George Galloway was born on 16 August 1954 and is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019.
128 Facts About George Galloway
2.
Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member of Parliament for four constituencies, first for the Labour Party and later for the Respect Party, the latter of which he joined in 2004 and led from 2013 until its dissolution in 2016.
3.
In 2004, George Galloway became a member of the Respect Party, and then the party's leader by late 2013.
4.
George Galloway served for one parliamentary term and did not contest the seat in the 2010 general election.
5.
George Galloway returned to the House of Commons for the 2012 Bradford West by-election, but lost his seat in the 2015 general election.
6.
George Galloway stood as an independent candidate for Manchester Gorton in the 2017 general election and for West Bromwich East in the 2019 general election.
7.
George Galloway testified to the United States Senate in 2005 over alleged illicit payments from the United Nations' Oil for Food Program against Ba'athist Iraq.
8.
George Galloway opposes India's role in the Kashmir conflict with Pakistan, and has voiced support for the insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir.
9.
George Galloway supported Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election and during Corbyn's leadership of the party.
10.
Since 2006, George Galloway has hosted the talk radio show The Mother of All Talk Shows.
11.
George Galloway's mother was a cleaner, and then a factory worker.
12.
George Galloway took his mother's side in arguments, and has been a long-time supporter of Sinn Fein and Irish reunification.
13.
George Galloway grew up in Charleston, Dundee and attended Charleston Primary and then Harris Academy, a non-denominational school, playing for the school football team as well as for West End United U12s, Lochee Boys Club U16s and St Columba's U18s.
14.
George Galloway decided, at the age of 18, never to drink alcohol; the reason was originally derived from comments by his father, and he has described alcohol as having a "very deleterious effect on people".
15.
George Galloway joined the Labour Party Young Socialists aged just 13 and was still a teenager when he became secretary of the Dundee Labour Party.
16.
George Galloway became vice-chairman of the Labour Party in the City of Dundee and a member of the Scottish Executive Committee in 1975.
17.
George Galloway became the secretary organiser of the Dundee Labour Party in 1977 and at 26 was the youngest ever chairman of the Scottish Labour Party in March 1981, a post he held for a year after holding the vice-chairman post over the previous year.
18.
In late 1981, George Galloway was interviewed for the Scottish Marxist in which George Galloway supported the affiliation of the Communist Party of Great Britain to the Labour Party, in the same way as the Fabian Society does.
19.
In 1983, George Galloway attempted to stand for the safe Labour seat of Rhondda after the Welsh Transport and General Workers' Union and the National Union of Miners had both nominated him to succeed Alec Jones, who had died.
20.
George Galloway hoped to be selected in the newly created seat of Dunfermline East where no incumbent was standing.
21.
George Galloway failed to be selected for either seat, with Rhondda selecting Allan Rogers and Dunfermline East selecting future Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
22.
From November 1983 to 1987, George Galloway was the general secretary of War on Want, a British charity campaigning against poverty worldwide.
23.
At the 1987 general election, George Galloway was elected as the MP for Glasgow Hillhead gaining the seat for Labour from the SDP defeating Roy Jenkins with a majority of 3,251 votes.
24.
At a press gathering for War on Want in September 1987, when George Galloway had stood down as general secretary of the organisation, a journalist asked him about his personal arrangements during the previous year's War on Want conference on the Greek island of Mykonos.
25.
George Galloway gained re-selection when challenged by Trish Godman in June 1989, but failed to get a majority of the electoral college on the first ballot.
26.
George Galloway assured his party there would be a "summer of peace and reconciliation" in his acceptance speech, but this did not happen.
27.
In 1994, after Smith died, George Galloway declined to cast a vote in the leadership election.
28.
George Galloway was unchallenged for the nomination for the 2001 general election.
29.
George Galloway was elected with majorities of 16,643 and 12,014 votes respectively.
30.
In October 1991, George Galloway signed a motion in the House of Commons expressing concern at the allegations against news publisher Mirror Group Newspapers put forward in Seymour Hersh's recently published book, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.
31.
George Galloway opposed the 1991 Gulf War and was critical of the effect that the subsequent sanctions had on the people of Iraq.
32.
