‘George Galloway: The Man of the Decade’ by Donal Lavery

There are a number of political figures who I admire, for their oratory and for their respective visions, even though I haven’t always agreed with their views. While I agreed with Tony Benn on virtually anything, I disagreed with Enoch Powell on virtually everything, yet still found him a formidable intellectual force. Enoch Powell was the most intelligent and articulate member of the British House of Commons for the second half of the century, until the arrival of one of Ireland’s finest sons – Mr. George Galloway.

Having been born in the Irish slum quarters of Dundee, Galloway grew up with a Proclamation on his wall and a photo of Eamon DeValera. His mother was an Irish republican activist and his father a trade union man, forging a strong sense of identity in a most political household. Leaving grammar school at 16 to work in Mitchelin’s tyre factory, Galloway learnt his political methods via the labour movement and went on to become the Chairman of the Labour Party in Scotland when Harold Wilson was its leader.

Always a passionate left-winger, George managed Tony Benn’s campaign for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party against Denis Healey in the 1980’s. Like Benn, he was one of the most solid voices condemning the economic and imperial brutality of the Thatcher Government. Whether it was the trade unions or the Soviet Union, you always knew where Galloway stood on the big issues of the day.

When he finally made it into parliament in 1987, it was for a Glasgow impoverished estate with a strong Irish constituency. Denounced as an “IRA sympathiser” by the SNP, he gained a reputation for being able to intellectually dismantle the case for Scottish independence. Perhaps one of his greatest remarks was that he opposes the partition of Ireland and doesn’t want to see that replicated via the partition of a small island like Britain.

There are many on the Left in Scotland who don’t see eye to eye with George after he helped secure a “No” vote in the referendum. But he never fails to remind them of how it was the SNP who helped bring down the Callaghan Government in 1979, ushering in Margaret Thatcher, and destroying vast swathes of Scottish manufacturing. Someone once asked him why he supported Irish independence and not Scottish, to which he outlined, that there are no Black and Tans murdering people on the streets of Edinburgh; That the Irish people were cheated of their independence via the threat of Orange terrorism, after voting for it.

Although strong in temperament, he has always been prepared to change his mind if necessary. He was a leading voice in the Leave campaign for Brexit, rightly pointing out that it will result in the abandoning of austerity in favour of reflation of the U.K. Economy. His controversial predictions and analyses have consistently turned out to be accurate on all the major issues that we face, whether you agree or disagree with their direction. When Thatcher died, he even correctly prophesied that “ding dong the Witch is dead” would rise to number one in the charts.

When I first met him in West Belfast, he and I chatted about Lord Mountbatten’s plan for a coup d’etat against the Wilson Government. He then gave me an outstanding analysis of the situation in the Middle East. Indeed, George has actual physical scars for his constant support for the Palestinian people over the years – having donated his fee from Celebrity Big Brother to a Palestinian children’s charity. And having sued Zionist-supremo Robert Maxwell for smear.

When he was speaking at the Ulster Hall, Willie Frazer and the “intelligentsia” within the “Protestant Coalition” held a jackboot rally against his appearance. Loyalists recognise that there is no getting the better of Glasgow Celtic-fan Mr. Galloway in a erudite debate, particularly on Irish affairs. He told the audience that night that his Respect Party would never be standing candidates against Sinn Fein, outlining his belief that the Shinners are head and shoulders above the rank and file careerist hacks in the other political parties here. Someone asked him about whether he supports these far left Trotskyist groups (People Before Profit) that have emerged in recent years, and with that great combination of a laugh and grin he explained that many of them eventually end up as pro-establishment right wingers in later life ( with Dr. John Reid, as an example).

Having been expelled from Labour by Tony Blair over his opposition to the Iraq War, Galloway has produced a hard hitting documentary on Blair’s crimes. While he commends Blair’s record on Ireland, he holds him personally responsible for the creation of ISIS and the divisions within Labour at present. A strong ally of Jeremy Corbyn, he could end up back on the green-benches and turning his razor sharp wit on the Tory Cabinet. One thing is for sure about George, he says what he means and means what he says; he believes that politics has to be about the clash of ideas over making careers. Having a strong attachment to the struggles of the Irish people, he is one of us in all but accent. A truly remarkable character; And like his hero, James Connolly, he resonates well that rare mixture of Scottish steel tempered with Irish fire. One of the finest Prime Ministers Britain has never had.