George is really in the crap at the moment. As you know, he is running against former fireman Jim Fitzpatrick and last week caused TalkSport to be censured by Ofcom after Galloway used his show to announce he would stand against Jim at the next general election.

Galloway said he would run for election in Poplar and Limehouse, and attacked the record of the incumbent MP, Jim Fitzpatrick.

The media regulator said TalkSport had broken the code on ensuring due impartiality, and said the breach was so serious that it had considered whether to impose a sanction on the station, which could have included a fine.

Galloway, who presents a twice-weekly phone-in on TalkSport, said it would be the "mother of all battles in Poplar and Limehouse".

The Respect MP accused transport minister Fitzpatrick of "closing post offices" and of being "the minister responsible for the shambles at Heathrow".

"He is the former firefighter who betrayed his former workmates by opposing the great battle of the fire brigades union, indeed I think quite a lot of fire fighters will be with me in this fight - he is hated there, as a man who betrayed them."

Galloway went on to list the MP's voting record on major issues in the House of Commons since 2001, including ID cards, the Iraq war, the fox hunting ban and gay rights.

"Clearly the issues referred to by Mr Galloway in this section of the programme were either matters of political controversy or matters relating to current public policy," said Ofcom in its ruling, published today.

"Alternative views on these controversial issues were not adequately represented. Nor did the broadcaster direct us to other programmes in which such views were included."

The regulator said it had welcomed TalkSport's recognition that Galloway had breached the code and that measures had been taken to stop it happening again.

"However, this was a serious breach of the code where a sitting MP used his position as presenter on a radio station to promote his own possible candidacy in a parliamentary seat," Ofcom added.

"Further, he used that position to attack a potential political opponent without giving him an opportunity to respond.

"Given the seriousness of this case, Ofcom considered whether to proceed to the consideration of sanction."

However, the regulator said it stopped short of applying a sanction, which could have included a fine or the requirement to broadcast a summary of its findings, because it was TalkSport's first impartiality breach.

"Nevertheless, the broadcaster should be aware that similar significant failure to ensure compliance with the due impartiality requirements will result in the consideration of further regulatory action."

Galloway made the comments while standing in on the station's morning show on August 10 this year. Ofcom received three complaints about the broadcast.

Original article libelling John
Features
Fire brigade heroes deserve our support
George Galloway
704 words
5 November 2007
Scottish Daily Record
13
English
(c) 2007 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd

REMEMBER that every fifth of November brings in its wake not just the whiff of gunpowder and the occasional treason and plot, but a huge number of accidents, casualties and death.

And that includes a hard-pressed fire service, whose loss of four Warwickshire officers over the weekend made for the worst fatalities in 30 years.

Crocodile tears were quick to flow. The conflagration spread during my three-hour radio show, where I stand at the microphone surrounded by TV screens, with the ability to respond.

While others were sad, I was angry. I remembered that useless tub of lard John Prescott denouncing Britain's firemen as "wreckers" and the "enemy within" for asking £8.50 an hour for plunging into infernos like these.

One New Labour figure likened them to "agents of Saddam Hussein" - when everybody knew that was my job - and one New Labour minister at Holyrood called Britain's firemen "fascist b****s".

He was eventually forced to resign from the government. But he wasn't expelled for "bringing the party into disrepute"- not like me.

There are few things certain in life. But one of them is that if you dial 999 and ask for the Fire Brigade, they will be there before you can say Jack Robinson.

It doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor, in a posh area or not, these brave public servants - men and women - will risk their lives for you.

I don't know about you, but that continues to move me. It has lain behind my 30-year involvement with the fire brigades' union. It's one of the main reasons I hate New Labour.

I wish I could say the same about the police as about the fire brigade.

You'd have to say a lot of Jack Robinsons before the police arrived sometimes, and where you lived, who you were and what you were worth would all play a part in response times, resources deployed and the way you were dealt with. And in London at least, whether or not you are shot down dead.

I was involved in the campaign for Scotsman Harry Stanley, shot dead in London while carrying a chair leg home in a plastic bag. His widow still waits for justice.

And for the two young men in the east end of London, dragged out of their beds by scores of police in the middle of the night and shot by police in front of their mother and sisters.

When it turned out they too were innocent men, a trumped-up charge of child computer porn was conjured up, only for it too to turn into ash in the police's mouth.

Last week we learned that the two brothers were stopped and searched recently - as young Muslim boys always are in London - and while one searched them another said "shoot them, shoot them".

But most of all I've been involved in the story of the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, slain and then slandered by the Metropolitan Police.

Everyone knows what happened next, culminating in the police's conviction last week in court, which was told of 19 key failures.

Sir Ian Blair - isn't it amazing that the name Blair has dominated this era - is clinging on by his finger tips, despite losing the confidence of most except New Labour ministers, racists who secretly rejoiced at a foreigner lying dead with seven bullets in his head, and bizarrely formerly red, Ken Livingstone.

Ken, like me, was expelled by New Labour, and, like me, went on to give them a bloody good hiding at the polls.

But he went back and became Blair's Mayor. First Tony's, now Sir Ian's.

That's why I am now giving serious consideration to the many calls for me to enter the race against him in May, to be Mayor of the greatest city in the world.

'There are few things certain in life. But one of them is that if you dial 999 and ask for the Fire Brigade, they will be there before you can say Jack Robinson'

The apology in today's Daily Record
News
John Prescott
86 words
26 November 2007
Scottish Daily Record
12
English
(c) 2007 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd

"In George Galloway's column of Nov. 5, 2007, it was wrongly stated that John Prescott MP had described firefighters as the "enemy within".

We wish to make it clear that no such statement was ever made by Mr Prescott with regard to firefighters.

In addition, we accept that Mr Prescott considers firefighters to be among the bravest of public servants and continues to hold members of the service in high regard. We apologise for any embarassment caused by these wrongly attributed remarks."