GALLOWAY FINDS A HOME

George Galloway - socialist MP, foe of BusHitlerburton (and his poodle Blair), appeaser of islamofascists like Assad and receiver of bribes from Saddam - is a contestant on the UK's BIG BROTHER TV show. Here's the latest:

THE GUARDIAN:

George Galloway's hopes to use his residency in the Big Brother house to denounce the Iraq war and Tony Blair may be thwarted after Channel 4 vowed he would not be allowed to use the show as a soapbox. Mr Galloway, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in east London, tried to head off criticism that he was letting his constituents down by devoting up to three weeks appearing in the show, by saying he was trying to bring politics and his ideals to an audience who are usually uninterested. His decision to swap the House of Commons for the Big Brother house alongside celebrities whose star has waned was yesterday condemned by Labour and some of his constituents.

LONDON TIMES:

GEORGE GALLOWAY’S decision to appear on Celebrity Big Brother has divided the Muslim voters who helped him into the House of Commons at the last election. Muhammad Abdul Bari, the chairman of the East London Mosque in Mr Galloway’s Bethnal Green & Bow constituency, said that he had been puzzled to discover that his MP was now appearing on a show that many Muslims would consider indecent. “A lot of Muslims find it very unpalatable that their MP would consider doing this sort of show,” he said. Dr Bari was considered instrumental in helping Mr Galloway to secure the support of Muslim voters, who make up 40 per cent of the constituency.

THE SCOTSMAN:

WITHIN minutes of entering the Big Brother house, the Member of Parliament for Baghdad East was making his demands known. "Water," George Galloway commanded, "in a champagne glass". ... "My name's George Galloway," he said. "I'm a Member of Parliament. I have been for 20 years, and I'm one of the leaders of the anti-war movement in Britain. On the left."

... Rula [famous TV actress Rula lenska] had told the Diary Room that Galloway was the housemate she would most like to explore, saying: "He is an intelligent, erudite man whose eyes show remorse and care and a lot of goodness."

"Have you seen the spiders on his nipples?" Rula says, speaking of [former NBA star, American Dennis] Rodman's tattoos. "I don't go for that myself," replies Galloway.

The question of snoring is raised. "I did a double whammy," says the MP. "I had a nose ring. And my snory strips. I don't know why I didn't bring ear-plugs. It's such an obvious thing to do." Moments later, he bursts into a chorus of 'Bare Necessities' from The Jungle Book. At 11.30, on Day Three in the Big Brother house, Galloway lit up a cigar and resumed his campaign of mass enlightenment.

"Seven out of 10 people in the world are Asians," he told the house, gazing round the room like a captain with no sea to sail, and no idea of where he parked the boat.

LETTER TO THE LONDON TIMES:

Sir, George Galloway is spending yet more time away from the needs of his constituents in Bethnal Green and Bow by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother. As one of the poorest areas in Europe, our local community is in dire need of decent parliamentary representation. Having an MP who spends his time flitting from US Senate hearings to appearances on reality TV (for what could be many weeks) is a major disservice to his hard-working constituents.

ALEX CORONATION - London E1

NICK COHEN/THE GUARDIAN:

Galloway's new Big Brother

In the 1990s, George Galloway flew to Saddam's Iraq and greeted a genocidal tyrant with: 'Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability!' Since the war, he has joined with European Holocaust-deniers to demand the release of Tariq Aziz, and said that Syria 'represents the last castle of the Arab dignity'. If this makes him sound like a neo-fascist, I should add in fairness that he's a walking Hitler-Stalin pact. He described the fall of Soviet communism 'as the worst day of my life', and said of Fidel Castro, the dictator of Cuba: 'He's not a dictator.'

After saluting so many big brothers, it is no surprise that he is now on Celebrity Big Brother. What remains incredible over the years has been the refusal of all the nice, respectable liberals in the media to scrutinise the leader of the anti-war movement.

Say no more. Say no more. ['Cept: previous post HERE.]