For all his anti-war rhetoric, George Galloway is not your hero. He is not a brave and bold crusader against the forces of the right, he is not the sole voice of truth in a chorus of lies and he is absolutely, certainly not the left-wing messiah he's being made out to be.
In his career, George Galloway has managed the seemingly impossible feat of being more self-serving, more egotistical and hungry for power than Tony Blair.
Here's why.
Gormless George has made much hay about being anti-Blair, dubbing the Prime Minister a 'wolf' and fashioning himself as an arch-rebel against the forces of New Labour. However, his voting record while a member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead/Kelvin tells a different story. In fact, The current member for Bethnal Green and Bow could be counted on by Tony Blair as one of his most loyal supporters in the House of Commons.
During the 1997 Parliament, Galloway voted against the Government only 5 times in 665 divisions. From his re-election as a Labour MP in 2001 to the party's withdrawing of the whip in 2003, he voted against the Government only 27 times out of 209 divisions (votes). All in all, from 1997 to 2003, the Hon. Member was one of the 20 Labour MPs least likely to rebel against the party he now attacks in order to gain votes.
When he turned up, that is...
According to figures kept by The Public Whip, Galloway's dedication to his job steadily slipped from lackluster to mediocre to utterly unforgivable. From the period of his expulsion from the Labour Party to April 11th 2005, the date on which Parliament was dissolved, the then Independent member for Glasgow Hillhead only voted in 3.5% (19) of 549 divisions.
These performance figures show a lack of commitment to his constituents which go a long way towards explaining why his Constituency Labour Party attempted to remove him as their candidate as far back as 1989.
Furthermore, the busy schedule which kept him from completing his sworn duty as a Member of Parliament from 2003 seem to shed some light on why he dismissed the idea that - as a self-proclaimed socialist - he should accept a worker's salary, claiming that he required £150,000 a year to 'function in politics' [1]. Functioning, in Mr. Galloway's world, apparently means taking an MP's salary of £57,485 (now £59,095) while deigning to do the job he was elected to do less than 5% of the time. If you're curious, the rest of his time was spent writing a book, taking a holiday, setting up a party of his own and campaigning for another seat.
Dirty, negative & downright racist campaigning
It could be argued that the above facts over Galloway's performance and voting record are merely academic, but the campaign Gormless George ran against Oona King, a black, Jewish woman in 2005 to win the seat of Bethnal Green and Bow certainly cannot. By all accounts, this was one of the very ugliest constituency campaigns of recent memory.
Galloway and RESPECT's rhetoric during the campaign was despicably opportunistic and even extremist, attempting to exploit racial tensions among the Asian community, which makes up 40% of the electorate in Bethnal Green and Bow. In a debate on local radio [2], Mr. Galloway referred to the war on Iraq as 'a war against Muslims, a war against Arabs', and in his campaign literature both dubbed himself 'a fighter for Muslims' and sought to portray Ms. King as contrary to Islamic values by displaying photos of her in supposedly "immodest" dress.
It worked. During the course of the campaign, King was targeted by a group of extremists who slashed her tires[3] as well as campaigners who pelted her with eggs and fruit while she attended a Holocaust memorial service. By her own account, while on the campaign trail she faced repeated anti-Semitic slurs[4], though Respect deny any part in this.
If we're going to criticise those on the right for using wedge politics and racial tension to win elections, surely those of us here on the left should hold our own to the same standards?
This diary entry has gone long enough, and I feel I haven't even scratched the surface of reasons why George Galloway is not only unworthy of the praise offered today but is one of the most duplicitous, opportunistic and self-serving men in politics today. I haven't written about his party's unwillingness to take a stance on issues such as gay rights or abortion in order to avoid alienating asian conservatives. I haven't talked about his shady financial deals, his comments about British soldiers serving in Iraq nor have I even come close to mentioning his apologism for the USSR and Hussein. That argument has been done to death by the right.
I say this as a progressive - a union member, a social democrat and a committed left-wing activist: George Galloway represents the worst of our type. Don't lionise him. Please.
[1] The Scotsman, 19th May 2003
[2] Radio London, 10th April 2005
[3] BBC News Online, 6th May 2005 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/england/4520121.stm)
[4] The Times, 11th May 2005 (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1607947,00.html)