The return of Gorgeous George

Once again George Galloway is yet again returning to the House of Commons. He is one of a small group of men in British political history who has sucessfully been elected in three or more completely different constituencies.

Although acres of guff have appeared on news websites, blogs and Twitter today very few commentators have actually looked at the figures. Contrary to codswallop suggesting that people voted along racial lines it is clear that George Galloway afforded Conservative and Lib Dem voters in Bradford the rare opportunity to inflict a bloody nose on the Labour Party. An opportunity that they evidently leapt at.

Bradford West 29 Mar 2012 - result with vote share and change since 2010 general election.

George Galloway, Respect, 18,341 55.89% +52.83%
Imran Hussain, Labour, 8,201 24.99% -20.36%
Jackie Whiteley, Con, 2,746 8.37% -22.78%
Jeanette Sunderland, Lib Dem, 1,505 4.59% -7.08%
Sonja McNally, UKIP, 1,085 3.31% +1.31%
Dawud Islam, Green, 481 1.47% -0.85%

As the old adage goes: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

This is not the first time that the press has got it completely wrong in a George Galloway election victory. In the 2005 general election he ousted the Iraq war supporter Oona King from her Bethnal Green and Bow seat. At the time this was mainly seen as being related to Ms King's support for Tony Blair's Cowboy's Crusade in Iraq, but four months later sore loser Ms King in an interview with Emma Brockes in the Guardian claimed that she was a victim of anti-semitism. Despite coming across in the interview as some sort of poor man's Ali G (Is it because I is Jewish) this nonsense seems to have become an article of faith among Guardianistas. The simple reality as evinced by looking at the figures, is that back in 2005 in Bethnal Green & Bow, Galloway afforded Conservatives and Lib Dems the opportunity of humiliating Labour, which they took.

Bethnal Green and Bow; 2005 result with vote share & change from 2001

George Galloway, Respect, 15,801 35.9% +35.9%
Oona King, Labour, 14,978 34.0% -16.5%
Shahagir Faruk, Conservative, 6,244 14.2% -10.1%
Syed Dulu, Lib Dem, 4,928 11.2% -4.3%
John Foster, Green,, 1,950 4.4% +0.1%

Very simple and straightforward if you look at the figures.