Galloway hits back over suspension

George Galloway with Iraq's deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz in 1999

George Galloway has insisted he has no intention of walking away from the Labour Party despite his suspension pending "internal party investigations".

The left-winger had come under fire for remarks he made at the height of the Iraq war when he branded Tony Blair a "wolf" and made comments seen as urging Arabs to rise up against the coalition forces.

The MP for Glasgow Kelvin also said, in an interview with Abu Dhabi television, that British troops should refuse to follow what he said were illegal orders.

I'm not made of stone. I have just been stabbed in the back. I'm bleeding

George Galloway

In an impassioned outburst at the suspension, Mr Galloway stressed that he had given his "blood in Labour politics" and would not be allowing a "clique of usurpers" to butcher the sacred cows that the party once believed in.

He described the suspension as "completely unjust" and "prejudicial" to his libel action against the Daily Telegraph.

Unfair treatment?

He said he was "demanding the right to speak", arguing: "Are we going to have a society where people are punished and cast into the parliamentary wilderness because they say things?"

He questioned why he was being punished for comments made in television interviews when former Labour ministers Geoffrey Robinson, Peter Mandelson and Keith Vaz were not suspended while they were under investigation for "very serious things".

Mr Galloway was informed of his suspension in a letter from David Triesman, Labour's general secretary.

A spokesman for the party said the suspension followed complaints that Mr Galloway had acted contrary to Rule 2A.8 by "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute by behaviour that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the party".

According to party officials, complaints had been received about an interview Mr Galloway did on 28 March with Abu Dhabi TV in which he "seemingly invited other Arab nations to fight against the British Army".

In the same interview, the MP described Mr Blair and US President George Bush as "wolves", although it is understood that this remark is not at the centre of the complaints.

Investigations

The Labour spokesman said there had been other complaints about similar remarks in an interview the MP gave to the ITV News Channel on 1 April.

Mr Galloway told BBC Scotland's Holyrood Live programme that he was ready to contest his seat as an independent.

"If the Labour Party, by administrative means, either kicks me out of a selection I have every right to be in, or robs the party members of their right to support me as their candidate, then I will be a real Labour candidate in the Glasgow Central constituency at the next general election," he said.

In recent days Mr Galloway has been under the spotlight after the Daily Telegraph printed allegations about his relationship with the fallen Iraqi regime.

Its claims, which Mr Galloway strongly denies, are to be investigated by Parliament's standards watchdog Philip Mawer.

The commissioner will investigate whether the MP was paid money which was not declared to the Commons fees office.

The investigation comes after Conservative MP Andrew Robathan wrote to Mr Mawer following the Daily Telegraph claim that Mr Galloway accepted up to £375,000 a year from Iraq.

'Right to be heard'

But Mr Galloway claimed his suspension, along with investigations by the Charity Commission and the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner were all controlled by Labour.

He said this was coming at a time when he was pursuing "the right to be heard in the High Court to clear my name against the serious allegations against me".

Mr Galloway said it would be easier to walk away, but insisted: "I'm a Labour man. I have been for 35 years of my life.

"I could walk away. It would be easier. I'm not made of stone. I have just been stabbed in the back. I'm bleeding.

"It would be easier to walk away but I prefer to fight and I hope Labour people throughout the country will stand by me and fight with me."

Mr Triesman told the BBC that Mr Galloway was not going to be treated any differently from any other member of the party.

'No tears'

Mark Craig, chairman of Mr Galloway's constituency Labour Party, said the MP still had his full support.

Labour MP Alice Mahon, who was also opposed to war on Iraq, urged Labour members to question the party leadership about Mr Galloway's suspension, describing it as a "witch-hunt".

But Labour MP David Winnick said: "I do not believe there will be many tears at the Labour Party at his leaving."