Galloway seeks route back to Commons with bid at Manchester seat

Mr Galloway will stand as an independent candidate in the upcoming by-election triggered by the long-serving MP’s death in February.

He became the Respect MP for Bradford West following a surprise by-election in 2012 but lost the seat to Labour’s Naz Shah in the 2015 General Election.

Announcing his candidacy on the Westmonster website, Mr Galloway, who was expelled by Labour in 2003, said that ousting the party from a stronghold which it has held since 1935 and won by a margin of 24,000 votes in 2015 would be “the mother of all by-election victories”.

He denounced Labour’s shortlist of five ethnic minority contenders to be its candidate as an “insult” to the local community, claiming it had been engineered by National Executive Committee member Keith Vaz, who sits on the selection panel for the constituency.

“The ‘All-Asian short-list’ hand-picked by Keith Vaz is just not good enough for the people of Gorton, one of the most deprived constituencies in Britain,” said Mr Galloway.

“The short-listing, which excluded many better candidates, is the latest in a long line of insults delivered by mainstream parties to local communities.”

On Labour’s shortlist for the by-election, whose date is yet to be fixed, are North West MEP Afzal Khan and city councillors Yasmine Dar, Amina Lone, Luthfur Rahman and Nasrin Ali.

Sir Gerald held Gorton in 2015 with 67 per cent of the vote, ahead of the Greens who polled 9.8 per cent.