George Galloway wins Bradford West by-election

LONDON: George Galloway, an anti-war campaigner in the small, left-wing Respect party, beat Labour's Imran Hussain in a result announced on Friday with more than 18,341 votes from a by-election on Thursday for the seat of Bradford West.

Britain's main opposition Labour party lost one of its safest parliamentary seats after a one-off vote in northern England, in the strongest sign yet that new leader Ed Miliband is failing to cash in on disenchantment with the Conservative government.

Galloway, who unsuccessfully ran for office in the 2010 general election and the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, had a plurality of more than 10,000 votes.

He described the win, which toppled Labour from a seat it had held since 1974, as "the most sensational result in British by-election history".

"Labour has been hit by a tidal wave in a seat it held for many decades in a city it dominated for 100 years," Galloway said.

Labour candidate Hussain came second with 8,201 votes, while Conservative candidate Jackie Whiteley was third, with 2,746. Turnout was 50.8 percent.

Galloway, a divisive figure on the left, was expelled from Tony Blair's Labour party in 2003 for his vociferous opposition to the Iraq war - having accused Blair and George Bush of attacking Iraq "like wolves". (Reuters)