Labour has won against the odds in the Batley and Spen by-election race holding the seat by 323 votes.
Kim Leadbeater, sister of murdered MP Jo Cox, hung on to the West Yorkshire seat for Keir Starmer’s party with 13,246 votes to Conservative Ryan Stephenson’s 12,973 in an astonishingly close-run contest.
Former Labour MP George Galloway, who stood with an appeal to the area's Muslim community to defeat Keir Starmer, took 8,265 votes..
The result comes as a massive relief for Starmer who hailed a “fantastic result” after a bitter contest.
With Galloway dividing the Labour vote the Tories has been favourites for weeks.
Victory will ease the pressure on Starmer, who had faced questions about his leadership after the loss of Hartlepool in a by-election in May, and will boost morale within Labour.
Starmer hailed the “fantastic result” for the “brilliant and brave” Leadbeater after a contest marred by allegations of dirty tricks and violence.
Leadbeater said she was “absolutely delighted that the people of Batley and Spen have rejected division and they voted for hope”.
After requiring police protection in hostile campaign, an emotional Leadbeater thanked the police “who, sadly, I have needed more than ever over the last few weeks”.
She also thanked her family, saying that “without them, I could not have got through the last five years, never mind the last five weeks”.
It was speculated that Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner was prepared to stand against Starmer if Labour had lost but she described the suggestion as “news to me”.
Her spokesman said anyone gauging support is “not doing it under instructions from Angela or with Angela’s backing” and she is “focused entirely on her jobs”.
A senior Labour source said: “Everyone’s been calling this a referendum on Keir’s leadership. Well we’ve won – bucked the trend, held onto this marginal seat and advanced in Tory areas. A fantastic result.”
Galloway said he would take legal action to get the result set aside, claiming his efforts had been damaged by a “false statement” that he had laughed while Leadbeater was abused on the campaign trail.
