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PUSSY FURORE
MPs demand Galloway go back to work .. as he turns into a CAT on Big Brother
By Oonagh Blackman

14 January 2006


ANGRY politicians attacked George Galloway last night, demanding he quit the Big Brother house and get back to work.

The controversial MP made Labour Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong "cringe" when he pretended to be a cat. He crawled on all fours, buried his head in actress Rula Lenska's lap, left, and licked imaginary milk from her hands. She rubbed the "cream" from his "whiskers" and stroked his head and behind his ears.

Ms Armstrong yesterday launched a petition in Galloway's London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow to try to force him off the TV show and back to the Commons.

She said of his cat antics: "It made me cringe", adding that the 51-year-old Respect Party MP should "respect his constituents, not his ego".

Ms Armstrong said: "I'm absolutely bemused that he decided to do something where he is uncontactable by the people he represents or works for.

"Something serious could happen here today and no one can contact him. He could not say or do anything and that to me seems a bit strange for someone who is, and has wanted to be, a publicly elected official.

"No one can talk to him, they can watch him - and this is not a very edifying experience - but they, his constituents, cannot see him working for them, listening to them and representing them in Parliament."

Galloway has already missed a crucial Commons debate on the Crossrail project, which affects his constituency.

Around 70 residents have phoned his office complaining about him being on Big Brother instead of in the Commons.

Muslim leaders have condemned him for appearing on TV with glamour girls.

Galloway won his seat last year, overturning a Labour majority on an anti-Iraq war ticket. He believes being on Big Brother may help him to reach a wider audience.

But John Biggs, a Labour London Assembly member, who has been holding an alternative surgery in Mr Galloway's absence, said: "I think there is a real need for politicians to engage with people, but I do not think that being on Big Brother or pretending to be a cat is the best way to achieve it.

"Around Tower Hamlets people are p***ed off about his failure to represent them.

"He is becoming one of the biggest laughing stocks in London politics since the Second World War."

Source: The Mirror