The founding of the Workers Party of Britain was welcomed by the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (CPGB-ML).[16][4] Joti Brar, a vice-chair of the CPGB-ML, was elected as the Workers Party of Britain's deputy leader at its founding congress.[16][4]
The WPB contested its first parliamentary seat at the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, with Galloway as its candidate.[15] Galloway gained 8,264 votes (21.9%) and came in third, behind the winning Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater and second placed Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson. The Lib Dems came in fourth place, as they did in the previous election.[19] Galloway concentrated on the issues of the Palestinian territories, the Kashmir conflict, criticism of Labour leader Keir Starmer, the suspension of a teacher for showing a cartoon of Muhammad at Batley Grammar School, and the reopening of a police station in Batley.[20][21][22] The campaign received considerable media attention due to incidents of harassment during its final days.[23][24][25][26]
The Jewish Labour Movement called the result a "triumph for hope and decency" over Galloway's "toxic politics". Galloway vowed to challenge the result on the basis of an alleged "false statement" made about him by Leadbeater and Starmer, which he said tipped the result of the by-election.[27][28]
At the party's Congress in December 2023, Galloway was re-elected party leader. Three deputy leaders were elected – Chris Williamson, Andy Hudd (Vice President of the ASLEF) and Peter Ford (former Ambassador to Bahrain and Syria).[33][34]
On 29 February 2024 Galloway won the 2024 Rochdale by-election.[35] The Israel–Hamas war dominated the campaign. In his election speech, Galloway said "Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine, in the Gaza Strip."[36][37] Galloway won almost 40% of the vote and overturned a previous Labour majority of 9,668. Labour had withdrawn support for its candidate when it became known he had suggested that Israel was complicit in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[38] Following the by-election it was announced that the Workers Party has 59 prospective parliamentary candidates for the next general election.[39]
Ideology and platform
The party describes itself as "economically radical with an independent foreign policy" and "unequivocally committed to class politics".[40][41] It has expressed support for a planned economy. In May 2021, Galloway described the party as "the working-class patriotic alternative to fake woke anti-British 'Labour'".[42] The party is also opposed to NATO and European Union membership, with a policy of NATO withdrawal.[43][44]
The party's platform has been outlined in its 10-point plan, in which it advocates "rebuilding British industry", universal "decent housing", "free or cheap" public transportation and an end to NHS waiting lists. It advocates referenda on net-zero policies and the future of the monarch. Its manifesto states "The transition to a Green economy should be at a pace that matches the ability of our population to afford it. We will not be seduced by the more apocalyptic Green hysteria that floods our media but we will seek rational debate centred on democratically aligned outcomes beneficial to workers".[45][non-primary source needed] Its website states it "defend[s] the achievements of the USSR, China, Cuba etc, not least the debt owed by humanity to the Soviet Union and Red Army in their war of liberation against German fascism."[44]
The party's leader and founder, George Galloway has described himself as socially conservative.[46] The party itself has also been defined as adopting social conservatism, such as its rejection of gender self-identification.[4]
The party describes itself as anti-Zionist.[47][48] One of the party's three deputy deputy leaders, Chris Williamson, has been highly outspoken in his criticism of Israel. He has stated that "Israel has forfeited any right to exist", which resulted in a police investigation.[49] He has also stated that Israel "has behaved worse than Nazis"[50] and that "Israel must be destroyed."[51]
The party has been criticised by the Socialist Worker, who have accused them of being reactionary, and said that the party, "spurns many battles that are part of the working class fight, such as oppression and environmental collapse".[52][better source needed]
*Co-operative Party candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party. †Sinn Féin have elected members and offices at Westminster, but as abstentionists do not take their seats.