George Galloway is disputing his election defeat

George Galloway, the former Respect MP who was defeated at the general election by more than 10,000 votes, is taking legal action in an attempt to overturn the result, he has said.

Mr Galloway tweeted: “We’ve begun legal proceedings seeking to have result of the Bradford West election set aside. I cannot therefore discuss my own election for now.”

After a particularly bitter election fight, Mr Galloway polled more than 8,500 votes, putting him in second place behind Labour’s Naz Shah, who got just under 20,000. Ms Shah has changed her Twitter bio to “Labour MP for Bradford West” since her election, but Mr Galloway’s still describes him as the Respect party’s “parliamentary candidate for Bradford West”. On Friday, Mr Galloway had appeared to concede, saying: “Bradford will always have a central place in my heart… I’m going off now to plan my next campaign.”

Mr Galloway was reported to police on election night after he allegedly sent a tweet about exit polls before voting closed, which is banned under election law. However a Respect Party spokesman said at the time: “It seems like a storm in a thimble.”

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