George Galloway: constituency-hopping campaigner who is rarely far from controversy

With Rochdale win, Galloway has been elected to represent voters in four cities for three parties across four decades

Meeting Saddam Hussein in 1994, George Galloway told the Iraqi dictator: “I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.” Thirty years on, even Galloway’s most vocal opponents must salute his indefatigability, if nothing else, as the 69-year-old father of six takes yet another seat in parliament.

His stunning win in Rochdale was his seventh parliamentary victory of a political career in which he has represented four cities and three parties across four decades, equalling Winston Churchill’s constituency-hopping record.