Overview
Variously described as a ‘left-wing firebrand’, a ‘brash Stalinist’, and a ‘loose cannon’, ‘gorgeous George’ Galloway has never failed to capture media attention.
After joining the Labour Party at 13, Galloway threw himself into politics. What followed is one of British politics’ longest and most unorthodox careers.
George Galloway has been in and out of Parliament for over 30 years.
Galloway and the Workers Party
In May 20201, George Galloway announced his plan to contest the Batley and Spen by-election, for the Workers Party. The Workers Party describes itself as economically radical with an independent foreign policy.
Galloway contested the election on an ‘anti Keir Starmer’ ticket, saying in a video filmed at Batley bus station that, “if you think the current leader of the Labour Party needs to be replaced, then I am your man”.
Mr Galloway previously won a by-election in nearby Bradford West for his then Respect Party. Come polling day, Galloway polled 8,264 votes, albeit the Labour Party narrowly managed to hold the seat and negate the impact of his challenge.
Galloway and his return to Scottish Politics
Already familiar with political comebacks, Galloway vowed to return to politics in the wake of the Coronavirus epidemic.
Galloway is an opponent of Scottish Independence. Opposed to indyRef2 unless the SNP gain more than 50% of the popular vote, he has called for Scotland to get off the “neverendum hamster wheel”. His Alliace4Unity website stated that it would, “Stand up to the SNP against Scottish separatism”.
Galloway set up the new ‘Alliance 4 Unity’ Party (now called All for Unity) with a ‘gofundme’ page. According to its website, the All 4 Unity. (A4U) Party was seeking “to form a government of ‘national unity’ in favour of the Union”.
However in the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections, Galloway’s ‘All for Unity’ did not find favour with voters, with Galloway himself polling just 5,521 votes in South Scotland.
Political Career
In 1987, Galloway entered Parliament for the first time as the Labour Party MP for the constituency of Glasgow Hillhead. He would go on to represent this constituency until 2005.
Following controversial comments about Tony Blair in 2003, Galloway was expelled from the Labour Party. However, Galloway made a shock return to politics as the leading figure of the new ‘Respect Party‘.
At the 2005 General Election, as the Respect candidate, he defeated the then high profile Labour MP Oona King. Mr Galloway lost this seat at the 2010 election, but he returned to Parliament as a Respect MP in 2012, winning the Bradford West by-election. Galloway lost this seat at the 2015 election.
Respect
Galloway describes himself as a life-long socialist, and having found himself without a party after 2003, he soon assumed control of ‘Respect’ – a new left-wing political party and vehicle for Galloway’s activism. This was the party that Galloway had stood for – and won with – at the 2005 General Election and again at the 2012 Bradford West by-election.
Respect was set up following the invasion of Iraq and grew out of the discontent sowed by the invasion of the country. Respect was vehemently anti-war and anti-capitalist, and the 2005 election was the first time that a party to the left of Labour, had won a seat in the House of Commons since 1951.
When Galloway lost his Parliamentary Seat at the 2015 General Election, the Respect Party began a terminal decline. Plagued by intra-party fighting and splits, Respect deregistered with the Electoral Commission in 2016.
Broadcasting Career
While still MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, Galloway took part in Series Four of ‘Celebrity Big Brother’, doing so under the illusion that he could spread his message. The show cut his political remarks and instead he is remembered only for his portrayal of a cat.
In 2010, Galloway interviewed Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Iranian state TV. More recently, Galloway has been presenting ‘Sputnik: Orbiting the world with George Galloway‘ for Russia Today, a news channel owned by the Russian state.
Iraq
Galloway made his name with his strong opposition to the 2003 Iraq War. He described George Bush and Tony Blair as acting like wolves, which earned him his 2003 expulsion from the Labour Party.
Galloway has since claimed Tony Blair and George Bush had ‘far more blood on their hands’ than the terrorists who carried out the 2005 London tube bombings.
In 1994, Galloway was criticised for interviewing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in which he said ‘Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability’.
Background
George Galloway was born in 1954 in Dundee. Galloway would later say of his upbringing ‘I was born in an attic . . . in a slum tenement . . . in the Irish quarter of Dundee which is known as Tipperary’.
At 13, Galloway joined the Dundee Labour Party and he was still in his teens when he was made its Secretary.
By 22, Galloway was Dundee’s youngest Councillor, and by 26 he had become Chairman of the Scottish Labour Party.
By the 1980s, Galloway was well-known as a charismatic campaigner and radical; a key figure of the 1980s Bennite left within the Labour Party.
In 1981, Denis Healey tried to have Galloway removed from Labour’s candidates list for writing for a pro-Communist magazine. It was also in 1981 that Galloway became General Secretary of the major global charity War on Want.
Social Media
Twitter – @georgegalloway
