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He had it long coming, that little snake:
Galloway ejected as MPs back suspension
Matthew Tempest and agencies
Tuesday July 24, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
.
George Galloway was ejected from the Commons chamber on top of his suspension from parliament last night.
The Respect MP had expected the 18-day expulsion after the standards and privileges committee last week criticised him over the transparency of his charity, the Mariam Appeal.
But, while defending himself in the chamber last night, Mr Galloway was ejected by the Speaker, Michael Martin, after repeatedly criticising the committee and its members.
The outspoken anti-war MP had been talking for more than an hour as he sought to defend himself against a motion to suspend him.
After repeated warnings from Mr Martin about attacking the integrity of committee members, Mr Galloway angrily protested: "Having told me you would protect me, we are now getting to the stage where you are going to have to throw me out of parliament prematurely."
As he was ordered from the chamber, he shouted that he would continue his speech outside for anyone who wanted to hear it.
Opening the debate earlier, Mr Galloway complained: "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."
Mr Galloway's 18-day suspension - which bars him from the palace of Westminster and means pay will be deducted from his salary - will commence when MPs come back from the summer recess on October 8.
The committee censured him for failing to register an interest and for "excessive" use of taxpayer-funded facilities for the charity, and recommended his suspension for failing to supervise funding from Saddam Hussein's former regime and for failing to provide evidence to the inquiry itself.
Its report came at the end of a lengthy and detailed investigation into the now-defunct Mariam Appeal by Sir Philip Mawer, the commissioner for parliamentary standards.
The appeal was a fund set up in 1998 by Mr Galloway to raise money for a four-year-old Iraqi girl with leukaemia. It also became a political vehicle demanding the lifting of sanctions on Iraq.
Sir Philip said that the Bethnal Green and Bow MP had "consistently failed to live up to the expectation of openness and straightforwardness" during the inquiry.
And he found "powerful" evidence that large sums for the charity came from the Iraq regime via the UN's oil-for-food programme and that Mr Galloway was probably complicit in that.
The inquiry was launched in 2003 but was suspended for more than two years during Mr Galloway's successful libel action against the Daily Telegraph over claims he received money from Saddam.
Sir Philip said that there was no evidence that the MP had personally received payments but there was "powerful" circumstantial evidence that "a substantial part" of donations to the appeal from its chairman, Jordanian businessman Fawaz Zureikat, "came from moneys derived, via the oil-for-food programme, from the former Iraqi regime".
Following Mr Galloway's exit, Sir George Young, the Tory chairman of the standards and privileges committee, insisted: "This is not a debate about party political funding as Mr Galloway maintained, it is about openness, it is about accountability, it is about integrity and also it is about our rules on advocacy."
And he demanded: "When he argued in this chamber against sanctions on Iraq, did he know and therefore was the house entitled to know that the vehicle for this campaign was funded in part by Saddam Hussein?
"The evidence led us to the conclusion that he solicited these funds, was instrumental in securing them, directed their expenditure and was complicit in trying to conceal their true origin."
The government, Conservative and Liberal Democrat frontbenches all endorsed the report and the sanction.
Urging MPs to back the move, Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, said: "The committee has concluded that Mr Galloway has failed to meet the standards expected."
His expulsion by Mr Martin will remove him from the house until the recess later this week.
His suspension by MPs was agreed without a vote.
Matthew Tempest and agencies
Tuesday July 24, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
.
George Galloway was ejected from the Commons chamber on top of his suspension from parliament last night.
The Respect MP had expected the 18-day expulsion after the standards and privileges committee last week criticised him over the transparency of his charity, the Mariam Appeal.
But, while defending himself in the chamber last night, Mr Galloway was ejected by the Speaker, Michael Martin, after repeatedly criticising the committee and its members.
The outspoken anti-war MP had been talking for more than an hour as he sought to defend himself against a motion to suspend him.
After repeated warnings from Mr Martin about attacking the integrity of committee members, Mr Galloway angrily protested: "Having told me you would protect me, we are now getting to the stage where you are going to have to throw me out of parliament prematurely."
As he was ordered from the chamber, he shouted that he would continue his speech outside for anyone who wanted to hear it.
Opening the debate earlier, Mr Galloway complained: "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."
Mr Galloway's 18-day suspension - which bars him from the palace of Westminster and means pay will be deducted from his salary - will commence when MPs come back from the summer recess on October 8.
The committee censured him for failing to register an interest and for "excessive" use of taxpayer-funded facilities for the charity, and recommended his suspension for failing to supervise funding from Saddam Hussein's former regime and for failing to provide evidence to the inquiry itself.
