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; he was re-elected three times. After being expelled from Labour for his outspoken opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Galloway joined the Respect Party in 2004. He was elected as MP for Bethnal Green and Bow at the 2005 general election. After losing in the neighbouring constituency of Poplar and Limehouse at the 2010 general election, he regained a parliamentary seat at the 2012 Bradford West by-election, only to lose it at the 2015 general election. He unsuccessfully stood as an independent candidate at 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. Galloway supported Ba'athist Iraq and travelled there to meet government officials. He caused controversy for reportedly praising Saddam Hussein at a 1994 meeting, which he denied. Galloway founded the Mariam Appeal in 1998 to campaign against sanctions on Iraq. Galloway was accused of receiving illicit payments from Iraq's government, partly from money diverted from the United Nations' Oil-for-Food Program, defending himself at a 2005 United States Senate hearing. A staunch critic of Israel and Zionism, he supports the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and was involved in the 2009 Viva Palestina aid convoys to the Gaza Strip. In 2014, Galloway sustained injuries after being attacked by a Jewish convert due to his positions on Israel. 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 at 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 at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. More recently, Galloway has blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the West.

Galloway hosted the TalkRadio show The Mother of All Talk Shows from 2006 to 2010 and from 2016 until his dismissal in 2019. He then moved the show to social media platforms. 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.