Galloway to contest next election

He will challenge Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick for the Poplar and Limehouse seat in London's East End.

Mr Galloway, currently MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said he had resolved to quit the Commons until his recent suspension prompted him to re-consider.

He had been tipped to stand against Justice Secretary Jack Straw in Blackburn, Lancashire.

'Battle of the Scots'

But Mr Galloway, whose current constituency borders Poplar and Limehouse, said he wanted to remain in the East End.

Mr Fitzpatrick, a fellow Scot, has a majority of more than 7,000.

Mr Galloway, speaking on his Talksport radio show, said: "It's going to be a battle of the Scots in the East End of London.

"Me standing in the tradition of Keir Hardie, him standing in the tradition of Ramsay MacDonald, the betrayer of everything Labour stands for.

"It's going to be a very interesting contest."

A critic of the war in Iraq, Mr Galloway was expelled from Labour in 2003 for bringing the party into disrepute.

Standing for the anti-war Respect Party in 2005, he won Bethnal Green and Bow from Labour's Oona King.

Last month, he was suspended from the Commons for 18 days following an inquiry into his financial links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq regime.

Mr Galloway said: "Having been suspended from the House of Commons by Mr Speaker [Michael] Martin entirely unjustly and in an entirely unfair and unnecessary way, I have decided I definitely am going to stand again."

He was previously MP for Glasgow Hillhead and Glasgow Kelvin, having first been elected to Parliament in 1987.