uh first up though we're going to be
talking live in the studio to George
Galloway the respect candidate for L May
who joins me Good morning George good
morning good morning to you um so first
question I've asked all of the
candidates we've spoken to of course if
you just tuned in we have spoken to all
of the leading candidates for London
mayor um why are you standing well I
think London needs a leader not a reader
not a desiccated calculating machine and
as the financial times editorial no less
at the weekend said the leading two
candidates are lilip puchan now um Zack
Goldsmith is extremely tall and uh sadik
Khan isn't but I think that lilipan is a
good uh description and the Ft uh got
their comment right and so I think uh as
a big world city uh London needs a big
figure a bigger figure than the front
two uh to lead it and I've got a raft of
policies which would radically change
London and I emphas ize the word
radically it's not a word that uh should
be hidden from because London is
basically A Tale of Two Cities it's the
1% dripping in gold and it's the rest
struggling to get by and the 1% can look
after themselves the rest need a mayor
on their side and I would be on their
side you however you're fully paid up
member of the 1% aren't you so why would
you be the best person to represent the
order folk you weren't 50 Grand a couple
last year didn't you oh very much more
than that apologize very much more than
that for that Mr uh Mr Ben was uh a very
rich man but he was on the side of the
people who weren't and I'm on the side
of the people who weren't too okay tell
me what are you going to do your first
day as London may tell me the top three
things you're going to do I'm going to
send my Emissary over to the square mile
just across the river and tell them that
the party is over the bankers the city
the Slickers the sir Philip greens or
lady green as we now discover have made
off with hundreds of millions of pounds
whilst leaving the workers of BHS what
you going to do I'm going to send my
Emissary over there and tell them that
things are going to have to change don't
have you don't have any powers you're
London mayor not the chancellor no but I
do have a pull pit and I'm quite good at
uh speaking in the pull pit but are you
go to getting things to change what are
you going to do I ask I'm going to begin
a campaign to mobilize London to clean
up the city of London most people agree
with that after all our country was
brought to its knees by these people and
we've suffered eight years of what they
call austerity which means poverty and
pressure for most people wait a we've
had we've had eight years we've had
eight years of that we've had people
calling for that we've had occupying
movements we've had call we a may but
you think that you've got the power as
London mayor because of the the position
that has that that will that will
I have a lot of power to influence the
uh atmosphere in London about this
square mile which is exceptionally uh
described as a tax Haven inside our own
Capital City it also of course brings in
an awful lot of money to London does it
not what else are you going to do
because a lot of people would say look
you know we want to keep the cities
thriving in London because an awful lot
of people employed by not just the fat
cats you know the the the people who
work at the lower levels on average
incomes the cleaners everybody else well
they call that trickle down that if
these fat cats get enough money then
some of it will trickle down but it
turns out from the Panama papers that it
doesn't trickle down it gets stashed
away it gets stashed away still have
jobs in the who aren't on six fig
salaries and it gets uh I'm sure you do
uh it gets on normal average salaries
gets uh it gets stashed in the Bahamas
and in Panama and it's just not good
enough that's not the London we want
it's not the Britain is there anything
else you're going to do as London mayor
or you yeah I'm think I'm thinking that
was reasonable you're still talking
about the first one no that's because
you kept interrupting me the second one
I'm going to ask to see the commissioner
of the Metropolitan Police and tell him
that the London Police Force needs to
start looking like London it's the 23rd
anniversary of the foul murder of Steven
Lawrence and the police collaboration
with his killers that allowed uh most of
them to evade Justice entirely and some
for a very long time and after that
murar mcferson opined that the
Metropolitan Police was institutionally
racist so you you want to have more
black and Asian police officers I sure
do and London are we not already trying
that my my understanding is there are
nonstop campaigns to try and bring in
more ethnic minority police officers the
number of minority police officers has
gone down not up no but there are plenty
of campaigns to try and encourage that
you need to ask why the numbers have
gone down and the numbers have gone down
because the police tend to act in
certain communities as an occupation
force and they they react to minority
officers in their ranks with the famous
Infamous canteen culture which uh drives
them out so the London police force will
have to look like London and it will
have to be led by people who look like
London and it'll have to stop
discriminating on other grounds have to