In January 1994, George Galloway faced some of his strongest criticism on his return from a Middle Eastern visit during which he had met Saddam Hussein.
33.
In 1998, George Galloway founded the Mariam Appeal which was intended, according to its website's welcome page in 1999, "to campaign against sanctions on Iraq which are having disastrous effects on the ordinary people of Iraq".
34.
In 1999, George Galloway was criticised for spending Christmas in Iraq with Tariq Aziz, who was Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister at the time.
35.
George Galloway responded by stating that the expenses were incurred in his capacity as the appeal's chairman.
36.
Bradshaw later withdrew his allegation, and George Galloway apologised for using unparliamentary language.
37.
In 2006 a video surfaced showing George Galloway greeting Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest son, with the title of "Excellency" at Uday's palace in 1999.
38.
George Galloway is heard saying he will be with Uday "until the end".
39.
George Galloway became the vice-president of the Stop the War Coalition in 2001.
40.
George Galloway was challenged by the BBC but denied making the "martyrs" comment.
41.
George Galloway completely denied the claims and pointed to the nature of the discovery within an unguarded, bombed-out building as being questionable.
42.
George Galloway instigated legal action against the newspaper, which was heard in the High Court on 14 November 2004.
43.
George Galloway said that money had been paid into the Mariam Appeal by Iraqi businessmen who had profited from the UN-run programme.
44.
George Galloway stated he had not benefited personally and that there was nothing illicit about the transaction:.
45.
Coleman's committee said that Pasqua had received allocations worth 11 million barrels from 1999 to 2000, and George Galloway received allocations worth 20 million barrels from 2000 to 2003.
46.
George Galloway reiterated his denial of the charges and asked the US Senate committee to charge him with perjury so that he could confront the charges in court.
47.
George Galloway said the investigation was an attempt to divert attention from the "pack of lies" that led to the Iraq invasion in 2003.
48.
George Galloway said the claim Aziz had told investigators he had benefited financially, via Zureikat, from the Oil for Food programme had been rejected by Aziz, via his French lawyers.
49.
George Galloway announced in December 2003 that he would not force a by-election and did not intend to contest the next general election in Glasgow.
50.
George Galloway chose not to challenge him, announcing this decision at the end of May 2004 in his Mail on Sunday column.
51.
George Galloway said at a hustings event that the Labour Government had been pursuing a "war on Muslims" while King said her stance against Saddam Hussein had been "principled".
52.
George Galloway received death threats from an offshoot of al-Muhajiroun.
53.
George Galloway was held by the group for about 20 minutes before the police arrived at the scene.
54.
George Galloway did not seek re-election in Bethnal Green and Bow at the 2010 general election, instead opting to stand in the neighbouring constituency of Poplar and Limehouse.
55.
George Galloway received 8,160 votes coming third after the Labour and Conservative candidates.
56.
In January 2006, George Galloway appeared on the fourth series of the reality TV programme Celebrity Big Brother for nearly three weeks.
57.
George Galloway wrote later that his activities "were actually the same stunts that BBC presenters and celebs get up for Children in Need".
58.
George Galloway faced a claim at the time from Hilary Armstrong, Labour's Chief Whip, that he should "respect his constituents, not his ego".
59.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, in an addendum to the report, concluded that there was no evidence that George Galloway gained any personal benefit from either the former Iraqi administration, or from the Oil-for-Food Programme, but admitted that some documents had been unavailable to him.
60.
George Galloway's suspension was not intended to be immediate, and he was given the opportunity to defend himself in front of the committee members in the House of Commons on 23 July 2007.
61.
Martin therefore named George Galloway, leading to the attending members voting to trigger his suspension from parliament that day rather than wait until after the summer recess as had been recommended.
62.
In Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England, Anthony Julius cites this interview as one example of George Galloway pandering to the antisemitic prejudices of his audience.
63.
In 2009, George Galloway received a Palestinian passport from Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.
64.
On 8 April 2009, George Galloway joined Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic to launch Viva Palestina US.
65.
The Foreign Ministry of Egypt released a statement reading: "George Galloway is considered persona non grata and will not be allowed to enter into Egypt again".
66.
George Galloway has worked for the Iranian state-run satellite television channel, Press TV since 2008.
