Anti-war Catholic MP to court Muslim voters
-6/12/04
Rebel MP George Galloway, who is a practic
Anti-war Catholic MP to court Muslim voters
-6/12/04
Rebel MP George Galloway, who is a practicing Roman Catholic, has announced that he will be seeking the support of Muslims and anti-war voters in Bethnal Green and Bow, East London, at the next UK General Election. He will stand against sitting Labour MP Oona King, who backed the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Peace activist Galloway, who has just won a £150,000 libel case against the Daily Telegraph for defamatory claims that he received money from Saddam Husseinís regime, is still MP for Glasgow Kelvin, but the seat is due to disappear due to boundary changes.
Galloway will be the candidate for Respect, a left-wing alliance he helped found following his expulsion from the Labour Party in May 2003, after he called PM Tony Blair and President George Bush ëwolvesí for their action against Iraq.
Bethnal Green and Bow has a population of 120,000. It has more Muslim voters than any other British parliamentary constituency, and covers Tower Hamlets, where Respect topped the poll in the European Assembly elections in June 2004. The party also gained a council seat there in a by-election in St Dunstan’s and Stepney Green ward.
ìReligion and politics is bound to be a big issue come the electionî, a local community activist told Ekklesia.
Galloway is married to a Palestinian and has been outspoken in support of Muslim-backed causes. He has also run into trouble among left-wing allies for anti-abortion views inspired by his Catholicism.
Earlier this year Respect declined to call itself a ësecularí political party after a delegate at its annual conference called this designation ëIslamophobicí. But it has come out in favour of the disestablishment of the Church of England.
Respect has been criticized for the influence exercised on it by the Trotskyite SWP (Socialist Workersí Party) and for links to the Muslim Association of Britain, which some allege has ties to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
George Galloway, who describes himself as being on ìthe anti-imperialist leftî rather than holding court for any particular faction, was described in 2002 by then Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw MP as having ìmade a career of being not just an apologist, but a mouthpiece, for the Iraqi regime over many years.î
Bradshaw, MP for Exeter and a member of the Christian Socialist Movement, was later to withdraw his remark.
Both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties in Bethnal Green and Bow have already chosen candidates from the majority Banglesdeshi community.
The sitting MP, Oona King, who is black British, is Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt. She has campaigned on domestic violence, housing, pensioner rights, electoral reform, inner city regeneration and fairer international trade. But she has been strongly criticized locally for her pro-war stance.
Galloway began the election war of words this weekend by dubbing Oona King ìa New Labour stooge.î In return she has accused him of neglecting his Glasgow constituents and announced that she will be pleased to ìfinish him offî politically.
Anti-war Catholic MP to court Muslim voters
-6/12/04
Rebel MP George Galloway, who is a practicing Roman Catholic, has announced that he will be seeking the support of Muslims and anti-war voters in Bethnal Green and Bow, East London, at the next UK General Election. He will stand against sitting Labour MP Oona King, who backed the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Peace activist Galloway, who has just won a £150,000 libel case against the Daily Telegraph for defamatory claims that he received money from Saddam Hussein’s regime, is still MP for Glasgow Kelvin, but the seat is due to disappear due to boundary changes.
Galloway will be the candidate for Respect, a left-wing alliance he helped found following his expulsion from the Labour Party in May 2003, after he called PM Tony Blair and President George Bush ‘wolves’ for their action against Iraq.
Bethnal Green and Bow has a population of 120,000. It has more Muslim voters than any other British parliamentary constituency, and covers Tower Hamlets, where Respect topped the poll in the European Assembly elections in June 2004. The party also gained a council seat there in a by-election in St Dunstan’s and Stepney Green ward.
ìReligion and politics is bound to be a big issue come the electionî, a local community activist told Ekklesia.
Galloway is married to a Palestinian and has been outspoken in support of Muslim-backed causes. He has also run into trouble among left-wing allies for anti-abortion views inspired by his Catholicism.
Earlier this year Respect declined to call itself a ‘secular’ political party after a delegate at its annual conference called this designation ‘Islamophobic’. But it has come out in favour of the disestablishment of the Church of England.
Respect has been criticized for the influence exercised on it by the Trotskyite SWP (Socialist Workers’ Party) and for links to the Muslim Association of Britain, which some allege has ties to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
George Galloway, who describes himself as being on ìthe anti-imperialist leftî rather than holding court for any particular faction, was described in 2002 by then Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw MP as having ìmade a career of being not just an apologist, but a mouthpiece, for the Iraqi regime over many years.î
Bradshaw, MP for Exeter and a member of the Christian Socialist Movement, was later to withdraw his remark.
Both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties in Bethnal Green and Bow have already chosen candidates from the majority Banglesdeshi community.
The sitting MP, Oona King, who is black British, is Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt. She has campaigned on domestic violence, housing, pensioner rights, electoral reform, inner city regeneration and fairer international trade. But she has been strongly criticized locally for her pro-war stance.
Galloway began the election war of words this weekend by dubbing Oona King ìa New Labour stooge.î In return she has accused him of neglecting his Glasgow constituents and announced that she will be pleased to ìfinish him offî politically.