GEORGE Galloway, the firebrand left-wing politician, was detained at Gatwick airport under the Terrorism Act, reports say.
Officers from the Met’s Terrorism Command reportedly swooped on the 71-year-old former MP and his wife on Saturday as they arrived back in the UK from Russia.
LNPGeorge Galloway was briefly detained under the terrorism act[/caption]
Galloway famously mimicked a cat on Celebrity Big BrotherRex
AFPGalloway leads the Workers Party of Britain[/caption]
The scandal-ridden politician, who famously imitated a cat on Celeb Big Brother, arrived into Gatwick from Moscow via Abu Dhabi, reports The Herald.
Met Police confirmed that a man and woman were temporarily detained by counter terrorism officers at Gatwick.
They said: “We can confirm that on Saturday September 27 counter terrorism officers at Gatwick Airport stopped a man in his 70s and a woman in her 40s under Schedule 3 of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019.
“Neither of them were arrested and they were allowed on their way.”
The Act gives police, immigration and customs officers the power to stop people to find out if they are “engaged in hostile activities that threaten national security or the economic wellbeing of the UK”.
The Workers Party of Britain, which Galloway leads, put out a scathing statement on X and claimed the detention was “politically motivated intimidation”.
They wrote: “Our party condemns the attempt to intimidate those who seek amity rather than enmity with the rest of the world.
“Our leader George Galloway and our deputy chair Gayatri Galloway
have now been released without charge.
“There was never any chance of an offence.
“We were obstructed from providing legal support and the conduct of the affair has been designed to intimidate political opponents of the drive towards war with Russia and China.”
One of Galloway’s most memorable moments came during his stint on Celeb Big Brother in 2006, when he was a serving MP.
At the request of Rula Lenska, he mimed being a cat – complete with purring, licking and paws.
Galloway controversially visited Russia earlier this year for Putin’s Victory Day parade, which he said was “moving, emotional, inspiring, humbling”.
Days earlier, he had flown to Iran to collect an award named after a dead Hamas leader.
Galloway has been voted in as an MP seven times for three different parties.
He most recently served as the Workers Party of Britain MP for Rochdale after winning a by-election, and left the Commons in May 2024.
He has also sat as an MP for Labour and Respect.
George pictured with wife Putri and baby daughter in 2021The Sun
PAGalloway is yet to comment on reports he was detained[/caption]
He accepted two donations totalling £5,000 from Tristan Tate days after PM Rishi Sunak called a general election in May.
Controversy has dogged Galloway throughout his career.
Over the years, politicians from across the Commons have slammed him as “antisemitic” and “sexist”.
He has previously met Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and has also been accused of “stoking division” between the Muslim and Jewish communities.
Galloways holds a hardline pro-Palestinian agenda, and his by-election campaign last year was dominated by the issue.
It was revealed last year that his campaign to keep his Rochdale seat was funded in part by large donations from Andrew Tate’s brother Christian.
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