67.
On 13 March 2008, George Galloway said on The Wright Stuff chat show that the executed boyfriend of gay Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for "sex crimes" rather than for being gay.
68.
George Galloway stated on the show that the case of gay rights in Iran was being used by supporters of a war with Iran.
69.
George Galloway told Ahmadinejad: "I have police protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my support for your election campaign" in 2009.
70.
George Galloway described the result as a "Bradford spring" and said that it showed the "total rejection" by voters of the three leading political parties.
71.
The election campaign was marked by controversy, in particular over the role of sectarianism, Baradari networks, and allegations about rivals' lack of "Islamic values" Andrew Gilligan noted in The Daily Telegraph that George Galloway had won in wards with a predominantly white electorate as well as those with a majority Muslim population.
72.
In late 2013, George Galloway became Leader of the Respect Party.
73.
George Galloway was criticised for comments he made in August 2012 on the legal case involving Wikileaks' Julian Assange in a podcast released on YouTube.
74.
George Galloway subsequently lost his job as a columnist for Holyrood, a Scottish political magazine, for refusing to apologise for his remarks, and subject to a No platform policy by the National Union of Students.
75.
On 20 February 2013, George Galloway walked out of a publicised debate when he found out that his opponent had Israeli citizenship.
76.
George Galloway interrupted his opponent, Eylon Aslan-Levy, a third-year PPE student, to ask whether he was an Israeli.
77.
George Galloway's behaviour was criticised by Julian Huppert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, and The Times.
78.
George Galloway is praising these people, but he is doing so by holding them up as examples of good Jews that other Jews should emulate, not as anti-apartheid campaigners that everyone should emulate.
79.
George Galloway's remarks drew sharp criticism from British politicians and Jewish leaders.
80.
West Yorkshire Police investigated two complaints to determine if George Galloway's words constituted hate speech.
81.
George Galloway was questioned under caution by the police and the matter was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.
82.
George Galloway subsequently criticised the police investigation, describing it as "an absolute and despicable attempt to curb my freedom of speech".
83.
On 13 October 2014, George Galloway abstained from a vote in the House of Commons formally recognising Palestine because the motion included the recognition of Israel as well.
84.
On 5 February 2015, George Galloway appeared on BBC's Question Time discussion programme, recorded in Finchley, London, within a constituency with Britain's largest Jewish community.
85.
Part of the debate discussed antisemitism and George Galloway strongly objected to the insinuation that he holds anti-semitic views.
86.
George Galloway said that he would issue a suit for defamation against her.
87.
George Galloway accused her of lying about her forced marriage which had been the subject of an open letter written by Shah and released to the media after her selection as a candidate.
88.
George Galloway then produced what he said was her nikah, a Muslim marriage certificate.
89.
Ron McKay, George Galloway's spokesman, said that there was no dishonesty in gaining access to the document via an intermediary in Pakistan.
90.
At one point during the campaign, George Galloway tweeted a picture of Israelis waving Israeli flags with the caption "Thank you for electing Naz Shah".
91.
On 10 May 2015, George Galloway announced an intention to challenge the result, alleging that false statements and malpractice related to postal votes during the campaign meant that the result of the election should be set aside, but did not do so.
92.
In July 2015, George Galloway endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.
93.
In July 2016, George Galloway endorsed Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.
94.
Meanwhile, on 20 June 2016, George Galloway lost a libel action brought by Aisha Ali-Khan, his assistant for six months in 2012.
95.
George Galloway had claimed that she had pursued a "dirty tricks" campaign against him and the Respect Party, and had slept at his house with her then-husband.
96.
George Galloway's counsel apologised on Galloway's behalf, and accepted that he had made "defamatory accusations".
97.
In 2018 George Galloway brought an action that Ali-Khan had breached this undertaking 26 times, which Ali-Khan admitted, and in April 2018 the High Court imprisoned Ali-Khan for 12 weeks for contempt of court, describing her action as "deliberate, flagrant, persistent and inexcusable".
98.
On 16 November 2020 George Galloway announced his intention to stand in the expected by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, after sitting MP Margaret Ferrier was accused of breaching COVID-19 regulations, for which she faces a possible recall petition.
99.
