Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Galloway strongly opposed the war in Iraq and was very outspoken against Tony Blair.

Good man in that case.

Db 3 1/2,

For you.

I have sympathy for his position and at least he had the guts to stand up for his views, rather than roll over like IDS.

I had the same opinion about the dossier. It stank to me! Hans Blix thought the same!

What surprises me, what amazes me, is that it seems the military people were expecting to stumble on large quantities of gas, chemical weapons and biological weapons.
Hans Blix


Galloway expelled from Labour




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Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
theguardian.com, Thursday 23 October 2003 17.18 BST
George Galloway speaks to the media following his expulsion by the Labour party
George Galloway speaks to the media following his expulsion by the Labour party. Photograph: Johnny Green, PA
George Galloway has been expelled from the Labour party after being found guilty of four of the five charges of bringing the party into disrepute.
On the fifth charge - urging voters in Plymouth not to vote Labour - Mr Galloway was acquitted.

The Glasgow Kelvin MP said he was "prepared" to stand as an independent MP, but was now "considering his position and consulting the [anti-war] movement".

But he refused to give an instant response to his expulsion from the party after 36 years membership, saying merely "I will definitely defend my position in parliament. I am not leaving politics".

He added that he "may have made his mind up" by the time of a public anti-war meeting to be held in London next week.

Outside the hearing, Mr Galloway told reporters: "This was a travesty of justice, a politically motivated kangaroo court. The verdict was written in advance.

"It is clear now that Mr Blair intends to go after Glenda Jackson and Bob Marshall-Andrews QC. His response to the disaster of the war is to attack those who opposed the war.

"Mr Blair launched these proceedings in an interview in the Sun with his muse, Trevor Kavanagh [the Sun's political editor]."

The MP said he would not join any other existing party, saying the Scottish National party and Scottish Socialist party were both in favour of independence, and he was not.

The Glasgow Kelvin MP must now decide whether to resign as an MP and force a byelection where he would stand as an independent, or stay on until the next general election without the Labour whip.

An added complication is that his seat is likely to be redrawn under boundary commission rules to reduce the total number of Scots MPs at Westminster before the next general election.

Mr Galloway told Guardian Unlimited he had been found guilty on the four charges so far on unanimous verdicts, despite his strenuous rejection of the allegation that he called on Arab armies to fight British troops.

He criticised the fact that the Labour party had decided not to release the transcript of today's hearing for another seven days.

Mr Galloway, who was prominent in both the parliamentary opposition to the war and many anti-war demonstrations, has been careful not to say he would stand as an independent if expelled by the Labour party, for fear of adding to the charges of disloyalty levelled against him.

But he did tell Guardian Unlimited in an online interview back in April: "If I am sacked, what message will they [the British people] take about the nature of Mr Blair's regime from that? If necessary I will defend the new Glasgow Central constituency on a platform of real Labour values, and I believe I shall win."

The charges faced by Mr Galloway were that:
· he incited Arabs to fight British troops
· he incited British troops to defy orders
· he incited Plymouth voters to reject Labour MPs,
· he threatened to stand against Labour
· he backed an anti-war candidate in Preston.

But in a 50-page deposition to the NCC tribunal, Mr Galloway argued he was being singled out for punishment for voicing legitimate opinions shared by many in the party, including former cabinet members Robin Cook and Clare Short.

At the opening of the tribunal yesterday, Mr Galloway dubbed it a "political show trial", saying it was more appropriate to the regime of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad than to modern day Britain.

The former Labour MP Tony Benn gave evidence on his behalf, pointing out that the prime minister had described peace protestors as having "blood on their hands".

"Serious things were said on both sides," Mr Benn told reporters".

PS

It was labour Kangaroo court set up by Blair.

i'ld much rather have dennis skinner as my mp than george galloway

galloway always struck me as being untrustworthy and in the pay of those who "wished mischief" on this country

Napoleon,

Do you mean Israel or the French?

No, never!

Milly will trash Camoron in the one off dont forget he cant lie through his teeth or give false figures like in PMqs or the presenter will pull him up.

Milly will win the election after that debate and Lynton Crosby is seething.

Hes thinking of leaving Milly with a empty chair hes that frightened the Fat Dave will cock it up.

I bet Hays is shittting aswel. He knows Milly as the beating of him on a platform debate.

One hell of a difference than being in the commons where he as backing for his lies.

sure as hell israel wouldn't back galloway, and not even sure that the french would

It is the difference between a nice guy Miliband and a s called Cameron.


(I wish Ed had spelt his name with two l.s, keep on having to re-enter his name.)

fred - you're making even less sense than usual

Cameron will crush Miliband as he does at PMQs. Miliband has his questions written for him. When he speaks off the cuff, he goes to pieces as he did at the party conference when he forgot to mention all the key topics.

He does not perform well under pressure. It won't be difficult to make him look like a buffoon. It will be a Prime Minister vs an awkward sixth former.

Napp,

Which part.

Milliband against Miliband!

LOL LOL LOL LOL....... WHAT........

Milly will just get him worked up and he'l go all red in the face and blow up and lose it c ompletly.

Camoron is useless at public speaking without autocue or notes.

Use your loaf Hays. .

I would have voted for the war in Iraq and still would. The problem was not the war, but the lack of a post war plan. I didn't believe the WMD argument at the time.

Cameron is a far better public speaker than Miliband. Miliband gets slammed by the pundits after every speech. Even the left wing press attack his performances. His complete lack of charisma will be a disaster on TV.

So Haystack, if you didn't believe the WMD story then what justification have you for the war?

Millibandus nice guy? Ask his brother! Back stabbing barsteward would be polite as just one answer!

If Cameron succeeds, then there will be two buffoons on the stage and if you are watching, there will be three.

Fred2old and the other option is to have Miliband as PM and either Sturgeon or Salmond as deputy and Ed Balls, who can't even count up to three, as Chancellor.