What could happen if George Galloway wins the Rochdale by-election?

This Thursday’s vote in a deprived town in Greater Manchester has generated something of a circus in recent weeks. Sean O’Grady looks at what a Galloway win could mean, not just for Rochdale but for British politics as a whole

George Galloway is the bookies’ favourite, and it seems things have been going his way (PA)

Soon the voters will go to the polls in Rochdale, in what is proving, without hyperbole, to be the most bizarre by-election in recent decades. The most striking aspect, of course, being that the Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, who had an excellent chance of holding the seat, lost the support of his party in a row over antisemitism. So now the Labour Party is not campaigning at all, and is offering its supporters no guidance as to whom they should vote for – but formally, Ali remains the “Labour Party candidate” on the ballot paper.

Theoretically, he could still get elected. The intervention of the pugilistic George Galloway and his Workers Party of Britain is the other great novelty, though he has done this sort of thing before. In any case, and despite the circus, the by-election may tell us a few things about what’s going on in politics; and the result may have consequences far beyond the town...

Who’s going to win?