George Galloway, once a Labour MP, has returned to the House of Commons representing his own Workers Party of Britain.
His career ranges from joining Labour as a teenager, to appearances on reality show Big Brother and working for Iranian state-funded television.
But who is George Galloway?
He was born in 1954 and raised in Dundee, Scotland.
He joined the Labour party as a teen and became chairman of the party in Scotland aged 26.
In 1987, he became MP for Glasgow Hillhead beating the Social Democratic Party incumbent Roy Jenkins, who had previously been the Labour home secretary under Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan.
In 2003, he was expelled from the party after falling out with then prime minister Tony Blair over the UK’s intervention in Iraq.
Galloway then became an independent before joining the Respect Party, with a focus on opposing the war in Iraq.
In 2005, his seat in Scotland was abolished so Galloway went on to contest the East London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow.
He ended up winning the seat over Labour’s Oona King by just over 800 votes.
Ms King later said the election was “one of the dirtiest campaigns we have ever seen in British politics”, saying she faced antisemitic abuse during the campaigning.
In 2006, still as an MP, he joined reality show Celebrity Big Brother.
In 2010, he took his first electoral loss as he ran for the Poplar and Limehouse constituency but finished third.
Two years on and he was back as in 2012 he won the Bradford West by-election.
He lost this seat soon after however at the general election.
In 2016, he ran in the London Mayoral Elections for the Respect party but gained just 1.4% of the vote.
He was then unsuccessful in gaining a seat in both the 2017 and 2019 election.
In 2021, he finished third for his own Workers of Britain Party as he contested the Batley and Spen by-election.
Galloway has always been outspoken regarding Middle Eastern issues and in 1977 he pledged to devote his life “to the Palestinian and Arab cause”.
This would be the basis for his campaign in Rochdale.
Following the death of Sir Tony Lloyd, Galloway announced he would run for the seat.
He emerged as favourite after Labour abandoned their candidate Azhar Ali following an antisemitism scandal.
He gained 12,335 votes, nearly 6,000 more than any other candidate and is back in Westminster.