George galloway

Labour’s defeat in Rochdale – following the party’s string of impressive by-election victories in places such as Wellingborough, in Brexit-voting middle England – will give leader Keir Starmer an almighty headache. Despite the party’s big poll lead, it shows that nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to looking ahead to the general election. The problems in Rochdale started when the Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, appeared to suggest that the Israeli government allowed the October 7 Hamas-led terror attacks to take place, in order to provide the pretext for a full-scale military invasion and bombardment of Gaza. Labour withdrew support for Ali but he remained on the ballot

The Ukraine crisis claims another victim. Step forward George Galloway, the mystic Myrtle who bet in February that the country would not be invaded by Moscow. The journeyman politician is in something of a strop at present, after Twitter took the step of labelling his account as ‘Russia state-affiliated media’ following a series of bizarre takes on the conflict. Addressing the social media giant publicly, Gorgeous George moaned that: Dear @TwitterSupport I am not “Russian State Affiliated media”. I work for NO #Russian media. I have 400,000 followers. I’m the leader of a British political party and spent nearly 30 years in the British parliament. If you do not remove this designation I

Ah, gorgeous George, the man so often on the right side of history. The rabble-rousing politician, who has had more parties than Boris Johnson, has been at it again in recent weeks, insisting that ‘the West provoked this crisis’ in Ukraine. Coincidentally, the former Labour MP also hosts a show on Moscow-backed network RT UK – previously better known as Russia Today. Galloway struck a bet earlier this month with a pro-Unionist Twitter account. Under the suggested terms of the deal, if Europe reached July without an invasion, Ukrainian soldiers killed in action or without any Ukrainian territory gained by Russia, the user in question would have to change their profile picture to

My mob originates, we have come to assume, from somewhere in Ireland, though exactly where we don’t know. Humza Yousaf, justice secretary in the Scottish government, was born in Glasgow to immigrant parents — one from Pakistan, the other from Kenya. We were contemporaries at university (Glasgow), I became a journalist around the time he became a politician (SNP, alas), and while I’ve long been impressed by his abilities, his smiley-sinister Hate Crime Bill confirms him to be a nightmarish fusion of Judith Butler and Mary Whitehouse. What has never occurred to me is the notion that Yousaf is less Scottish than me. If anything, I wish he’d tone it

Gorgeous George, the born-again Unionist north of the border, has had a revelation. In order to knock the SNP down a peg at the May elections, the Caledonian firebrand is going to have to do something that goes against every fibre of his socialist being. George Galloway is voting Tory.  Once he was teaming up with Jeremy Corbyn to take on New Labour’s hated war in Iraq. Now he’s joining forces with Ruth Davidson to take on the Scottish Nationalists.  An odd turn of events, perhaps, but not without precedent. In 2019 Galloway backed Nigel Farage’s Brexit party at the European elections, so incensed was he with the failure to carry out the referendum

After Labour party members in Copeland rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s preferred choice as candidate for the upcoming by-election in favour of former doctor Gillian Troughton, the hunt is on to find a suitable candidate for the upcoming Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election — to be held on the same day. With Tristram Hunt quitting to take a job with the V&A, Labour MPs are worried the seat could be lost to Ukip or the Tories. But fear not. Help is at hand. Could George Galloway be about to come to comrade Corbyn’s rescue? Speaking on his Talk Radio show, the Respect party leader — who was expelled from Labour in 2003 — claims that he is the only

Yesterday Emily Thornberry accused Sky News‘s Dermot Murnaghan of sexism for asking her to name the French foreign minister. While the shadow Foreign secretary has since been the subject of much ridicule over the claims, she can take heart that some comrades still have her back. Step forward George Galloway. Galloway has written a blog post on his website in which he defends Thornberry. The former Labour MP says she was ‘right to complain’ about Murnaghan’s questioning — though not for the reason she put forward: ‘I’m not Emily Thornberry’s biggest fan, and she should have known the name of the French Foreign Minister (whom Boris Johnson had just met) and both

I had been wondering where Gorgeous George Galloway might pop up next. Defenestrated from his seat in Bradford West, humiliated in the London mayoral elections — where he received 1.4 per cent of the vote — and no longer apparently an attractive proposition to the reality TV producers, his public life seemed sadly to be drawing to a close. But nope, here he is with a film about the person all left-wing people hate more than any other, Tony Blair. It’s a good film, too, in the main. The Killing$ of Tony Blair was partly crowdfunded and it may well be that the only people who watch it will be

It’s rare that an election result leaves you with a sense of giddy, disbelieving glee, but there it was in black and white. Galloway, George, Respect (George Galloway) Party, 37,007 votes. Walker, Sophie, Women’s Equality Party, 53,055 votes. Once you took second preferences into account, Walker and her newly formed feminist movement beat Galloway and his band of Islamists by almost 100,000 votes. This result is so striking, and so perfect, because Galloway is one of those old-fashioned socialists whose attitudes towards gender equality are distinctly retrograde: it is the man’s job to further the revolutionary cause and the woman’s to provide dutiful comradely support. Indeed, while he may not be

