The ensuing electoral campaign in the seat proved to be a difficult one with heated exchanges between Galloway, Oona King (the incumbent Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow), and their respective supporters.
Galloway and Respect threatened to sue King, whose mother is Jewish, if she repeated her assertion in the Evening Standard on 10 April 2005 which reported her as saying: "I have been told by several people that members of Respect have told Muslim voters "not to vote for me because I am Jewish"".

Galloway was asked at a hustings early in the campaign why he was standing against one of only two Black female MPs to which he replied that King had "voted to kill a lot of women in the last few years.
Many of them had much darker skins than her".
Claiming to be the ghost of Old Labour, Galloway told Sunday Times contributor A. A. Gill that "we’re here to haunt new Labour".
Bethnal Green and Bow is "where Labour was founded.
We’re giving birth to the Labour Party all over again".

Galloway said at a hustings event that the Labour Government had been pursuing a "war on Muslims" while King said her stance against Saddam Hussein had been "principled".
Galloway received death threats from an offshoot of al-Muhajiroun (a banned extreme Islamist group).
On 19 April, about 30 men forced Galloway's meeting with a tenants’ association to be abandoned after claiming he was a "false prophet" for encouraging Muslims to vote.
Galloway was held by the group for about 20 minutes before the police arrived at the scene.
All the major candidates united in condemning the threats and violence.
Both the Labour and Respect candidates were given police protection.

On 5 May, Galloway gained the seat from the Labour Party with a narrow majority of 823 votes, and denounced the returning officer for alleged discrepancies in the electoral process.
After the election result became known, Galloway's spokesman, Ron McKay, rejected claims that King had been racially abused during the campaign and said it was King who had brought up her Jewish background.
The ensuing electoral campaign in the seat proved to be a difficult one with heated exchanges between Galloway, Oona King (the incumbent Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow), and their respective supporters. Galloway and Respect threatened to sue King, whose mother is Jewish, if she repeated her assertion in the Evening Standard on 10 April 2005 which reported her as saying: "I have been told by several people that members of Respect have told Muslim voters "not to vote for me because I am Jewish"".
Galloway was asked at a hustings early in the campaign why he was standing against one of only two Black female MPs to which he replied that King had "voted to kill a lot of women in the last few years. Many of them had much darker skins than her". Claiming to be the ghost of Old Labour, Galloway told Sunday Times contributor A. A. Gill that "we’re here to haunt new Labour". Bethnal Green and Bow is "where Labour was founded. We’re giving birth to the Labour Party all over again".
Galloway said at a hustings event that the Labour Government had been pursuing a "war on Muslims" while King said her stance against Saddam Hussein had been "principled". Galloway received death threats from an offshoot of al-Muhajiroun (a banned extreme Islamist group). On 19 April, about 30 men forced Galloway's meeting with a tenants’ association to be abandoned after claiming he was a "false prophet" for encouraging Muslims to vote. Galloway was held by the group for about 20 minutes before the police arrived at the scene. All the major candidates united in condemning the threats and violence. Both the Labour and Respect candidates were given police protection.
On 5 May, Galloway gained the seat from the Labour Party with a narrow majority of 823 votes, and denounced the returning officer for alleged discrepancies in the electoral process. After the election result became known, Galloway's spokesman, Ron McKay, rejected claims that King had been racially abused during the campaign and said it was King who had brought up her Jewish background.
George Galloway