George Galloway’s pre-election prediction that Labour will come third in the Batley and Spen by-election has been making the rounds on social media.
The Workers Party of Britain leader failed to make the impact he was hoping for yesterday after voters “rejected division” and “voted for hope”.
Kim Leadbeater won the West Yorkshire seat with a majority of just 323 – down from the 3,525 vote cushion the party had in 2019 – but the result was a surprise after opinion polls put the Tories in the lead and Labour insiders had feared the worst.
The victory will ease the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, who was fiercely targetted by Galloway and faced questions about his leadership after the loss of Hartlepool in a by-election in May, and will boost morale within Labour.
Ms Leadbeater secured the seat with 13,296 votes, with Tory Ryan Stephenson on 12,973 and Galloway in third with 8.264.
The result means Ms Leadbeater now represents the seat previously held by her sister Jo Cox, who was murdered in the constituency in 2016.
In the aftermath of the election, a video of Galloway saying he will “eat his hat” if Labour don’t come in third place has been making the rounds on social media.
Watch the footage in full below:
“Labour are coming third. I’ll eat my hat if they are not”
— . (@twlldun) July 2, 2021
EAT THE HAT GEORGE https://t.co/K2WaPrnmiL
Related: Reaction as Leadbitter wins nail biter in Batley and Spen
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
