George Galloway interview: 'You are here because you want to find something to attack me with'

Cahal Milmo joins Respect MP George Galloway on the campaign trail in Bradford West

The battle for Bradford West descended to a new low for Respect candidate George Galloway (Getty Images)

Outside a Bradford primary school, George Galloway is buying ice cream. Election rules on treating, he points out, mean the Flake 99s from the Rossi's van are strictly for himself and his team, not the potential constituents lining up to speak with him. And certainly not for The Independent.

The Respect candidate in Bradford West is in characteristically combative mood and suspicious about the presence of this newspaper’s representative in the once rock-solid Labour seat which he wrested from his former party’s grip in dramatic fashion three years ago with a 36 per cent swing.

Finishing off his cone in the spring sunshine with a week to go before polling day, the self-styled one-man awkward squad of Westminster politics said: “You are here because you want to damage me. You are here because you want to find something to attack me with... What you want is for me to insult my opponent. I won't.”

The 60-year-old veteran of eight General Election campaigns is unimpressed at being asked why the fight for Bradford West has been coloured by a vigorous trading of slights between himself and his Labour opponent. A fairer question, he chides, would be why he and his “tiny” party are, as he sees it, heading for another seismic victory.

The politician renowned for his ability to come out on top in verbal sword play (or at least land some telling blows) has perhaps only recently become sensitive about being seen as over-robust in his exchanges with his competitors in the race for the House of Commons.

So far in this campaign he has accused his Labour opponent, Bradford-born Naz Shah, of lying about her forced marriage, reported her to the Director of Public Prosecutions and asked for her to investigated for committing perjury during her mother’s murder trial some 20 years previously.

Ms Shah, 41, the chairwoman of a mental health charity, has been no shrinking violet. She has accused Mr Galloway, whom she had supported in his 2012 victory, of being an “absentee MP” and highlighted his substantial earnings outside Parliament from activities including television appearances for Russian and Iranian-backed stations. She too has reported Mr Galloway to the DPP.

The Battle of Bradford West in 2015 has been rancorous (Getty) (Getty Images)

Even by the standards of the city's lively politics, the Battle of Bradford West in 2015 has been rancorous. While all candidates have addressed pressing issues, such as the parlous performance of the city’s schools, the debate has been perfumed by a sulphurous whiff of personal animus.

Mr Galloway’s critics have deprecated him for, as they see it, questioning the evils of forced marriage by challenging whether Ms Shah was 15 or 16 at the time of her wedding to a man who she insists later beat her. A forced marriage, they say, is a forced marriage at whatever age it takes place.

The debonair Conservative candidate, George Grant, has even felt the need to come to Ms Shah defence, calling Mr Galloway’s attacks “reprehensible”.

But the Respect leader has rejected the criticism, instead accusing Ms Shah of exaggerating the personal story with which she ignited her candidacy in March by going public on how her father had left his family when she was six and was married against her will at 15 in Pakistan. She then found herself caring for her two younger sisters after her mother served 14 years for the murder of her abusive, drug-dealing partner.

Mr Galloway suggests he is on track for victory with a potential tally of 15,000 votes (Getty)

Mr Galloway produced an Islamic marriage certificate which he said showed Ms Shah was over 16 when she married and criticised her for reinforcing negative stereotypes about Pakistani men.

For his part, the outgoing MP has accused Ms Shah of stooping low first by questioning his commitment to the seat and the community where he is seeking re-election.

His selling point and, he argues, his success has been in representing a community tired of being “attacked, ridiculed, marginalised”. As he put it: “Muslims like me because I stand up for them. I don’t stand up for them because they like me.”

Supporters of Ms Shah, who has called Mr Galloway a “one-man Messiah”, counter further by arguing that an attack on Mr Galloway’s Westminster voting record is not on a par with dredging up her traumatic past and accusing her of misrepresenting it.

In the event of defeat, Mr Galloway has hinted he may consider turning his sights on London and running as mayor (Jonathan Fowler)

A Labour spokesman accused the Respect candidate of “smear after smear” on Ms Shah, adding: “She is Bradford born and bred, has a lifetime’s experience as an activist and is the only candidate on the ballot paper who can bring real change to Bradford West.”

The result on the streets of this diverse constituency, stretching from the curry houses of Manningham to the greenery of Yorkshire villages en route to Bronte Country, is a degree frustration as voters navigate a thicket of claim and counter-claim. For example, both sides are claiming the credit for steering through the new Westfield shopping mall which it is hoped will rejuvenate the city centre.

Bradford West remains one of the most impoverished corners of Britain in a city still struggling to swap its industrial past for a future that matches the ambitions of its youthful population. Unemployment remains stubbornly high - according to one study, just 47 fewer constituents claim Jobseeker’s Allowance in 2015 compared to 2010. The seat has the highest proportion of Muslims in Britain with around half of its residents being Muslim.

In The Bazaar, an indoor market close to Respect’s headquarters, Hassan Ali was in the middle of adjusting the display on his jewellery stall: “I am confused over which way to vote. Naz Shah is a local lass. She understands her community. But she also has to do what the Labour Party wants her to do.

Bookies say the result is likely to be close with the fedora-wearing Respect leader a narrow favourite ahead of Ms Shah. (EPA)

“I think people feel Galloway has been in Parliament for three years and not much has happened. But he is also strong on Islamophobia - he says what the community wants to him say.”

Compared to the swathes of the nation where the election debate has seemed at best anaemic, politics in Bradford West at least stirs passions. Thickets of Respect and Labour posters vie for prominence from the tops of buildings and few lack an opinion.

For some, the campaign is about the crumbling of the “biraderi” system of clan politics which once delivered bloc votes on the say-so of community leaders. Mr Galloway’s supporters claim his ability in 2012 to attract the votes of the young and women (and, it has to be said, white voters in outlying villages) was evidence of a timely revolt against the local Labour party’s hegemony.

Others argue that the teetotal Respect candidate’s criticism of Ms Shah - and a Twitter spat with a local pub - are attempts to shore up a more traditionalist Muslim vote.

And yet, many confess to also being impressed by the Labour candidate’s candour. Riza, a mother-of-two leaving a grocery store emblazoned with Respect posters, said: “I think she was brave to stand up like that. It can be difficult to be an Asian woman and I think it shows a strength of character. She’s up against a lot of men - and I don’t just mean the guy on those posters.”

Mr Galloway suggests he is on track for victory with a potential tally of 15,000 votes, though the bookies say the result is likely to be close with the fedora-wearing Respect leader a narrow favourite ahead of Ms Shah.

In the event of defeat, Mr Galloway has hinted he may consider turning his sights on London and running as mayor. In the meantime, his fierce gaze remains firmly on Bradford West, where he has raised the issue of curbing the taxi app Uber as part of his pitch.

Does he see himself as a disruptive technology in British politics? He disagrees: “I am your traditional, much-loved black cab. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. There are not a lot of us black cabs around any more.”