Rochdale by-election | Why is everyone talking about George Galloway MP acting like a cat previously?

Polarizing “left-wing” MP George Galloway has won the Rochdale by-election overnight, representing the Workers Party of Great Britain. Galloway, 69, won the seat with 40% of the votes, basing his campaign on matters including taking on a pro-Gaza stance and support for Rochdale’s football club.

The runner-up in the election was a local businessman named David Tully, who ran as an independent and received over 6,600 votes, while during Galloway's speech, climate protesters interrupted him and threw orange confetti at him while calling him a "climate change denier".

That speech also saw Galloway take a shot at current Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, stating "Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza," while Labour responded in a statement "Galloway only won because Labour did not stand" and apologised for being unable to field a candidate. Labour initially supported MP Azhar Ali, until they withdrew their support after remarks he made that were widely alleged to be antisemitic.

Galloway was an MP in Glasgow from 1987 to 2005, representing Labour until 2003 when he was kicked out of the party for telling soldiers in Iraq to disobey orders. He then became the independent MP in Bethnal Green and Bow, east London from 2005 to 2010 before losing to Rushanara Ali, and was also MP in Bradford West from 2012 to 2015. 

Galloway fought a dirty campaign against his Labour rival Naz Shah, now the MP for Bradford West, claiming she was 16 instead of 15 when she was forced into marriage. He said this mattered because it played into Pakistani stereotypes. 

Galloway also met Saddam Hussein and described him as "your excellency", and has praised the Soviet Union, the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and Syria's murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad.

But amid those controversies, why are people making references to George Galloway acting like a cat? For that, we have to go back beyond Galloway’s recent by-election into a time when he was looking to garner a new generation of voters for his cause.

When did George Galloway act like a cat?

In the 2006 series of "Celebrity Big Brother," one of the tasks assigned to the housemates involved a role-playing scenario where each contestant was assigned a specific character or role to play. George Galloway was given the role of a cat in this particular task.

During the task, George Galloway was required to fully embody the behaviour of a cat. This included actions such as crawling on all fours, purring, and drinking milk from a saucer. Galloway fully committed to the role, adopting cat-like mannerisms and movements to the best of his ability - which was both pretty convincing to his credit, but also incredibly unsettling watching him cosy up to Rula Lenska who asked if he would like a saucer of milk.

He performed this task in the presence of his fellow housemates, who observed and reacted to his portrayal of a cat. Among the housemates with whom he interacted during this task were other celebrities participating in the show, such as Pete Burns, Michael Barrymore, and Jodie Marsh.

Galloway's portrayal of a cat became one of the most memorable moments of his time on "Celebrity Big Brother," generating a significant amount of attention and discussion both within the house and among viewers of the show.