'Should be me': George Galloway warns of Nigel Farage's rising popularity - even in Rochdale

George Galloway has warned of Nigel Farage's rising popularity - even in Rochdale where he is running to be re-elected as an MP. The Workers Party of Britain leader has said he is the 'antidote' to Mr Farage's Reform UK, arguing that he is the best alternative to Labour.

Launching his party's manifesto in Manchester today (June 19), Mr Galloway blamed Labour and the Tories for leaving a 'vacuum' that Mr Farage is filling. During a 30-minute monologue, he revealed that in parts of Rochdale, there are many voters backing Reform UK.

However, he told the Manchester Evening News that he would prefer any party beating Labour, even the Conservatives or Reform UK. Mr Galloway, who was expelled from Labour in 2003, also described a landslide majority for Sir Keir Starmer's party as a 'very bad idea'.

READ MORE: 'I'm doing two jobs and I still find it hard - can George Galloway really change things?'

He said: "Having canvassed a ward in Rochdale with my team yesterday and discovering that 50 per cent of those who expressed a voting intention are voting Reform in Rochdale, I realise the dangers of Farage running away with this election are very real indeed.

"The first reason is that others have nothing to say. Farage has something to say.

"What he's saying is wrong. What he's saying will not solve our problems and will deepen many of our pre-existing policies.

"But he is saying something. And he's saying it with zeal, he's saying it with a spring in his step, and he's speaking it in human, as opposed to the desiccated calculated machines of Starmer in particular.

He added: "We are the antidote, not just to Labour, but to Reform. If there's going to be a leader of the opposition to Keir Starmer, Prime Minister - God forbid, but looking increasingly likely - that should be me."

Following his speech, the M.E.N. asked Mr Galloway if he is comfortable contributing to the Conservatives or Reform UK winning if his party takes votes away from Labour in marginal constituencies. He said: "Yes. We don't consider Labour to be the lesser of two evils.

"If you pushed me, I would say that Labour was the greater of two evils. But we definitely don't consider Labour to be the lesser of two evils. We think a landslide Keir Starmer majority is a clear and present danger to our people, to our country, to our democracy."

He added: "We're not targeting anybody else's votes except [Labour's]. We want votes of people who genuinely believe in what they thought was Labourism. We want the votes of those who want peace and not war. We want the votes of those who are revolted, repulsed by the bi-partisan support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza. That's our vote bank. That's a lot of people."

Labour has chosen Rochdale-born political journalist Paul Waugh to stand in the Rochdale constituency. The Tories, Lib Dems, Greens and Reform UK will also be contesting the seat which Labour has won at the last four general elections with majorities of up to 14,000.