be led by do you mean we have to have a
black or Asian Metropolitan Police CH is
that what you me very good idea no but
are you going to impose for instance any
quotas for people that would be that
would be an exceedingly good idea quas
you want to have quas for the color of
offices no no I'm saying the leadership
of the force by a black or minority
officer would be an exceedingly good
idea but I have an important point if I
may uh people are discriminated against
by the police in this city not just on
the color of their skin but the color of
their shirt collar if you pick someone's
pocket in Liverpool Street Station
you'll very quickly be behind bars but
if you pick the bank's pocket of 10 2030
million you've almost no chance of going
to jail I think I think many people
listening would agree with you on that
what's your third policy my third policy
is on housing we need millions of
council houses Council housing is the
best form of rented tenure we have 2
million people in the private rented
sector most of them by the way
representing a huge subsidy from the
taxpayer to private landlords through
the housing benefit uh scheme those 2
million private renters change house on
average every three years their children
have to change schools change friends
and all the rest of it it's a ticking
time bomb and most of them are uh in
houses that are being rented to them for
no other reason than money we discussed
housing with every candidate who's
coming and everyone says they've all got
very specific ideas but how how many new
houses are you going to build and how
are you going to fund Council I'm going
to demand that councils be allowed to
borrow to build Council houses cuz it's
costly to build but it's more costly not
to because the uh social cleansing
that's going on in London where
workingclass people are having to move
out uh and displaced by luxury
development by private developers the
kind of people people who are paying for
the election campaigns of my two Rivals
uh simply has to stop if we look along
the river here at the uh battery power
station development only 8% of those
houses are defined as affordable and
affordable is defined as 80% of the
average rents it's not affordable at all
you have to be rich to afford the
affordable house never mind the others
so any developer will have to Prov
provide 50% of the units as affordable
and that will be defined as 50% not 80
of the of the uh the average rents in
the area and there's 600,000 houses in
London that are empty because they
weren't bought as Homes at all they were
bought as safety deposit boxes and
they're left empty and they're left
empty can I ask you uh we've got a lot
to get through in the next uh uh 20
minutes or so um you claim on your
website that you want to be the people's
May if you're elected but um not many
people in London seem to agree with you
you seem to be on roughly not per in the
polls I don't know how you can be on not
percent in the poll you know perfectly
well how that would mean your own wife
was it means that if you round up or
down no it doesn't it means if you round
up or down on the polls that that you're
closer to not per than 1% so why don't
people in London agree with you well you
if you repres have no idea what the
result of the election will be
thankfully and neither do I these polls
are propaganda not polling my name is
isn't even put to the respondent in the
polls and I have dozens of examples uh
uh affidavits to prove it so if you put
an opinion poll to people and you don't
even mention the name of one of the
candidates then of course you're not
going to get much of a response I've
this is a conspiracy against you well it
is I've been systematically uh blanked
out as you know from all of the hustings
98% to be precise is that when they just
had the top five candidates uh had the
top five but then you're not in the top
five well according to every bookmaker
everyone on every day of the campaign
I'm the third favorite I'm the Best
Known candidate and I'm the third
favorite of The Bookies who have to put
their money where their mouth is so to
be blanked out of television and radio
and uh other so-called NGO hustings is a
pretty big uh disadvantage so as you can
tell from my voice I've had to take to
the top of an open top bus and take my
message directly to people okay well the
time is just coming up to 10:45 we have
to get an update on the Travel I must
just say um police collaborating with
the Lawrence Steven Lawrence Killers is
is George Galloway's view not the view
of talk radio I must stress that
something he mentioned earlier coming up
though on talk radio we'll be talking
more with George Galloway find out a
little bit more about what he plans to
do and why he thinks he'll make a good
mayor this is talk radio the time is
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talk radio we'll get you
talking this is talk radio I'm Julia
Harley BR the time's coming up to 10:48
I'm in the studio with George Galloway
the respect candidate for London mayor
um George you once said in an interview
in 2013 I like elections more than I
like serving and certainly when you have
been an MP very rarely turned up to
votes in the House of Commons have one
of the poorest Records On on that front
is it the case that if you are elected
London mayor that you'll have preferred
