Yes, Galloway won Rochdale. But it’s the runner up who really tells us about politics in the town
‘Councillors are quaking in their boots because of what was unleashed last night’
Dear readers — we’re coming to you from Bean, a coffee shop in Rochdale town centre that seems to have become the temporary nerve centre of the UK’s media, as hacks from all over flock to Rochdale (again) to cover the borough’s dramatic by-election.
In the early hours of morning, the town elected leftwing rabble-rouser George Galloway as its MP. Storming ahead with a 6,000 vote lead, with a 39.7% voter turnout, it’s Galloway’s fifth time in parliament, and the fourth city he has represented, putting him level with Churchill. “I’m not sure that record will ever be matched,” he told us last month, predicting his victory.
Much of the media is saying that Galloway’s victory signals a broader disenchantment with mainstream politics in the UK — and that is certainly something we have found on Rochdale’s high street this morning — but there are some positives to take away, too. More on that below.
But first, a debut novelist’s story of an ill-fated night out on Wilmslow Road wins a prestigious literary prize.
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Your Mill briefing
📚 Sufiyaan Salam, a writer from Blackburn, has won the Merky New Writers Prize, set up by the rapper Stormzy to help discover new writers. Salaam’s story — Wimmy Road Boyz — follows three British Pakistani men on a night out on Wilmslow Road, Manchester’s Curry Mile. As prizewinner, Salam will get a contract with Penguin Random House, who will publish the completed work.
⚽ Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to replace Old Trafford with a new ground dubbed the “Wembley of the North”. Ratcliffe told the BBC that the almost-75,000 capacity Old Trafford ground was “tired and in need of refurbishment”. A new stadium would cost an estimated £2bn, and Ratcliffe says it would require a conversation with the government about using public money.
🏠 An explosion at a house in Bury this week seriously injured one resident and led to a local school being evacuated. Three nearby properties were damaged by the explosion, with residents also evacuated. A woman in her 70s was taken to hospital for treatment. One neighbour, Mushtaq Anwar, told the MEN: “It was like an earthquake. All of the house was shaking and moving up and down. We all ran down towards the front door, but it had collapsed and was blocked by bricks. There was no way out. I thought we were going to die.”
🗺️ At The Mill, we’re suckers for maps. And, we loved this Tolkien-style map of the “Realm of Manchester” posted on Reddit the other day. Piccadilly is Isengard — a prominent stronghold in the realm of men — Wythenshawe is, curiously, Mordor. Ironically, Isengard is home to a giant black tower. When we asked readers what they thought the new Piccadilly Gardens renovation should look like, one suggested an “obsidian black spire” that reaches 600m into the sky and brings “a noticeable chill to the surrounding streets”. Coincidence? We think not.
⛓ Kyle Ratcliffe — whose son, Eddie, was convicted of the murder of teenager Brianna Ghey earlier this month at Manchester Crown Court — has pleaded guilty to sex offences. He has been sentenced to 15 months in prison.
🎤 The MTV European Music Awards will be in Manchester this November, at Co-op Live. It means some of the biggest stars in the world will be in the city. Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig said it will “deliver a huge boost for our local economy”.
🎫 And finally, our friends at the Better Business Summit have just launched early bird tickets for next year’s event (Feb 2025). The Mill was part of a journalism discussion last year and will be involved again this time around. Tickets are available here.
Yes, Galloway won Rochdale. But it’s the runner up who really tells us about politics in the town
By Jack Dulhanty and Mollie Simpson
Usama Khalid, who runs Zaki’s Street Food, a food van selling chai tea and biryani on Oldham Road in Rochdale, forgot to vote in the town’s by-election yesterday. Standing in the rain this morning opening up the van, squinting in the wind and struggling to get his cigarette lit, he asks: “So, who won?”
“George Galloway.”
“Ah, that’s good then, isn’t it?”
Khalid only came to Rochdale last year, from Pakistan. He hasn’t had much time to get used to the town or its politics, but he knew he wanted Galloway to get into parliament, because of his campaigning on Gaza. The tea dispensers behind him are plastered with Save Palestine stickers. But when I ask what he thinks Galloway can actually do for the town, he shrugs. “I’ve only been here a year, man.”
In the buildup to yesterday’s by-election, there was a feeling among voters and commentators alike that Galloway is an opportunist using the conflict in the Middle East to get back into parliament for the fifth time. Galloway denied this – but on being elected as the town’s new member of parliament, he told those gathered at the count quite directly: “This is for Gaza.” When he did, Billy Howarth, a local independent campaigning under his charity Parents Against Grooming, walked off stage.
Walking around a drizzly Rochdale today, we found a similar sense of disaffection and disillusionment with white voters who seem to harbour reservations about Rochdale’s Asian community. When we visited the high street, we spoke to a white couple, Gordon and his wife, who asked not to be named, who said they were disappointed with the result. Why? “It proves a point about Rochdale,” Gordon says. “We’re heavily populated by Asian people.”
“Certain groups are being favoured over other groups,” says his wife. “Everyone needs to be treated equally, never mind your race, never mind your colour.”
Local resident Keith broadly agrees. “Disgrace,” he says. “This is a local election for Rochdale. It has nowt to do with Gaza.” Keith says he voted for a local independent candidate, Michael Howarth (no relation to Billy), because he drinks in his pub and he felt that Howarth had a better connection to the people of Rochdale. “There’s too many Muslims in Rochdale,” he goes on. “There’s only one type of resident that has voted for him.” A Guardian analysis described the by-election as a “warning sign” of disaffection among voters.
But this by-election was unique. Galloway joined the race as a protest vote — and then the party he was protesting against withdrew support for their candidate (Ali made antisemitic and conspiratorial comments during a local Labour party meeting) leaving it basically open to him. It’s not certain that would be replicated elsewhere, especially with a candidate other than Galloway, who is something of a host unto himself.
But perhaps what's more revealing is not who won, but who came second. Rob Ford, a political scientist and author of Brexitland, says we shouldn’t underestimate the significance of the surprise success of Galloway’s runner up, David Tully.
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