Is Greater Manchester ready for Mayor Galloway?
George Galloway is considering standing against Andy Burnham, the Manchester Evening News can reveal. The new Rochdale MP who won a by-election two weeks ago is now looking at running to be Greater Manchester’s mayor.
Returning to Parliament for a seventh time following his by-election win, Mr Galloway took aim at the Labour mayor in his first speech back in the House of Commons. He has put Labour ‘on notice’, threatening to wipe them off the local council and promising to field candidates for Parliament across the country – including in Greater Manchester.
He is now thinking about entering the race to become Greater Manchester’s mayor in May. He has told the M.E.N. that if he stands for mayor, he would run on a platform of getting a ‘better deal’ for the city’s surrounding towns.
Unlike the general election the mayoral election is held May 2nd this year so Galloway is cutting it fine to stand.
I cannot see any betting markets on this mayoral race but my instinct would be to back Burnham in this market as I cannot see Galloway winning Greater Manchester as the demographics aren’t as Galloway friendly as Rochdale.
I suspect he won’t run because if he wins the mayoralty he would be forced to step down as an MP as you cannot be both an MP and Mayor of Greater Manchester then he has the chutzpah to quit being an MP after few weeks.
TSE