][15] is a socialist and socially conservative political party in the United Kingdom, led by and identified with veteran politician George Galloway. The party, founded in 2019, secured a parliamentary seat when Galloway won the February 2024 Rochdale by-election.

History

Foundation and early activities

The Workers Party of Britain was founded in response to the Labour Party's landslide defeat at the 2019 United Kingdom general election and the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party.[16] The founding of the Workers Party of Britain was welcomed by the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (CPGB-ML).[17][2] Joti Brar, a vice-chair of the CPGB-ML, was elected as the Workers Party of Britain's deputy leader at its founding congress.[17][2] In March 2021, the party stood its first candidate for elected office, Paul Burrows, in the by-election for Helensburgh and Lomond South ward on Argyll and Bute Council.[18] Burrows came last out of six, gaining 22 votes (0.9%).[19]

In the 2021 United Kingdom local elections, the party stood more than 40 candidates for local elections in England.[citation needed] The WPB contested its first parliamentary seat at the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, with Galloway as its candidate.[16] Galloway gained 8,264 votes (21.9%) and came in third, behind the winning Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater and second placed Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson. The Lib Dems came in fourth place, as they did in the previous election.[20] Galloway concentrated on the issues of the Palestinian territories, the Kashmir conflict, criticism of Labour leader Keir Starmer, the suspension of a teacher for showing a cartoon of Muhammad at Batley Grammar School, and the reopening of a police station in Batley.[21][22][23] The campaign received considerable media attention due to incidents of harassment during its final days.[24][25][26][27] The Jewish Labour Movement called the result a "triumph for hope and decency" over Galloway's "toxic politics". Galloway vowed to challenge the result on the basis of an alleged "false statement" made about him by Leadbeater and Starmer, which he said tipped the result of the by-election.[28][29]

The party contested the Almond ward of Edinburgh council in the 2022 Scottish local elections, and came second to last with 61 first preference votes (0.4%).[30] In the 2022 local elections, Workers Party candidate Ed Woollard achieved 15% of the vote in the Bordesley and Highgate ward of Birmingham.[31]

In July 2023, the Workers Party announced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson had joined the team,[32] and an article in The Guardian in March 2024 stated Williamson had joined the party "last year".[33] The party has defended Williamson, who was suspended from the Labour Party for his comments about antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party, and Ken Livingstone, who left the party following allegations of antisemitism.[34]

At the party's Congress in December 2023, Galloway was re-elected party leader. Three deputy leaders were elected – Chris Williamson, Andy Hudd (Vice President of the ASLEF) and Peter Ford (former Ambassador to Bahrain and Syria).[35][33]

2024

On 29 February 2024, Galloway won the 2024 Rochdale by-election.[36] The Israel–Hamas war dominated the campaign. In his election speech, Galloway said: "Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine, in the Gaza Strip."[37][38] Galloway won almost 40% of the vote and overturned a previous Labour majority of 9,668. Turnout at 39.7% was much lower than the 60.1% for the 2019 general election.[39] Labour had withdrawn support for its candidate when it became known he had suggested that Israel was complicit in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[40] Following the by-election, it was announced that the Workers Party has 59 prospective parliamentary candidates for the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[41]

During the week of Galloway's by-election win, a Workers Party delegation was taking part in the Kremlin-sponsored World Festival of Youth in Russia.[42]

In March 2024, the party gained its first councillor when the former mayor of Hounslow, Amritpal Mann, defected to the Workers Party.[43]

On 30 April 2024, Galloway announced that the party intended to stand in every seat at the next general election. He said that 500 had been selected, and dozens were named, including cricketer Monty Panesar (who subsequently withdrew[44]), former Conservative/UKIP politician Amjad Bashir, former diplomats Peter Ford and Craig Murray, and Wayne Adlem is one standing in Bournemouth East, and Khalil Ahmed, a previous Labour candidate expected to stand in Wycombe. Galloway said the party was targeting Labour seats (describing the party as their "number one enemy").[45][46]

At the 2024 United Kingdom local elections, the party stood 33 candidates for councillor positions, with four of them being elected, including two in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale (where they received 13% of the overall vote) and one in Calderdale. Shahbaz Sarwar, their candidate in Longsight Ward, Manchester, unseated deputy leader of City Council Luthfur Rahman, with 2,444 votes to Labour’s 2,259.[47][48][49] The WPB-endorsed independent candidate for the Mayor of the West Midlands, Akhmed Yakoob, came third with almost 70,000 votes, and announced plans to stand in the General Election.[50]

In May 2024, Galloway told Novara Media that same-sex relationships are not "normal", while Bolton WPB candidate, Sajid Pathan, refused to comment on this question.[51]

