George Galloway, a former MP expelled from the Labour party in 2003 over his opposition to the party's actions on Iraq, has revealed he is considering a return to politics by standing for a seat in the Scottish Parliament.In his weekly Daily Record newspaper column, Mr Galloway, an MP in London's Bethnal Green and Bow seat until last May's general election, wrote that he was under "serious pressure" to be a candidate in Glasgow in the next parliamentary elections pencilled in for May 2011.
He will presumably contest the seat under the banner of the Respect anti-war party that he founded upon his expulsion in 2003, and has experience of serving constituents in Scotland’s largest city as he was first the MP for Glasgow Hillhead for 10 years and then MP for Glasgow Kelvin for eight.
Musing in his newspaper column entitled “Holyrood could be calling me home”, Mr Galloway said he thought securing a regional seat was possible, writing "I'd need 5% of the total Glasgow vote to get elected - somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 votes. My friends don't think it's beyond me. Neither do I. What about you?"
He continues that the Scottish Parliament needs "heavier-weight members" if it is to develop as a real parliament "worthy of the name". As a very capable and outspoken orator with the “the gift of the Glasgow gab” and the public record he has, it would be hard to argue against the label that Mr Galloway has acquired of controversial.
Additionally, he all has the distinct advantage for a politician seeking election of the people actually knowing who he is – even if it is because of his ill-fated appearance on reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother in January 2006 in which he pretended to be a cat.
It is for these reasons that I believe if he decides to stand for a seat in Holyrood next May, he may well be relaunching his political career as an MSP.
