Political views
He has a reputation as a fiery left-winger. He is an advocate of redistribution of wealth, greater spending on welfare benefits, and extensive nationalisation of large industries. He opposes independence for Scotland. He supports the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. As a practising Roman Catholic he is personally opposed to abortion, although he supports RESPECT's policy of promoting a woman's right to choose. He supported the equalisation of the age of consent for homosexuality. As a Labour MP he was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group. In the 2001 Parliament he voted against the whip 27 times, placing him as the 9th most rebellious MP.
Galloway has attracted most attention for his comments on foreign policy, taking a special interest in Libya, Pakistan, Iraq and Palestine. His support for the Palestinian cause began in 1974 when he met a Palestinian activist in Dundee; he converted the rest of the Dundee Labour Party which flew the Palestinian flag over the Town Hall and twinned the city with Nablus. His involvement with Iraq began after the war in 1991 when he visited the country to observe the effects of United Nations sanctions.
In an interview with the Guardian, Galloway outlined his political views in relation to the Soviet Union:
"I am on the anti-imperialist left." The Stalinist left? "I wouldn't define it that way because of the pejoratives loaded around it; that would be making a rod for your own back. If you are asking did I support the Soviet Union, yes I did. Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life. If there was a Soviet Union today, we would not be having this conversation about plunging into a new war in the Middle East, and the US would not be rampaging around the globe."