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George Galloway

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George Galloway (born August 16, 1954) is a Scottish politician, who is Member of Parliament for the Glasgow Kelvin constituency. He was elected as a Labour Party candidate but was suspended from the party on May 6, 2003. He has become an extremely controversial figure due to the apparent closeness of his connections to the former regime in Iraq. On April 22, 2003, the Daily Telegraph published documents found in Iraqi government offices after the fall of Baghdad which it claimed showed that Galloway had met Iraqi intelligence agents and had received £375,000 from the Iraqi government. Galloway denied the claims and announced that he would sue the Telegraph for libel, as of May 12 no writ has been served or filed.

Born in Dundee in 1954, Galloway became a factory worker on leaving school. He later became a Labour Party organiser and General Secretary of the charity War on Want before being elected to the House of Commons at the 1987 general election, defeating the former SDP leader Roy Jenkins in Glasgow Hillhead.

Galloway is a left-winger, a visible opponent of privatisation and nuclear weapons at a time when the wider Labour Party was generally becoming reconciled to them. He has gained most notice for his support for even extreme Arab causes such as Saddam Hussain (of Iraqi), General Gaddafi (of Libya) and the Palestinian. He is an opponent of what he calls western econo-imperialism and anti-Zionist and harsh critic of Israel.

He opposed the 1990-91 Gulf War and was critical of the effect the subsequent sanctions had on the people of Iraq, visiting Iraq several times and meeting senior government figures including Saddam Hussein. He was subsequently dubbed the "member for Baghdad Central", and was called "not just an apologist but a mouthpiece for the Iraq regime over many years" by Labour minister Ben Bradshaw, a comment the minister later retracted after being called a liar by Galloway.

In 1998 Galloway founded the 'Mariam Appeal' to raise money to pay for leukaemia treatment for a young Iraqi girl, call Miriam. A move which won him more press, first positive then negative as allergations rose that funds where mis-sappropriated and used to pay his wife and driver. This fund was at the centre of a further scrutiny during the 2003 Gulf war with allegations of lavish spending on Galloway's reular trips to the Middle East. It has been suggested by the Telegraph as the destination of the Iraqi funds.

During the 2003 Iraq war Galloway was interviewed by Abu Dhabi TV. In the interview, broadcast on March 28, he called Tony Blair and George W. Bush "wolves" and said "even if it is not realistic to ask a non-Iraqi army to come to defend Iraq, we see Arab regimes pumping oil for the countries who are attacking it. We wonder when the Arab leaders will wake up. When are they going to stand by the Iraqi people?". He later denied that this was an incitement to attack British soldiers and said that "it would be best for them to refuse to obey illegal orders." These remarks led to his suspension from the party, pending an inquiry, for allegedly "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute by behaviour that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the party". Some people have suggested that he should be tried over his comments under the Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934.