George Galloway may stand as Mayor of Tower Hamlets and Mayor of London

George Galloway could stand for election as mayor of the borough of Tower Hamlets in east London if he loses his parliamentary seat of Bradford West in the general election.Galloway has already stated that he will stand for mayor of London if he loses the seat, but a speculative article in today's

Galloway has already stated that he will stand for mayor of London if he loses the seat, but a speculative article in today's Times newspaper points out that he might also be in the running for the position of Mayor of Tower Hamlets.

The previous Tower Hamlets' mayor, Lutfur Rahman, was removed by the High Court on Thursday, when his election was declared corrupt and illegal. The court found that he had intimidated Muslim voters into believing it was their religious duty to support him, and submitted fake postal votes.

Yesterday Tower Hamlets published a notice for an election on 11 June to replace Rahman. The deadline for nominations is 14 May. This would leave Galloway time to consider standing if he loses in Bradford, where the Respect party founder faces losing his parliamentary seat.

Galloway has a strong following in Tower Hamlets. Last year he was given a warm reception by locals when he spoke out in favour of Rahman at a public meeting.

Galloway was cheered when he declared that Mr Rahman was "the most popular and best mayor in the country".

He Galloway also said that Respect would return to the borough to take on the Labour Party.

Much of Tower Hamlets lies in the parliamentary constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow. Galloway won the seat in 2005, before standing down in 2010.

Away from Galloway's intentions for Tower Hamlets, what is known with certainty is that this week he stated that he will stand as mayor of London in 2016 if he loses in Bradford.

"I won't run for London mayor if I am re-elected on May 7," he said. "If I am not re-elected I will run."