Episode 2495
George Galloway
Sat, 2024-Mar-02 01:48 UTC
Length - 4:15
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 392,626 views on Friday, 1 March 2024 our article of the day is 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. Between 1987 and 2010, and between 2012 and 2015, Galloway served as MP 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.
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 London-based charity War on Want from 1983 until his election as MP for Glasgow Hillhead at the 1987 general election. In 2003, he was expelled from the Labour Party due to his prominent opposition to the Iraq War. In 2004, Galloway became a member of the Respect Party, and then the party's leader by late 2013. 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 returned to the House of Commons after being elected at the 2012 Bradford West by-election; he lost this seat at the 2015 general election. After unsuccessfully standing as an Independent candidate in two seats in the 2017 and 2019 general elections, Galloway founded the Workers Party of Britain; he stood for the Workers Party at the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, finishing in third place, and won the 2024 Rochdale by-election with nearly 40 per cent of the vote.
Galloway testified to the United States Senate in 2005 over alleged illicit payments from the United Nations' Oil-for-Food Programme against Ba'athist Iraq. Among other international issues, Galloway has voiced his anti-Zionism and supports the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and was also involved in the Viva Palestina aid convoys to the Gaza Strip. He opposes India's role in the Kashmir conflict with Pakistan, and has voiced support for the insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir. He voiced support for Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election and during Corbyn's leadership of the party. In the 2016 European Union (EU) membership referendum, he advocated a "Leave" vote, campaigning with the cross-party, pro-Brexit organisation Grassroots Out, while before the 2019 European Parliament election he announced, "for one-time only", he would support Nigel Farage's Brexit Party. He opposes Scottish independence and founded All for Unity, a party that campaigned on support for British unionism in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, where it captured 0.9 per cent of the vote. He has defined himself as socially conservative. Galloway hosted the TalkRadio show The Mother of All Talk Shows between 2006 and 2010 and between 2016 and 2019 until his dismissal. He then broadcast on Russia Today (RT) until 2022, defending Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, after which sanctions were imposed on RT. Galloway's talk show moved to social media platforms.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:48 UTC on Saturday, 2 March 2024.
For the full current version of the article, see George Galloway on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm Niamh Neural.
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