With George Galloway predicted to have won roughly one per cent of the vote in the London mayoral election, his dream of becoming Mayor is fading fast. So, barring a drastic recount, the next question to ask is: what will become of his battle bus? Barely a day has gone by in the campaign when Galloway has not been spotted in the bright blue bus touring the streets of London. Happily, Steerpike understands that Londoners can expect to see more of the Respect politician and his vehicle. Rather than return the vehicle, Mr S hears that Galloway now owns the bus and plans to paint it as he requires for his

George Galloway has stepped up his London mayoral campaign today by taking his battle bus down Whitehall. In an attempt to rally the troops, the Respect candidate shouted through his megaphone: ‘David Cameron, you couldn’t make it up!’ Alas on Mr S’s watch, Galloway-mania failed to kick-in. While he managed to frighten the horses — of the Household Cavalry no less — when it came to supporters, he only seemed able to fill one of the 72 seats on the double-decker bus with a supporter. Vive la révolution!

It takes an achingly long time for the British to see a lickspittle of mass murderers for what he is. For years, you jump up and down shouting ‘look at what he’s done!’ All but a handful ignore you. But he’s a character, the rest cry. He’s not like those poll-driven, focus-group–tested on-message politicians, who speak in soundbites. He is passionate about his beliefs. So he is, you reply, and that’s the problem. Since the marches against the Iraq war of 2003, I have written against George Galloway. He has supported Baathist regimes it is fair to describe as fascist: Saddam Hussein’s Sunni Arab dictatorship in Iraq after it had gassed the Kurdish

To the Conrad hotel in St James where Nigel Farage went head to head with former Labour spinner John McTernan in a Ladbrokes’ Brexit debate. Although the EU was the number one topic on the agenda, the panel chair Isabel Oakeshott — who is the co-author of Call Me Dave — managed to get pig on the menu as she recalled an email McTernan had sent about a journalist — during his time advising Julia Gillard in Australia: ‘This was an order as to how this journalist was to be treated: dead — not ever, no transcripts, no returned calls, dead, forever — that’s an order.’ She said that the email summed

Although the Out campaign has gained momentum since Michael Gove and Boris Johnson backed Brexit, there are still concerns that the campaign is yet to find a leader. However, could their prayers be about to be answered? Step forward David Icke. Yes, the Corbyn-loving purple-tracksuit-wearing-lizard-conspiracist has plumped for Out, with a series of eye-catching pieces of clip art: June 23 – NO to EU dark suits running your life (and they have hardly begun if we stay in): https://t.co/1KQCrXfyzj pic.twitter.com/aLOf6GUb11 — David Icke (@davidicke) February 21, 2016 Key figures choose sides as Cameron sets EU referendum date: https://t.co/bLNdP1bdn9 pic.twitter.com/F3CLVvAEVS — David Icke (@davidicke) February 21, 2016 The So-called German-Turkish Secret Pact

Over the weekend a number of Brexit activists walked out of an anti-EU Grassroots Out rally after George Galloway was revealed as the guest speaker. Although the Respect party leader was introduced by his new chum Nigel Farage at the event, even Ukip supporters voiced opposition to his involvement. So when Galloway appeared on today’s Daily Politics, it wasn’t out of the question that the presenter Jo Coburn might bring up the incident. Alas her attempt to ask him about whether his involvement could prove to a divisive issue fell flat, as Galloway took issue with her line of questioning. An excruciating exchange between the two followed: JC: But are you worried that you

Since Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, the party has been dogged by rumours that George Galloway could rejoin the party. The Respect party leader — who was expelled in 2003 following his outspoken comments on the Iraq war — has called for his expulsion to be rescinded. Corbyn has refused to rule out such a move, while Galloway claims that he speaks to Corbyn’s director of comms Seumas Milne — who he describes as his ‘best friend’ — on a regular basis. However, in a sign that not everyone may be so on board with such a move, Corbyn’s close comrade John McDonnell has made a hire that is unlikely to sit

If a dirty mind is a perpetual feast, then a filthy mind is an open sewer. You see where the manure is coming from. More to the point, you know where it is going. When Galloway faced a challenge for the Bradford West seat from the Labour candidate, Naz Shah, he thought the best way to respond was to denounce a woman’s tales of abuse. He reduced Shah’s forced marriage at the age 15, to a ‘slander of her own family, community and city’ and an appeal to ‘racist stereotypes’. When he declared Bradford an ‘Israel free-zone,’ Muslim and white anti-Semites paid attention. And when he began his campaign to be London mayor by saying that the Labour candidate Sadiq