George Galloway blames 'racists and Zionists' for defeat to Naz Shah in Bradford West

The Respect MP's departing general election speech was colourful

George Galloway speaks during an interview at his offices in the constituency of Bradford West, in Bradford, England, on 22 April, 2015 (AP Photo/Jon Super)

George Galloway delivered a typically eccentric speech after he suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Labour’s Naz Shah.

The Respect party MP, who lost his Bradford West seat with 8,557 votes to Shah’s 19,977 said he feared the “racists and Zionists” would be celebrating long into the night upon hearing the news.

“I don’t begrudge the Labour members here their moment of celebration of course,” he said.

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“But there will be others who are already celebrating: the venal, the vile, the racists and the Zionists will all be celebrating. The hyena can bounce on the lion’s grave but it can never be a lion and in any case, I’m not in my grave. As a matter of fact I’m going off now to plan the next campaign.”

This is how Twitter reacted to the news he would no longer be in the Houses of Parliament.