Its report came at the end of a lengthy and detailed investigation into the now-defunct Mariam Appeal by Sir Philip Mawer, the commissioner for parliamentary standards.
The appeal was a fund set up in 1998 by Mr Galloway to raise money for a four-year-old Iraqi girl with leukaemia. It also became a political vehicle demanding the lifting of sanctions on Iraq.
Sir Philip said that the Bethnal Green and Bow MP had "consistently failed to live up to the expectation of openness and straightforwardness" during the inquiry.
And he found "powerful" evidence that large sums for the charity came from the Iraq regime via the UN's oil-for-food programme and that Mr Galloway was probably complicit in that.
The inquiry was launched in 2003 but was suspended for more than two years during Mr Galloway's successful libel action against the Daily Telegraph over claims he received money from Saddam.
Sir Philip said that there was no evidence that the MP had personally received payments but there was "powerful" circumstantial evidence that "a substantial part" of donations to the appeal from its chairman, Jordanian businessman Fawaz Zureikat, "came from moneys derived, via the oil-for-food programme, from the former Iraqi regime".
Following Mr Galloway's exit, Sir George Young, the Tory chairman of the standards and privileges committee, insisted: "This is not a debate about party political funding as Mr Galloway maintained, it is about openness, it is about accountability, it is about integrity and also it is about our rules on advocacy."
And he demanded: "When he argued in this chamber against sanctions on Iraq, did he know and therefore was the house entitled to know that the vehicle for this campaign was funded in part by Saddam Hussein?
"The evidence led us to the conclusion that he solicited these funds, was instrumental in securing them, directed their expenditure and was complicit in trying to conceal their true origin."
The government, Conservative and Liberal Democrat frontbenches all endorsed the report and the sanction.
Urging MPs to back the move, Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, said: "The committee has concluded that Mr Galloway has failed to meet the standards expected."
His expulsion by Mr Martin will remove him from the house until the recess later this week.
His suspension by MPs was agreed without a vote.
George Galloway may face criminal inquiry
By Andrew Pierce and Richard Edwards
Last Updated: 2:12am BST 18/07/2007
Scotland yard is to take the first steps toward a possible criminal investigation against George Galloway, who faces an 18-day suspension from the Commons over his financial links to Saddam Hussein's regime, The Daily Telegraph can disclose today.
Detectives are to seek documents from the Serious Fraud Office, which carried out a previous investigation, to establish whether there are grounds to prosecute Mr Galloway.
The police may seek his bank accounts after a report by Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Standards Commisioner, concluded yesterday that Mr Galloway's Mariam Appeal charity received large sums from Saddam's manipulation of the United Nations oil-for-food programme.
Sir Philip said: "Mr Galloway has consistently denied, prevaricated and fudged in relation to the now undeniable evidence that the Mariam Appeal, and he indirectly through it, received money derived, via the Oil for Food programme, from the Iraqi regime."
He added: "Mr Galloway through his controlling position in the appeal, benefited from those monies, in terms of furtherance of his political objectives."
He went on: "He [Mr Galloway] had received such support at least recklessly or negligently, and probably knowingly."
But Sir Philip said there was no evidence that Mr Galloway had benefited personally from the programme or that any funds had entered his personal bank account.
The 181-page report said that the Respect MP had "consistently failed to live up to the expectation of openness and straightforwardness".
The Commons standards and privileges committee, in recommending the 18-day ban, said Mr Galloway had been "complicit" in the concealment of the true source of funds for the Mariam Appeal. MPs will vote on the ban which will begin when Parliament resumes after the summer recess.
Mr Galloway called the inquiry a "politicised tribunal". Speaking outside the Commons, he said: "I challenged everything that Sir Humphrey and Sir Bufton and Sir Tufton put to me because the points they were putting to me were false. I will not allow people to make false allegations against me.
[...]
The investigation was triggered by The Daily Telegraph in April 2003 when David Blair, a foreign correspondent, discovered documents purporting to be about Mr Galloway in the Iraqi foreign ministry in Baghdad shortly after Saddam's overthrow. The papers claimed to show that he received funds from Saddam's regime for the Mariam Appeal.
The committee report demands that Mr Galloway apologise to Blair, who he accused of perjury, and to the Commons. In December 2004 The Daily Telegraph lost a libel action brought by Mr Galloway who was paid £150,000 in damages.
Detectives are studying the section of the report where Sir Philip referred to Mr Galloway's bank accounts which he had not seen. The report said: "I have not pressed for access to bank accounts . . . primarily because I believe that embarking on such action could take me into matters more properly within the jurisdiction of other agencies."
