Galloway was victim of child abuse
Respect MP George Galloway revealed today that he was abused by a school caretaker at the age of 11.
Mr Galloway disclosed the information in his regular column for the Daily Record, which he used to lend support to the government’s vetting system for people who work with children.
Mr Galloway said if the rules saved even one child from the “horrors” of sexual abuse, they would be worth it.
“I’m not saying the abuse has ruined my life or anything. I’ve had a happy life. But it did affect my life and not in a good way and neither in ways I care to rehearse before you,” wrote Mr Galloway.
“Every time a Soham murderer or a Dunblane Thomas Hamilton emerges, I die a little inside as I remember that dirty old man driven by the same perverted interest in sexually attacking kids.”
The twice married MP said he had not even told his wives about what happened at the hands of an “aggressive predator”.
The new rules will mean that anyone who has access to children at a school – for however brief a period – will need to be vetted.
In most cases people will have to pay for the vetting out of their own pockets.
Several leading children’s authors, including Carnegie medal winner Philip Pullman, oppose the new rules.
