George Galloway plays it safe at Bradford West hustings as police keep the peace

Things were far calmer at the event at the city's university than the last Carlisle-based hustings, where Galloway accused his Labour rival of lying about her forced marriage

Around 200 university staff and students gathered for the Bradford West hustings where George Galloway was sat well away from his Labour rival Naz Shah (Steve Morgan)

After a previous hustings event in Bradford West turned ugly, the scene at the city’s university last night was much more focused on politics and not personalities – until the very end. There was strict security at the university and a police officer kept watch from the back of the room.

George Galloway, who is defending a 10,140 majority for Respect following a by-election three years ago, was sat three seats away from his Labour rival Naz Shah and separated by chair, Professor Donna Lee, who strictly limited questions to politics and nothing that strayed into the boundaries of the controversial.

Around 200 university staff and students gathered for the Bradford West hustings three weeks before polling day with only a smattering of number of empty seats.

Harry Boota, Ukip’s candidate was twice heckled when trying to talk about discrimination.

There was just one ill-tempered exchange between George Galloway and Naz Shah when she questioned his voting record in parliament while supposedly answering a question about Prevent legislation and how it affects students. Professor Lee interjected and urged her to answer the question.

Ms Galloway blamed Tony Blair for sending extremism cascading around the world with the policy of invasion and occupation of one Muslim country after another.

Asked what their stance on free higher education, Mr Galloway said he worked from a very early age in part to pay for other people’s education. He said he paid for Tony Blair to go to Oxford entirely for free. He said university should be free and the state should pay for it.

Conservative candidate George Grant said in response to Galloway’s opposition to anti-terror legislation in parliament that it’s very easy to do that: “When you’ve never had to take any responsibility for anything in your life.”

The questions from students and staff were dominated by matters affecting students – access to decent housing and whether the voting age should be reduced to 16.

Mr Galloway said he was confident about the result and his record as a parliamentarian. “You’re a terrible one,” shouted someone from the audience. He said he’d tabled more motions and questions than any other MP in the whole of Britain. “I have put Bradford back on the political map. There was a hole in the ground and now there’s a Westfield.” Mr Grant shook his head and Ms Shah laughed as he was heckled from the audience. One man shouted: “The people did that - not one man.”

Naz Shah said she was not a career politician and is a community activist. “If I’m elected I will vote on more than 11 per cent of the issues in parliament,” she said. “I will be visible and I live in Bradford. I will be engaged in more than six debates in 18 months. I will not be off elsewhere earning another £300,000.” She said she will put Bradford back on the map not with empty promises with the real change it needs. “We don’t need a one man Messiah to tell us what to do,” she added. She was greeted with loud applause.

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