Galloway
Posted on 01/10/2006 7:52:09 AM PST by propertius
UPDATE 1-UK's Galloway in row over "Big Brother" TV show (Adds Fitzpatrick quote, para 7)
By Kate Holton
LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Maverick British parliamentarian George Galloway, who famously attacked the war in Iraq during a feisty performance in the U.S. Senate, is at the centre of a new row.
The flamboyant politician is currently taking part in the reality television show "Celebrity Big Brother," for which he is locked in a camera-filled house with, among others, a glamour model, former basketball player Dennis Rodman, and a singer called Maggot.
And some of his London constituents are not happy.
One in particular has set up his own Web site, called "Why Isn't He At Work?" (http://beta.cergis.com/george), which he says has received over 25,000 hits since it was set up on Friday.
"I just felt he was supposed to be representing us in the House of Commons (parliament) and not in the Big Brother house," the site designer, Paul Skinner, 40, told Reuters.
"He's obviously publicising himself, not his constituents and their issues."
Jim Fitzpatrick, a London Member of Parliament in Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour party, accused Galloway, in a statement, of being a "C-list politician with an A-list ego" who had chosen a "celebrity graveyard" over his constituents.
In his defence, the cigar-chomping Galloway and his Respect party said his time in the Big Brother house - where he cannot speak to anyone outside or hear any external news - will allow him to get his message across to a huge viewing public.
"I will talk about war and peace, about (George) Bush and Blair, about the need for a world based on respect," Galloway said in a statement on his Web site (http://www.respectcoalition.org).
"Some of it will get through."
POLITICAL OPPONENTS?
Respect party national secretary, John Rees, told Reuters the MP's detractors over Big Brother were "probably his political opponents" and did not reflect the feelings of his constituents.
"When you're a single Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, you have to represent your constituents in a variety of ways, so George has to be our main media spokesman, our national representative, our international representative and a constituency MP."
The flamboyant Scot, 51, was expelled from the Labour party in 2003 over his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.
However, standing for Respect, he overturned a Labour majority of more than 10,000 to win the east London parliamentary seat of Bow and Bethnal Green in one of the most bitter campaigns of last May's national election.
Last year, U.S. congressional investigators said they had evidence that Galloway profited from the defunct U.N. oil-for-food programme.
Incensed, Galloway flew to Washington and, in a memorable performance, harangued a Senate committee as he vehemently denied all the claims against him and attacked the U.S. decision to invade Iraq.
Say no more...
"maverick", "famously attacked", "fiesty". No bias there.
He's scraping the bottom of the barrel now.
I would think they would have rules about a television station giving an unprecedented podium for "getting his message out" to one particular politician and not any of the others. Guess not!
Seeing him in the "diary" room talking about how manly Dennis Rodman is(which he did), would be hilarious if not for the fact that Galloway is a danger to our security.
You're referring to Rodman, right?
Galloway reminds me (in his on show persona) of Klinton. He has what passes for an oily charm.
I figured that Galloway was an attention whore. Going on a reality show is a desperate attempt by has-beens to regain some relevancy.
How and where do you watch this stuff? Or do you live in the UK?
A world based on respect...a world based on respect...It's hard to believe their are people so simple and yet they get so far
This from the Daily Telegraph
Blair joins criticism of Big Brother's Galloway
(Filed: 10/01/2006)
Tony Blair has joined the growing criticism of George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, over his decision to take part in TV show Celebrity Big Brother.
Local residents staged a protest against Galloway
The Prime Minister indicated he would not be happy if a Labour MP had taken a similar decision to join the series.
Asked on GMTV "Would you fancy one of your MPs doing that?", Mr Blair replied: "No."
He said he had been too busy to watch the anti-war MP, whose surprise entrance into the Big Brother house on January 5 boosted ratings for the hit show.
Mr Galloway said his participation would be "good for politics" and he believed that politicians should use "every opportunity" to communicate with people.
But local residents in his Bethnal Green and Bow constituency have staged a protest outside his office in east London accusing him of abandoning his responsibilities and demanding he give back his MP's pay for the time he is in the house.
An internet protest campaign - Get Back To Work, George - is calculating how much it costs taxpayers each day Mr Galloway stays inside the house. At 9am today it stood at £754.
Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour Minister for London, has also joined in the attacks, accusing the anti-war MP of being a "C-list politician with an A-list ego".
On Thursday there will be a Commons debate on the £500 million Crossrail transport link which will affect the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency.
TV rips off of a private site.
Flush away Galloway..
They do
"Not so fast, said a Channel 4 spokeswoman: "He won't be able to use his time in the house as a political soapbox. There are regulations and Ofcom rulings which mean we would monitor what is said by him and the others.
"He is one of 11 diverse and entertaining individuals in that house, so he's one of many with different opinions." Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, said Channel 4 had a duty to ensure "due impartiality" on issues of political controversy or major public policy, under the 2005 broadcasting code.
"
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1681218,00.html
You are so right. For Dennis Rodman to appear with George Galloway is beneath the ex-basketball player's dignity..
If you saw any of the "debate" between Gasbag Galloway and Christopher Hitchens, you'll recognize how laughable it is for the abrasive, contemptuous, self-aggrandizing Galloway to be prattling about "respect."
That's true, Dennis Rodman is scraping the bottom of the barrel ;)
In an earlier time, Galloway probably would have been a British Fascist.
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