the election campaign more than the
serving cuz it's quite a big job running
one of the world's greatest cities in
the world isn't it up to it like so much
uh that's an entire misquotation I
didn't say you say I did not say that it
was an interview with total politics
they tend not to I don't think they're
renowned for being an anti- Galloway
organization are they I have the tape
Julia the uh quotation is that
Parliament itself is 98% TM and 2%
terrifying excitement just like he qued
that as well you said I like I like
elections more than I like no I didn't I
have the tape Julia now think if I uh we
both have the tape and I would like like
to you A lot of people so you're not I
do and I'm very successful if people lie
about you then I think it's right to use
the law that was created for exactly
that uh purpose but the uh fact is that
I am running for mayor I have the
program to be a successful mayor I think
I have the uh personality and presence
to Be an Effective mayor about putting
that to two people do you think that's
it's actually just about it's about what
you say rather than what you do because
an awful lot of londoners would perhaps
be interested in a mayor who was going
to get things done rather than make big
speeches but the first point I made was
that I have the program to Be an
Effective mayor but I do think well you
said you were going to talk to the city
and you said you going to talk to the
Met Chief and then you were going to try
and bring out the I have to say there's
a lot of talking involved isn't there
well of course we've had two Mayors uh
Ken Livingston and Boris Johnson both of
them were very big figures and they set
the tone in the uh City and I think that
that's necessary and I don't know what
the tone other than a robotic diic
incantation that uh that the so-called
front two would set ours would be very
clear peace Justice and equality and
everything that we said and everything
that we did that we legally were able to
do would be uh in that direction for
example uh the uh transport policy of
letting all of our children travel free
school children college and university
students traveling free people say that
it will not be possible but I will try
to do it that will be the direction of
travel if you'll forgive the pun
children already travel free no they
don't our students uh don't travel free
children children not quite sure by
people who are hardw working in minimum
wage jobs would want students to be able
to travel for free when they can't well
the school children had the uh education
maintenance allowance stolen from them
by the last government and the students
are paying £99,000 a year in tuition
fees imposed by the labor government and
then tripled by the last government and
I think that we need to put something
back back into the pockets and into the
incentivizing of our young people to
stay on and study you talk about why you
think you'd be a good mayor but you do
have a history of of perhaps well let's
put this way you get into an awful lot
of spats and fights with people you you
sue a lot of people you fell out with a
labor party you then fell out with half
of the respect party was a split you you
threaten legal action on a regular basis
yes I accept you do often win um but is
there an issue where if you're a mayor
of an international great City like
London it's about working together it's
working together with with with housing
Charities working together with the city
it's about compromise working with the
government are you actually as as a
personality able to work with anyone yes
indeed I am it doesn't you don't seem to
have a very good track record of doing
that do you you say that but then you
would say that wouldn't you yes you
would well because based on based on the
facts I mean you don't I mean for
instance you know you fell out the labor
party and fall out toward the labelled
from the labor party I think that's a
fair summary I was expelled by Tony
Blair over the Iraq War I was right
everybody listening to this knows that I
was right I'm surprised you've chosen
that one no no no I'm
just but best green and bow you stood
for successfully 2005 and you said you
wouldn't run again in that seat in stand
of London but you you ran for election
in the neighboring seat of pop and
Limehouse in 2010 despite claiming you
say being a great constituency MP you
were not elected then you failed you
then stood Bradford West by elction 2012
uh and and then uh you are you doing all
the talking here Julia you've done PL I
think you find if you listen back you've
done plenty of talking but you were
defeated in 2015 and now you're running
for mayor of London you've said publicly
if you don't get this job you're going
to go sadique Khan's seat in tooting if
he is elected as he is the front runner
uh for for mayor um just seems to me
that you you don't have as strong a
track record as you seem to claim
judging by the facts well the facts are
I've been elected six times to
Parliament in two countries in four
constituencies and I served in
Parliament for almost 30 years that's
not something everybody has done uh or
everyone can do so I have a track record
in politics why did the people of
Bradford reject you and why did the
people of Po reject you next door to
your best green constitu again if you're
such a good there's no shame in losing