There have been several investigations into the oil-for-food programme, including one in the United States, to which Mr Galloway gave evidence.
[...]
At Westminster the committee emphatically rejected Mr Galloway's claim that the oil-for-food programme could not be considered Iraqi government funding. "This is purely a matter of semantics: those selling oil under the programme first required options granted by the Iraqi government.
"Mr Galloway's conduct aimed at concealing the true source of Iraqi funding of the Mariam Appeal, his conduct towards Mr David Blair and others in this inquiry, his unwillingness to co-operate fully with the commissioner, and his calling into question of the commissioner's and our own integrity have, in our view, damaged the reputation of the House.
"We recommend that he apologise to the House, and be suspended for a period of 18 actual sitting days."
Mr Galloway was "irresponsible" for not verifying the source of some of the donations and his failure to declare an interest in the Commons.
"In acting as he did Mr Galloway breached the advocacy rule and damaged the reputation of the House. We believe he was complicit in the concealment of the true source of the funds for the Mariam Appeal."
By Andrew Pierce and Richard Edwards
Last Updated: 2:12am BST 18/07/2007
Scotland yard is to take the first steps toward a possible criminal investigation against George Galloway, who faces an 18-day suspension from the Commons over his financial links to Saddam Hussein's regime, The Daily Telegraph can disclose today.
Detectives are to seek documents from the Serious Fraud Office, which carried out a previous investigation, to establish whether there are grounds to prosecute Mr Galloway.
The police may seek his bank accounts after a report by Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Standards Commisioner, concluded yesterday that Mr Galloway's Mariam Appeal charity received large sums from Saddam's manipulation of the United Nations oil-for-food programme.
Sir Philip said: "Mr Galloway has consistently denied, prevaricated and fudged in relation to the now undeniable evidence that the Mariam Appeal, and he indirectly through it, received money derived, via the Oil for Food programme, from the Iraqi regime."
He added: "Mr Galloway through his controlling position in the appeal, benefited from those monies, in terms of furtherance of his political objectives."
He went on: "He [Mr Galloway] had received such support at least recklessly or negligently, and probably knowingly."
But Sir Philip said there was no evidence that Mr Galloway had benefited personally from the programme or that any funds had entered his personal bank account.
The 181-page report said that the Respect MP had "consistently failed to live up to the expectation of openness and straightforwardness".
The Commons standards and privileges committee, in recommending the 18-day ban, said Mr Galloway had been "complicit" in the concealment of the true source of funds for the Mariam Appeal. MPs will vote on the ban which will begin when Parliament resumes after the summer recess.
Mr Galloway called the inquiry a "politicised tribunal". Speaking outside the Commons, he said: "I challenged everything that Sir Humphrey and Sir Bufton and Sir Tufton put to me because the points they were putting to me were false. I will not allow people to make false allegations against me.
[...]
The investigation was triggered by The Daily Telegraph in April 2003 when David Blair, a foreign correspondent, discovered documents purporting to be about Mr Galloway in the Iraqi foreign ministry in Baghdad shortly after Saddam's overthrow. The papers claimed to show that he received funds from Saddam's regime for the Mariam Appeal.
The committee report demands that Mr Galloway apologise to Blair, who he accused of perjury, and to the Commons. In December 2004 The Daily Telegraph lost a libel action brought by Mr Galloway who was paid £150,000 in damages.
Detectives are studying the section of the report where Sir Philip referred to Mr Galloway's bank accounts which he had not seen. The report said: "I have not pressed for access to bank accounts . . . primarily because I believe that embarking on such action could take me into matters more properly within the jurisdiction of other agencies."
There have been several investigations into the oil-for-food programme, including one in the United States, to which Mr Galloway gave evidence.
[...]
At Westminster the committee emphatically rejected Mr Galloway's claim that the oil-for-food programme could not be considered Iraqi government funding. "This is purely a matter of semantics: those selling oil under the programme first required options granted by the Iraqi government.
"Mr Galloway's conduct aimed at concealing the true source of Iraqi funding of the Mariam Appeal, his conduct towards Mr David Blair and others in this inquiry, his unwillingness to co-operate fully with the commissioner, and his calling into question of the commissioner's and our own integrity have, in our view, damaged the reputation of the House.
"We recommend that he apologise to the House, and be suspended for a period of 18 actual sitting days."
Mr Galloway was "irresponsible" for not verifying the source of some of the donations and his failure to declare an interest in the Commons.
"In acting as he did Mr Galloway breached the advocacy rule and damaged the reputation of the House. We believe he was complicit in the concealment of the true source of the funds for the Mariam Appeal."
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