Murray gets his way on Galloway

Andrew Murray has finally got his way — the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) and its mouthpiece the Morning Star have thrown in their lot with George Galloway.

When Galloway and his (then) friends the SWP announced the formation of Respect in December 2003, Murray was one of those in the CPB who pushed (unsuccessfully, then) for the Party to sign up with not-so-gorgeous George. Murray was chair of the Stop the War coalition (then controlled by the SWP). He was regarded by his opponents within the CPB as having “gone native” and succumbed to the overtures of leading SWPers (at the time) Lindsey German and John Rees, and of their friend Mr Galloway, then an MP recently expelled from Labour and infamous for a grovelling, obsequious address to Saddam Hussein in 1994.

Apart from personal affinity, Murray’s liking for Galloway made political sense: both were (and remain to this day) essentially old-style Stalinists. In fact, Galloway was more of a Stalinist than many people in the CPB at the time.

TheMorning Star of 20 December 2003 went so far as to carry an article by then-editor John Haylett calling for support for Galloway and Respect and looking forward to a “special congress” of the CPB in January at which the party’s attitude to the new formation would be decided. In the event, the pro-Galloway people were to be disappointed: the vote went 60% to 40% against them.

In November 2007 Galloway and the SWP fell out. With the so-called “Trots” of the SWP gone, Murray and some others in the CPB renewed their overtures to Galloway, but by now the great man was riding high as Respect’s (only) MP, having defeated Labour’s Oona King in a typically dirty and divisive campaign in Bethnal Green and Bow. In 2003 Galloway had been keen to have the CPB on board (as a counterweight to the SWP), but now he wasn’t that interested in their support or involvement, having surrounded himself with Muslim businessmen and “community leaders”.

Having deserted Bethnal Green, Galloway won a by-election (2012) in Bradford West with a campaign stressing that he didn’t drink alcohol, making him a better Muslim than Labour’s candidate.

Galloway doesn’t limit himself to Muslim communal politics. During the EU referendum, he supported “Leave” and happily appeared on platforms with Nigel Farage, Bill Cash and Peter Bone. In the 2019 European elections he supported the Brexit Party.

He attended a far-right “forum” in Kazakhstan, where he was photographed hugging Steve Bannon.

In 2021 he called for a Tory vote in the Scottish Parliament elections. The Batley and Spen byelection of May 2021 was described by theGuardian as “mired in accusations of aggression and intimidatory tactics from Galloway’s campaign, which some say has fuelled anti-LGBTQ +rhetoric.”

None of this has prevented the CPB coming out for Galloway in the Rochdale by-election and, naturally, the Morning Star has followed. An editorial (14 February) claims that “Galloway cannot be accused of jumping on a bandwagon” and that he “has always been on the right side of history.” It even suggests that “besieged Palestinians” would want to see a vote for Galloway (surely Palestinians have more pressing concerns?)

Both the CPB’s pro-Galloway statement and the editorial note that there have been a few problems with Galloway’s record, but in a fawning interview (17-18 February) these are tactfully ignored. The interviewer is one Andrew Murray.