Expelled Labour MP vows to stand as independent

REBEL MP George Galloway yesterday said he would stand against Labour as an independent after being thrown out of the party for his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq.

Labour's national executive committee found Mr Galloway guilty of four out of five charges brought against him by the party's leadership. He denounced the two-day hearing as a "political show trial" rigged in advance by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr Galloway warned he may quit his seat to force a by-election in which he would challenge Labour as an independent candidate.

The Glasgow Kelvin MP's Labour membership was suspended after 36 years in May following an interview on Abu Dhabi TV in which he accused Mr Blair and United States President George Bush of invading Iraq "like wolves".

Labour's ruling committee insisted he was being called to account, not for his anti-war views, but for conduct likely to bring the party into disrepute.

He was charged with urging British troops to defy orders, calling on Arabs to attack British troops, telling voters in Plymouth not to support Labour candidates who backed the war, congratulating an anti-war candidate who defeated Labour in Preston and threatening to stand against Labour himself.

Following the decision, Mr Galloway insisted he had been singled out for expressing opinions shared by millions of Labour voters and many of the party's MPs.

Outside the tribunal venue in central London he said: "The Labour Party will rue the day they took this step. Mr Blair's response to the mistake of the war is to attack those who stood against the war and root them out of British politics. I think that's a very serious mistake because we are not going to go away."

Mr Galloway's expulsion sparked anger among Labour left-wingers and opponents of the war.

The chairman of his constituency Labour Party, Mark Craig, said he would give Mr Galloway his "full support" if he stood against Labour as an independent in the new Glasgow Central seat in the next general election.

He predicted a rash of resignations from the constituency party in the wake of the expulsion of Mr Galloway, who has represented Glasgow Kelvin and earlier Glasgow Hillhead in Parliament since 1987.