SUN columnist Kelvin MacKenzie asks why Saddam brown-noser George Galloway MP (former Labour Party member and now leader of the Respect Party and columnist in Scottish newspaper The Daily Record) is allowed to spout his nasty far-Left views and keep his radio presenting job on BBC TalkSport
Why can Galloway break the rules?
Despot of bother ... George and Saddam meet
I AM enormously grateful for an anonymous email I have received from inside the radio station TalkSport, which reveals murky goings-on involving George Galloway, the MP and brown-noser to Saddam Hussein.
Last week, I gave vent to my displeasure at TalkSport’s "management" at the sacking of James Whale, the late-night presenter, for saying "I back Boris" on air.
A ludicrous and hasty over-reaction for a bloke who had done three hours a night for 13 years at the station.
Brown-noser ... George Galloway
I pointed out that Galloway, who has a twice-weekly show between 10pm and 1am, is allowed to spout his nasty far-Left views and keeps his job, presumably because he doesn’t get paid very much.
Now I’ve learned that Mr Galloway has been acting in a manner that even Moz Dee, the station’s current programme director, will have to do something about.
During his three hours on air, Mr Galloway receives around 1,000 emails and texts from listeners.
Extraordinarily — and uniquely for a presenter — at the end of the show, he and the producer collect up the printed emails and he is then allowed to take them out of the building.
Why? Here’s the answer.
His party then contacts the email address wanting to know if they would like to receive more information about Galloway and his party.
This, of course, is punishable under the privacy and electronic regulation act, as it’s a form of spamming and could lead to a fine of £5,000.
But, of course, it’s much more serious than that.
It’s clearly in Mr Galloway’s interest to peddle his personal manifesto during his show — after all, he is the Respect Party — so that those who email in are already like-minded.
I am told that a number of listeners have complained about receiving the unwanted emails.
Some have gone on the unofficial TalkSport website to do so.
Broken
So, in effect, he is using a show as a recruiting sergeant.
Strangely, there is nothing the media regulator Ofcom could do about it, as there have been no broadcasting rules broken.
However, it would only need a small change in the Broadcasting Act for what Galloway is doing to be ruled illegal.
But, as Jeremy Hunt, the rather good Conservative media spokesman, told me: "It’s quite preposterous that Whale is fired while Galloway is allowed to use his show as a party political broadcast."
Perhaps it might be helpful if I could remind you what Galloway told Saddam Hussein when he met the dictator in Baghdad in 1994.
He said: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."
This to a man who had killed, conservatively, 450,000 of his own people.
So I am looking to John McCann, the chief executive of UTV, TalkSport’s owner, to become involved in this scandal and order the dismissal of Galloway before any more damage is done to the station.
Or reinstate James Whale.
thesun.co.uk