Galloway says he will launch legal proceedings after landslide election loss

Firebrand veteran politician George Galloway has begun a legal challenge over his election loss last week.

The Respect Party leader, who is known for his anti-Israel views, lost his seat of Bradford West to Labour’s Naz Shah.

Despite winning 8,557 votes, his opponent gained 19, 977.

He disputes the outcome, claiming on his Twitter and Facebook pages that he has now started legal proceedings to have the ‘result of Bradford West election ‘set aside”.

On  his Facebook page, he claimed that not only would the election result be challenged, but he would seek for his opponent, a lawyer, to be ‘de-barred.’

He said: “There has been widespread malpractice in this election.., particularly over postal voting.’

“We are in the process of compiling the information which will form part of our petition to have the result set aside”

A Labour spokesman told the BBC that the action was “pathetic and without any foundation”, and that Mr Galloway should accept that he was ‘booted out’ by the people of Bradford West. 

“They saw through his divisive politics and made a positive choice, by a majority of well over 11,000.”

Mr Galloway, known for his strong oratory skills, and support for the Palestinians gave a losing speech after finding out the result, in which he said: “The venal and the vile, the racists and the Zionists will all be celebrating.”

He also outlined his intention to start his next campaign, to become the London Mayor in 2016.