George_Galloway

George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochdale since the 2024 by-election. He has been the leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019. From 1987 to 2010, and from 2012 to 2015, Galloway served as MP for four constituencies, first for the Labour Party and then from 2005 for the Respect Party, which he led from 2013 until its dissolution in 2016.
Galloway was born in Dundee, Scotland. After becoming the youngest ever chair of the Scottish Labour Party in 1981, he was general secretary of the charity War on Want from 1983 until his election as MP for Glasgow Hillhead at the 1987 general election. After being expelled from Labour, in 2004 Galloway joined the Respect Party. He was elected as MP for Bethnal Green and Bow at the 2005 general election. After losing in neighbouring Poplar and Limehouse in 2010, he was re-elected at the 2012 Bradford West by-election; he lost this seat at the 2015 general election. He unsuccessfully stood as an independent candidate in the 2017 and 2019 general elections. Galloway then founded the Workers Party of Britain and stood unsuccessfully for the party at the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election. Galloway won the 2024 Rochdale by-election with 39.7 per cent of the vote.
Galloway describes himself as both a socialist and socially conservative. He is a staunch critic of Israel and Zionism, and supports the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He was involved in the Viva Palestina aid convoys to the Gaza Strip. Previously he supported Ba'athist Iraq and travelled there to meet regime officials. He caused controversy for reportedly praising Saddam Hussein, which he denied. Galloway founded the Mariam Appeal to campaign against sanctions on Iraq. An outspoken opponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Labour Party expelled him for "bringing the party into disrepute". Galloway was accused of receiving illicit payments from Iraq's regime, partly from money diverted from the United Nations' Oil-for-Food Program. He defiantly defended himself at a 2005 US Senate hearing. He supported Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. In 2016 he campaigned for the UK to leave the European Union, later supporting Nigel Farage's Brexit Party in the 2019 European Parliament election. He opposes Scottish independence and founded the British unionist alliance All for Unity, which received 0.9 per cent of votes in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Galloway blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the West and has been accused of spreading pro-Russian disinformation.
Galloway has won defamation proceedings against the Mirror Group, the Daily Telegraph, Christian Science Monitor and Jcom Radio.
Galloway hosted the TalkRadio show The Mother of All Talk Shows from 2006 to 2010 and from 2016 until his dismissal in 2019. He was a presenter on Russian state media outlet Russia Today (RT) from 2013 to 2022, and was a presenter on Iranian state media outlet Press TV. Galloway's talk show moved to social media platforms.