The BBC reports:
George Galloway is considering a return to frontline politics by standing for a seat in the Scottish Parliament.
The 56-year-old told the BBC he had been strongly urged by supporters to stand at next May’s elections, and said Holyrood needed “heavy hitters”.
Mr Galloway, the former MP for London’s Bethnal Green and Bow seat, said he may only need 10,000 votes to get elected as an MSP on the Glasgow regional list.
He was born in Dundee and served as a MP in Glasgow for 18 years.
Mr Galloway, a Celtic fan, said he was first urged to stand through messages posted on the club’s fan websites, and was also supported by members of Glasgow’s Asian community and former constituents in the city’s west end.
In an interview for BBC Radio’s Scotland at Ten programme, he said: “I’m testing the water. So far the water’s lovely.
“If people think I can do it and ought to do it and that it will be helpful to the things that I believe in, then I will have a go.
“The mountain that has to be climbed is not Everest, it’s Ben Nevis perhaps – it’s 5% of the vote across the whole of the city of Glasgow, which could be a few as 10,000 votes.”
Mr Galloway, who is an author, columnist and radio broadcaster, said he was “not really in need of a seat” to gain a public platform.
But the politician, who campaigned for a Scots parliament in the 70’s, said: “I think on the Labour side, and I do consider myself a Labour person, that our position in politics has not been all that well represented…
This may come as a bit of a surprise to his comrades in Respect, but never mind.
Galloway, as you may recall, was elected MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005, but was humiliatingly defeated this year when he challenged Jim Fitzpatrick for the Poplar and Limehouse seat.
Since then he has tried to launch a career as a documentary filmmaker and a stage-musical producer.