George Galloway led All for Unity in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election and announced his intention to vote for the Conservative Party on the constituency vote, and for his own party on the list vote.
100.
On 27 May 2021, George Galloway announced his intention to stand for the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election.
101.
George Galloway received heavy criticism for his alleged apologism of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the run up to and during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
102.
In mid-May 2022, George Galloway, who ran in neighbouring Batley and Spen in a 2021 by-election, posted a video saying that he might "put my own hat in the ring" and run in the 2022 Wakefield by-election for the Workers Party of Britain, while criticising Labour's candidate selection process.
103.
However, George Galloway stated that he would prefer for a local candidate amongst the Labour ranks to stand.
104.
George Galloway expressed support for the Syrian presence in Lebanon five months before it ended, telling the Lebanese Daily Star in August 2008: "Syrian troops in Lebanon maintain stability and protect the country from Israel".
105.
When Syria did withdraw from Lebanon, George Galloway objected and said the neighbouring states presence had been entirely "legal"; Christopher Hitchens, citing the Taif Accords of 1989, disputed his comment.
106.
George Galloway again praised the government of Assad in a leaked 2010 email to Assad's advisor Bouthaina Shaaban when asking for help in a Viva Palestina convoy and reminded her of previous help from the Syrian government for the campaign.
107.
George Galloway said in a July 2011 interview on Hezbollah's Al-Manar station: "Bashar Assad wants reform and change, to realise the aspirations of his people".
108.
In January 2013, George Galloway criticised David Cameron's government for arming Syrian rebels linked to Salafi jihadism.
109.
George Galloway told Prospect magazine in February 2016: "I support the decision of the Russian government to come to the aid of the government in Syria because whatever faults it [the Syrian government] may have, whatever crimes it has committed, they are considerably fewer than the crimes committed by IS or would be committed by IS were they to come to power".
110.
George Galloway has been an advocate for the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez and, in his Fidel Castro Handbook, for the former Cuban leader.
111.
George Galloway has long supported devolution for Scotland, but opposes Scottish independence.
112.
George Galloway told Serena Kutchinsky in an interview for Prospect magazine: "If we lose this vote the possibility of a real Labour government, or any kind of Labour government, in the rest of UK will be gone".
113.
George Galloway has argued in favour of greater Scottish devolution.
114.
In July 2020, George Galloway co-founded and established a cross-party Scottish unionist political organisation and political coalition called Alliance 4 Unity, and its goal is to try of taking down the Scottish National Party and Scottish nationalism in general for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, by tactical voting for any Scottish unionist candidates in second place on each Scottish electoral regions.
115.
George Galloway has criticised Britain's close ties with Saudi Arabia and British involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.
116.
George Galloway said the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has blood on his hands".
117.
At a rally at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on 19 February 2016, George Galloway endorsed the Grassroots Out campaign which advocated the "Leave" option in the European Union membership referendum.
118.
George Galloway was introduced by UKIP leader Nigel Farage as a "special guest" who is "without doubt one of the greatest orators in this country, he is a towering figure on the left of British politics".
119.
On 17 April 2019 George Galloway announced he would support the Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage in the May 2019 European Parliament election.
120.
Shortly after its foundation in June 2012, George Galloway became a presenter with the Al Mayadeen television station where he presents "Kalima Hurra".
121.
George Galloway is a regular contributor to RT's other programming.
122.
George Galloway began to broadcast on talkRADIO in June 2016.
123.
George Galloway said that this referred to a number of Tottenham fans who were flying the flag of Israel in the crowd, showing "an affiliation to a 'racist state'".
124.
In 1994, George Galloway married Amineh Abu-Zayyad, a biologist of Palestinian origin, in a non-legally binding Islamic ceremony; a legally binding civil ceremony followed in March 2000.
125.
George Galloway married Rima Husseini, his former researcher, in a non-legally binding Islamic ceremony in 2005.
126.
Pertiwi works as a consultant for a Dutch research firm and as a co-presenter of George Galloway's TV show Sputnik.
127.
George Galloway has hired Muslims to fill prominent positions on his staff.
128.
Khan claims that while George Galloway has informed "those close to him", he chose not to disclose his conversion to the public.