Veteran left-winger George Galloway has lost the Rochdale seat he won only four months ago in a stunning by-election victory.

The Workers Party of Britain founder did not attend the count at Rochdale Leisure Centre to hear the general election result.

Labour’s Paul Waugh, a political journalist, won with 13,027 votes as Mr Galloway secured 11,587.

Reform UK’s Michael Howard came third, with 6,773 votes.

It was a huge turnaround from Mr Galloway’s landslide by-election victory, when he tapped into anger about Labour’s stance on the conflict in Gaza to win by more than 6,000 votes.

His campaign in February was hugely boosted by Labour’s decision to withdraw support for its candidate, Azhar Ali, over remarks widely alleged to be antisemitic.

After his victory earlier this year, Mr Galloway said: “Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked.”

Mr Galloway was a Labour MP until 2003, before sitting in the Commons as an independent and Respect Party MP for three constituencies between 2003 and 2015.