Galloway expelled from Commons after clash with Speaker By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent
Published: 24 July 2007
George Galloway, the firebrand left-wing MP, was suspended from the Commons for 18 days last night after a stormy debate that saw him thrown out of the House amid angry clashes with the Speaker, Michael Martin.
Mr Martin took the highly unusual step of "naming" Mr Galloway and ordering him to leave the Commons chamber amid stormy scenes during a debate on the Respect MP's conduct.
Mr Galloway spoke for more than an hour as he tried defend himself against a move to suspend him for failing to disclose his links to Saddam Hussein's regime. But MPs agreed to suspend him for 18 sitting days without a vote. The suspension will start on 8 October.
In a fiery speech to MPs Mr Galloway was warned repeatedly by Mr Martin before the Speaker's patience snapped. Mr Galloway left the chamber vowing to give the speech outside for anyone who wanted to hear it.
Mr Galloway accused the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee of acting "unjustly" as he was repeatedly admonished by Mr Martin for attacking the "good character" of its members. Mr Galloway declared: "Being lectured by the current House of Commons on the question of the funding of political campaigns is like being accused of having bad taste by Donald Trump, like being accused of slouching by the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
"This House stands in utter ill repute on the question of the funding of political campaigns."
He added: "None of the parties here, and all three of them are culpable, ever asked the millionaires and billionaires who gave them and lent them money where they got the money from."
MPs were debating calls for Mr Galloway to be suspended from the Commons for 18 days after he was censured by the committee for failing to register an interest and "excessive" use of taxpayer-funded facilities for the Mariam Appeal, a charity he set in part to campaign against sanctions imposed on Iraq."
The committee said he should be punished for concealing funding from Saddam Hussein's former regime and for unjustified attacks on the inquiry itself. The committee found "strong circumstantial evidence" that the UN oil-for-food programme was used by the Iraqi government, with Mr Galloway's connivance, to fund the Mariam Appeal.