Galloway to contest election under Respect party colours
George Galloway has accepted the invitation to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the Respect Party at the next general election.
The co-founder of Respect will stand in the East London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow at the general election, predicted to be called for May next year.
Mr Galloway launched Respect, the Unity Coalition, in January along with Socialist activists opposed to the Iraq war.
Yesterday, Mr Galloway won £150,000 in libel damages from The Daily Telegraph for an article alleging he was in the pay of Saddam Hussein.
He was awarded costs, estimated at 1.25 million pounds..
The 50-year-old MP for Glasgow Kelvin said he accepted the invitation with “great honour and pride”.
He is set to proffer his party’s anti-war message to the constituency’s large Muslim community in a bid to oust sitting Labour MP, Oona King.
Mr Galloway in a broadside against the “New Labour stooge” said she would “sing any song, make any speech, do any dance, do anything she is told to by Tony Blair – irrespective of how her constituents are adversely affected or how strongly they feel to the contrary.”
Mr Galloway was expelled from the Labour Party over comments made during his vociferous opposition to the Iraq war.
