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14th
April 2005, The Scotsman
ACCOUNTANTS would probably call it the Galloway factor. The
increased risk of publishing a certain story if it contains
the name George Galloway MP - no stranger to the libel courts
and, to be fair, given his having won there, calculations need
to be done whether stories about him are worth the risk. At
election time, the risk of libel claims against publishers is
increased substantially.
But so far, George Galloway has not had his sights fixed on
the national press. In the battle for Bethnal Green and Bow,
they are focused on incumbent Labour MP, Oona King. Prior to
the election announcement, King paid Galloway’s legal
costs and made a £1,000 donation to charity over allegations
she made in a press conference and a press release last year
about sexually improper behaviour. Her letter read: "I
accept you have never been implicated in sexually improper behaviour
towards women, neither have you used, or been accused of using,
charitable funds to pay for sex with prostitutes in expensive
hotels." She promised never to repeat the allegations.
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However,
Galloway’s aides disclosed on Monday that she had repeated
the libel and had to cough up another £2,000 to charity.
One can presume the repetition came in the form of a comment
to the East London Advertiser where King said she "doesn’t
have time" to fight Galloway in the courts. She said: "I’m
too busy fighting for the East End. That’s why, although
Galloway has a lot to answer for, I’ve settled out of
court. Instead, I’ll fight him at the ballot box."
Hardly an admission that she was wrong, in spite of her apology.
Now the campaign is under way, insults are flying thick and
fast. So far we’ve had claims from King that constituents
were being told by canvassers for Respect - the party co-founded
by Galloway after he was expelled by Labour - that they should
not vote for her because of her religion. The claim was vehemently
denied by Respect with further threats of legal action. Then
we had counter-allegations that King’s campaign leaflets
urging voters to send back postal ballot applications to her
constituency office were "suspicious" and a "vital
precursor to illegality".
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Galloway
is too well-versed in the laws of libel to open himself up to
an action.
Rather than attacking King, he attacked the New Labour machine,
accusing it of resorting to tactics on postal voting that must
be close to illegal, if not illegal.
As political parties cannot sue for libel, then such comments
can be made without risk. King has labelled her opponent a "mustachioed
demagogue", insisting she would not trust Galloway to "deliver
a pizza", let alone effective policies. Galloway has described
her as "increasingly zany" in her interviews, "a
woman on the edge of a political breakdown".
It safe to say that the gloves are off in Bethnal Green. Whether
the writs will fly at the same rate as the insults remains to
be seen.
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