Ideology and platform

The party identifies as a socialist, working class party, which aims for "a redistribution of wealth and power in favour of working people".[52] It describes itself as "economically radical" and "committed to class politics".[53][54] It has expressed support for a planned economy. The party's platform is outlined in its 10-point plan, in which it advocates "rebuilding British industry", universal "decent housing", "free or cheap" public transportation and an end to NHS waiting lists.[52] It advocates for referendums on net zero emissions policies and the future of the monarchy. Its manifesto states: "The transition to a Green economy should be at a pace that matches the ability of our population to afford it. We will not be seduced by the more apocalyptic Green hysteria that floods our media but we will seek rational debate centred on democratically aligned outcomes beneficial to workers".[55][non-primary source needed]

The party has been defined as socially conservative, for example rejecting gender self-identification,[2] and party leader George Galloway describes himself as such.[56] Galloway said the party was "the working-class patriotic alternative to fake woke anti-British 'Labour'".[57]

The party is opposed to NATO and European Union membership, with a policy of withdrawing Britain from NATO.[58][52] In a statement it said it "is unequivocal in its support for the Palestinian liberation struggle and opposition to Zionism as a violently racist ideology".[59][60] Its website states that the party will "withdraw all military support from war zones".[55]

The party has been referred to as "climate sceptical" and as "strongly downplaying the human impact of two hundred years of industrialisation and greenhouse gas emissions" in terms of its stance regarding how to respond to climate change.[61]

Election results

Senedd elections

Further information: Senedd
Year Votes % Seats Misc.
2021 411 0.04% 0/60 Contested South Wales Central (0.2%)

Scottish Parliament elections

Further information: Scottish Parliament
Year Votes % Seats Misc.
2021 23,299 0.9% 0/129 As part of All for Unity, contested all regional ballots

UK parliamentary by-elections

Further information: UK parliamentary by-elections
Year Votes Candidate % Seat Finish
2021 8,264 George Galloway 21.9% Batley and Spen 3rd
2024 12,335 39.7% Rochdale 1st

UK local elections

Further information: Local elections in the UK

Mayoral elections

Year Votes Candidate % Position Finish
2024 2,378 John Hamilton 5.7% Mayor of Lewisham[62] 5th

Police and Crime Commissioner Elections

Year Votes Candidate % Position Finish
2024 8,396 Waheed Akbar 8.3% Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner 4th

Notable members

References

  1. ^ Cohen, Ben (1 March 2024). "'Dark Day' for British Jews as Anti-Zionist Agitator George Galloway Returns to Parliament". The Algemeiner. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Rochdale by-election 2024: Who are the Workers' Party of Britain?". Mancunian Matters. March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  3. ^ Mower, Shannon (6 March 2024). ""Professional troublemaker": Conservative councillors call for George Galloway visit to be cancelled". Doncaster Free Press. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Starmer apologises to Rochdale voters after Galloway by-election win". BBC NEWS. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  5. ^ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/13/anti-zionist-independents-labour-reform-tories/
  6. ^ Piper, Elizabeth (1 March 2024). "With Labour in his sights, left-winger Galloway wins in English town". Reuters. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  7. ^ Now, Known (1 March 2024). "George Galloway who campaigned against Gaza war wins UK by-election". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  8. ^ "George Galloway Wins Rochdale By-Election Overturning Labour Majority". PoliticsHome. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  9. ^ Castle, Stephen (1 March 2024). "Westminster Is Nervously Braced For George Galloway's Return To The Commons". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Open Council Data UK". 15 February 2024. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Registration summary". electoralcommission.org.uk. The Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Workers Party GB Annual Report 2023" (PDF). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  13. ^ "Rochdale Hustings". Workers Party of Britain. 23 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Rishi Sunak warns British democracy being targeted by far-right and Islamists". The Independent. 1 March 2024.
  15. ^ "Manifesto - Britain Deserves Better". Workers Party of Britain.
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  17. ^ a b "The Brexit election and the birth of the Workers party". The Communists. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  18. ^ Borland, Craig (15 February 2021). "It's a six-way battle in Helensburgh and Lomond South by-election". Helensburgh Advertiser. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
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  59. ^ @WorkersPartyGB (25 February 2024). "The counter reaction to our popular anti Zionist politics begins. Let's just say they're not sending their best" (Tweet). Retrieved 1 March 2024 – via Twitter.
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  72. ^ "Waqas Ali Khan: Former UKIP Candidate confirms election bid". 2024-03-15. Retrieved 2024-05-23 [Social Media: www.X.com/waqas_4MP And fb/Waqas4MP. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help); line feed character in |access-date= at position 11 (help)
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