Could Rochdale be the most toxic by-election ever?
Eleven men are standing in the Greater Manchester seat in two weeks’ time.
And the three front runners have all been booted out of Labour at one time or another.
Azhar Ali – a county councillor 30 miles away in Lancashire – was ditched by the party last week for making anti-Semitic remarks.
Confusingly for voters he will still be on the ballot paper as Labour’s candidate because it was too late to make the change.
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George Galloway – expelled 20 years ago over opposition to the Iraq war – has swooped on the seat.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant hopes to capitalise on Labour's splits over Gaza by mobilising the local Muslim vote.
And former Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk is running for Reform UK.
He was suspended from Labour in 2015 for sexting a 17-year-old.
Fed-up residents think the whole circus is bonkers.
They are sick and tired of Rochdale’s name being dragged through the mud.
The town has become synonymous with grooming gangs and is still struggling to overcome horrors of wide scale sexual abuse of children.
One candidate Billy Howarth is even running on an anti-sexual abuse ticket, furious at the authorities who failed to protect the child victims.
“We never talk about the good that has come out of Rochdale,” a 41-year-old father says. “Look at Lisa Stansfield or Gracie Fields, our beautiful town hall.”
Valerie, 66, a retired teacher, said she usually votes Labour or Lib Dem but doesn’t know who to vote for.
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“I’m struggling to decide,” she adds. “I’m desperately trying.
“Part of me wants to make sure nobody too extreme gets in. But we’ve been left in a very difficult position.
“Everyone says ‘poor’ Rochdale but there’s a lot of good in Rochdale and we don’t need this.
“I think there was a naivety in Labour’s due diligence– they pushed for a by-election too quickly. It’s all been rushed.
“Rochdale has a lot of sensitivity because of the grooming scandal and really needed to be treated with more respect. Politics I think generally at the moment is quite depressing the calibre and reasoning made by all parties.
“At one point I said I would spoil my ballot in disgust at it all.”
Michael Mills, 70, a retired delivery driver, said: “The politicians need to get in touch with reality and what’s really going on.
"I know what people are saying – they should be concentrating on Rochdale but that should have been happening a long time ago.
"You’ve only got to walk into Rochdale to see that – the poverty.”
John Parker, 78, a retired PE teacher, added: “We need somebody local for a start. [Councillor Ali’s] not even from the area, he’s from Burnley so I’m against that. We’re fed-up with politics in general.”
Some residents were not aware of the scandal that has sent Labour into a tailspin.
Others say they are still planning to vote for Councillor Ali meaning he could very well end up being the area’s next MP.
Linda, 72, from Wardle, said she doesn’t think the scandal will hurt Councillor Ali’s chances.
She added: “I’ve been listening to what they’ve been talking about with the Labour candidate saying he’s anti-Semitic.
"They have to go with how people feel but personally I don’t think he meant it how it came out.”
The politicians need to get in touch with reality and what’s really going on
Michael Mills
However, the candidate formerly known as Labour was nowhere to be seen in Rochdale this week. In the vacuum, Mr Galloway is hoping to turn heads with his pro-Palestine campaign.
Around 30 per cent of Rochdale’s voters Muslim.
Syed Haider, 54, an electrician, said: “I always voted for Labour. This time I’m being carried away by these campaigns. I have thought about George Galloway as well.
“He’s standing against all these bombings in Palestine. I’m a human being and I don’t want anybody to be killed. He said he’s going to be a voice in parliament so that’s made me think about it.”
Mr Galloway told the Sun on Sunday: “The Labour Party has basically shot itself in the head rather than the foot and now I'm in pole position. The bookmakers have got me as the odds on favourite.”
He says his mission is to “destroy” the Labour Party and highlights 50 constituencies where the number of Muslim electors is greater than the parliamentary majority enjoyed by the sitting MP.
“As Ronald Reagan said ‘you ain't seen nothing yet’,” Mr Galloway said. “Next time it's no more Mr Nice Guy.”
His party has Labour’s Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner’s seat in their sights: “We will be targeting her supporting an independent candidate, and her majority is less than 5,000.
"She's out at the next general election.”
Reform UK candidate Mr Danczuk says the issue coming up time and again on the doorstep is illegal immigration.
“They feel that the government failed to tackle the boats coming across from France,” he says.
“And they believe rightly that Labour have got an open door policy.”
He hits out at his rivals saying: “We've now got two extreme left wingers fighting over who can be more extreme in relation to Gaza and that's created a lot of toxicity.
"My campaign is all about Rochdale first. I'm standing for Rochdale, my opponents are focused on Gaza.”
Tory candidate Paul Ellison, a landscape gardener, blasted the political turmoil that has engulfed the race.
“It’s totally unacceptable,” he says. “Our campaign is positive, so we don't want to Rochdale any longer having a grey cloud over it.”
But the overwhelming feeling on the streets of Rochdale is apathy.
As one man said: “What a cock-up it’s been!”
