George Galloway

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
A guide to

U.K. Politics

Icon politics UK.svg
God Save the Queen?
George Galloway in 2007.

George Galloway is a batshit British MP who belongs to the left-wing Respect Party. Previously he represented the Labour Party as an MP for Glasgow.

Contents

[edit] Political career

George Galloway has been politically active since the 1980s, and was first elected as a Labour MP in 1987. He has had a stormy relationship with the establishment, often voting against the party's policies and whips' instructions. In 2003, he was expelled from the Labour Party for his outspoken criticism of Tony Blair's leadership and especially his opposition to Iraq War, including an incitement for British troops to disobey orders.

Galloway was re-elected to Parliament in 2005, standing for Respect. In 2006, he appeared in the reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, where he pretended to be a cat at one point. In 2007, he was briefly suspended from the House of Commons, for criticisms of the House and a Select Committee which had investigated his financial activities after The Telegraph alleged that he had received kickbacks from Iraqi sources under a UN aid programme (allegations which were found libellous after legal action by Galloway).

In March 2012 Galloway won a by-election in Bradford West, taking a set from Labour's Imran Hussain with a 10,140 majority.[1] This election was fought partly with a bizarre campaign stressing that Galloway doesn't drink ... vine, making him a better Muslim than Hussain;[2] and a speech in which Galloway implied that people who voted for his rival would be punished on Judgment Day.[3] As writer Nick Cohen pointed out, not even Rick Santorum went quite that far.[4]

[edit] Beliefs

Galloway is a supporter of Hezbollah[5] and Hamas; his endorsement of the latter resulted in him being banned from entering Canada.[6]

He has also defended the government of Iran, arguing that the country does not execute people for homosexuality and that the boyfriend of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay Iranian asylum seeker, was instead executed for "committing sex crimes against young men." Galloway's argument was condemned by gay activist Peter Tatchell, who said that Galloway had provided no evidence for his claim and was merely purveying "Iranian propaganda."[7]

Galloway describes Syria as "the last castle of Arab dignity"[8] and believes that Bashar al-Assad will be victorious in the current conflict.[9]

[edit] Views on rape

Galloway has a history of making embarrassing statements, but he reached truly self-destructive levels in August 2012 when he weighed in on the accusations that Julian Assange is guilty of rape. Galloway said that "I think that Julian Assange's personal sexual behaviour is sordid, disgusting, and I condemn it" but also argued that Assange's alleged action - having sex with a sleeping woman after previously having consensual sex with her - did not constitute rape.[10] Galloway was widely criticised for this statement: Salma Yaqoob, then leader of Respect, left the party[11] while the National Union of Students banned Galloway as a "rape denier."[12]

Despite condemning Assange's behaviour, Galloway later held him up - alongside the antisemite Gilad Atzmon - as "two of the world's greatest."[13]

[edit] Footnotes

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Toolbox
support