George Galloway is considering standing against Andy Burnham to be the mayor of Greater Manchester, just two weeks after he was elected MP for Rochdale.
He confirmed to the Guardian that he was thinking of challenging Burnham in May’s local elections after telling the Manchester Evening News: “If I stand it would be on a platform of a better deal for Manchester’s surrounding towns.
“Andy Burnham has been seduced by the undoubtedly bright lights of the metropolis. But it’s fairly dark and austere out here in ‘Greater’ Manchester.”
Galloway, 69, would need to step down as Rochdale’s MP – a role he has held for 14 days so far – if was elected Greater Manchester mayor.
The move would trigger a second parliamentary byelection in the town, adding another chaotic chapter to one of the most turbulent campaigns in recent memory.
It was not immediately clear whether Galloway’s intentions were serious or yet another example of his bluster.
He said on Friday, however, that he was being genuine: “Oh yeah, yeah definitely,” he said, before refusing to comment any further – “especially to the Guardian”.
The surprise twist comes three days after his maiden speech as MP for Rochdale, in which he pledged to speak up for a town “that has been abandoned by the state, and is increasingly abandoned by the mayor of Greater Manchester”.
The Labour leader of Rochdale borough council, Neil Emmott, said: “Just a fortnight after getting elected it simply beggars belief that Mr Galloway would consider casting aside the people of Rochdale so readily.
“It speaks volumes about his commitment to our town that he would so casually think of abandoning his duties to chase another role.
“As we’re fast learning in Rochdale, George Galloway has more front than Blackpool, as the saying goes.”
A spokesperson for Burnham said: “Two weeks to the day after being elected, the new MP for Rochdale now says he wants another job. Well he will have to choose as he can’t do both.
“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.”
Galloway, a former Labour MP, was elected in Rochdale as the Workers Party of Britain candidate, after calling the by-election “a referendum on Gaza” and winning the support of a large proportion of the town’s Muslim community.
Labour abandoned its campaign after its candidate, Azhar Ali, was found to have made inflammatory remarks about Israel.
Galloway holds a 5,697-vote majority in the seat that Labour had held since 2005. The win was his seventh parliamentary victory of a political career in which he has represented four cities and three parties across four decades, equalling Winston Churchill’s record.
• This article was amended on 15 March 2024. Owing to an error introduced in the editing process, an earlier version incorrectly said that George Galloway was elected in Rochdale as an independent, rather than as the candidate for the Workers Party of Britain.
