George Galloway has ruled out a bid for the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election – despite convincing hundreds of supporters to hand over thousands of pounds for the “inevitable” contest.

Shortly after Margaret Ferrier’s Covid rule breaches came to light, the former MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant launched the “largest ever crowd-funder in the history of by-elections.”

He managed to raise £12,239 over 45 days in late 2020 thanks to the generosity of 422 supporters.

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Speaking to the Sunday Post over the weekend, Mr Galloway said voters in Rutherglen and Hamilton West should back Labour’s Michael Shanks.

He said: “I think nobody should stand except the best placed pro-Union candidate, which in this case is obviously Labour.

“It should be a straight Labour-SNP fight and that should be the case in every contest until we have ridden Scotland of this scourge of separatism.”

He said the money raised was used as a “fighting fund” for his now defunct All For Unity party at the last Scottish Parliament election.

Mr Galloway told the paper: “We could not have been clearer.

“We said in the fundraiser that any funds not spent on a by-election will be spent on the Holyrood election of ’21.

“It’s been a long time waiting on this by-election.”

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Meanwhile, Count Binface says he is mulling over a possible tilt at the vacancy created after constituents recalled Ms Ferrier.

The intergalactic space lord recently won 190 votes at the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election sparked by the resignation of Boris Johnson.

That meant he took eighth place in a field of 18 candidates, finishing ahead UKIP and Piers Corbyn.

He told The Herald that the South Lanarkshire seat was “a location of prime galactic importance”

“And I’m not just saying that to curry favour with local constituents of voting age. Honest,” he added.

The Count said:” I think I owe it to the ‘mainstream’ parties to keep my electoral powder dry for now, and not to tip them off about whether they’ll be facing interstellar competition or not. I like to have them quaking in their boots for as long as possible.

“Whether I stand in the RAHW contest or not, I am a big fan of Scotland, and I hope to be seeing a lot more of that great land sometime in the next twelve months or so.”