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[[Image:George_Galloway.jpg|right|thumb|200px|George Galloway]]
[[Image:George_Galloway.jpg|right|thumb|200px|George Galloway]]
'''George Galloway''' (August 16, 1954, [[Dundee]]) is an extreme [[left-wing]] [[Scotland|Scottish]] politician and the former [[Respect Party|Respect]] Member of Parliament (MP) for Bethnal Green and Bow, in [[London]] (although he was commonly referred to in the media as the "member for Baghdad North"). He was expelled from the [[Britain|British]] [[Labour party]] in October 2003 for bringing the party into disrepute. The party charged that Galloway incited [[Arab]]s to fight British troops and also incited British troops to defy the orders of their officers. The party's National Constitutional Committee was unanimous in its guilty verdict.<ref>"Labour statement on Galloway" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3208755.stm ''BBC News''] October 23, 2003</ref>
'''George Galloway''' (August 16, 1954, [[Dundee]]) is an extreme [[left-wing]] [[Scotland|Scottish]] politician and the [[Respect Party|Respect]] Member of Parliament (MP) for [[Bradford]] West. He was expelled from the [[Britain|British]] [[Labour party]] in October 2003 for bringing the party into disrepute. The party charged that Galloway incited [[Arab]]s to fight British troops and also incited British troops to defy the orders of their officers. The party's National Constitutional Committee was unanimous in its guilty verdict.<ref>"Labour statement on Galloway" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3208755.stm ''BBC News''] October 23, 2003</ref>
[[Image:Galloway traitor.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Allegations of [[treason]] have been leveled at Galloway]]
[[Image:Galloway traitor.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Allegations of [[treason]] have been leveled at Galloway]]
Galloway first entered politics aged 26 in his home town, where he ordered the [[PLO]] flag to be flown over the town hall and withdraw the city's civic hospitality to visiting [[NATO]] warships. The political editor of one major [[British]] newspaper has gone on record as saying: "''Galloway is a silver-tongued bully who has always been surrounded by a cloud of suspicion over his shifty activities, his manipulation of other people’s cash and his readiness to punch anyone he could not sue...A congenital liar, his favourite defence trick was total denial. If that failed, he would claim he had been misquoted.''"<ref>'''Kavanagh, Trevor''' "Paid to be a traitor" ''The Sun'' (2006)</ref>
Galloway first entered politics aged 26 in his home town, where he ordered the [[PLO]] flag to be flown over the town hall and withdraw the city's civic hospitality to visiting [[NATO]] warships. The political editor of one major [[British]] newspaper has gone on record as saying: "''Galloway is a silver-tongued bully who has always been surrounded by a cloud of suspicion over his shifty activities, his manipulation of other people’s cash and his readiness to punch anyone he could not sue...A congenital liar, his favourite defence trick was total denial. If that failed, he would claim he had been misquoted.''"<ref>'''Kavanagh, Trevor''' "Paid to be a traitor" ''The Sun'' (2006)</ref>
On July 18, 2007, the [[Daily Mail]] reported that Galloway could face a fresh police inquiry into his financial links to Saddam Hussein's regime. His response was ''"They should be striking a medal for me. But these are the people who just a couple of weeks ago were giving a tear- stained standing ovation to a man - Tony Blair - who most of the world believes to be a war criminal."'' <ref> [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=468624&in_page_id=1770 Galloway faces new police inquiry into Saddam cash] </ref>
On July 18, 2007, the [[Daily Mail]] reported that Galloway could face a fresh police inquiry into his financial links to Saddam Hussein's regime. His response was ''"They should be striking a medal for me. But these are the people who just a couple of weeks ago were giving a tear- stained standing ovation to a man - Tony Blair - who most of the world believes to be a war criminal."'' <ref> [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=468624&in_page_id=1770 Galloway faces new police inquiry into Saddam cash] </ref>
At the 2010 election, constituency boundaries were redrawn to abolish Bethnal Green and Bow. Galloway stood in one of the new constituencies in London, but was not re-elected.
==Return to parliament==
On 29 March 2012, Galloway stood in a by-election in Bradford West (traditionally a solidly Labour constituency, with a high percentage of [[Muslim]] voters), again representing the Respect Party (although the party is so small that he was effectively an independent candidate). To general surprise, he was elected<ref[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17549388 BBC News]</ref>, having campaigned on an anti-war, pro-Muslim ticket and capitalised very effectively on widespread disenchantment with the mainstream parties.
Galloway's election, though bad news for all main parties, is seen as a catastrophe for Labour: opposition parties generally do well at by-elections, especially during [[recession]]s, and Bradford is a working-class area that would traditionally be a reasonably safe Labour seat. In particular, it served to weaken the already unsteady position of the Labour leader, [[Ed Miliband]].
==References==
==References==