an election losing a fight the only
shame is not actually fighting running
away the only shame is uh crawling on
your hands and knees to those with whom
you fundamentally disagree in order to
carry favor with them I don't do that I
say what I mean I mean what I say I'm
straight talking I'm straightforward if
people vote for it it's good if they
don't vote for it it won't change what I
have to say I say what I believe and I
think most people listening to this know
it whether they agree with my beliefs or
not okay you say you say what you mean
you mean what you say so would you aim
to make London an Israeli free city as
you claimed for Bradford in 2014 no uh
because the power over uh foreign
affairs is not one currently residing in
the mealy but let me tell you this as
the mayor of London I will stand up for
the Palestinian people and I will oppose
the crimes of Israel against them that's
different from the Two Front Runners who
are in a Dutch auction to abase
themselves before the aparte state of
Israel so there's a big difference there
now that will lose me some votes but I
can say and do no other that's what I
why did you think you had the power as
an MP for Bradford to have an Israeli
free City I didn't again again is this
something that's people been something
people made up you're distorting a lot
of things people make up about you
that's why I've won millions of pounds
did you hear that figure millions of
pounds in Damages because they yes just
make it up look no MP can ban anyone
from anywhere but you'd like to so it I
you'd like you'd like to ban Israeli
academics from from London is that right
I want a total boycott youd like
aparte and I did by the way during the
South African aparte experience I even
went underground in South Africa to try
and undermine aparte there and I'm very
proud about it and by the end almost
everyone was boycotting aparti South
Africa and as long as God gives me
breath I'll try to get almost everyone
uh boycotting aparti Israel um you you
say you you'd be a good man and an
advocate for this city um
I wonder we had a Twitter exchange
yesterday during which time you you
tweeted me I despise you and always have
said I had a posh voice but no class and
referred to me in a tweet to someone
else saying this kind of malice runs
through her veins and drips out um do
you think this is a sort of language
that's becoming of someone who wants to
be mayor of one of the greatest cities
in the in the world well of course the
exchange began with you Tweeting a fake
tweet about me you did that as a
provocation you did it to dredge the
pond to get the the people of the depths
out on your side in this interview I
don't need people to be on my side you
shouldn't have done it explain to those
people who have lives and aren't on
Twitter on Sunday evenings like George
and myself um I I I tweeted out that I
was uh George was on my show and George
retweeted that and I looked at my phone
again and I there was a tweet that
purported it was a very good a very good
spoof account looks just like yours when
you just look at the tweet
uh saying things you would not discuss
and I retweeted it pointing out well I
I'll decide who what the questions are
someone as soon as I saw someone pointed
out oh no that's a spoof account I
deleted it and I sent out an apology
apologies that tweet was was from a
spoof account have deleted it I then
spent the evening being berated by you
and abused by you um demanding that I
demanding that I apologize for something
and I tweeted the apology back to you to
say I have apologize um but do you not
think that the people of London
particularly those who are getting up
not allit selfer that's exactly what I
want to get to do you not think that the
people who are getting up at 4:00 or 5:
in the morning to go and do cleaning
jobs and doing a slog across the city on
on you know slow running buses and
living in substandard Council housing
would rather have a mayor who spent
their time worrying about those issues
rather than someone who accidentally
sent a tweet out you spent you sp you
sent innumerable number of tweets about
this are you is there a worry do you
think a legit legitimate concern that
you may just be an egomaniac it's not uh
innumerable it's precisely six and you
didn't apologize to me the person that
you even though I wrote apologies and it
had act Geor Gallow in it that's not an
apolog to me and you ought to have I'm
surprised that in the limited time
available to us you want to bog us down
but let me tell you candidly I don't
believe that you made a
mistake conspiracy deliberately well
you're a journal deliberately as a
journalist sent out a spoofy let talk
about you as a journalist you say it was
a very you said it was a very good spoof
a lot you had a lot of people tweeting
you point instead of two L's in the
middle of my name it had two eyes now if
you're journalistic standard yes it did
I know it well just in case anyone's
wondering a capital I and an L look
remarkably similar when someone got the
same not to a journalist one would have
hoped a journalist who was sitting in a
car looking at her iPhone moving car
thought a journalist might have spotted
that this was a malicious fake account
and who then immediately when she did
sent out an apology Julia do not you
saying George but this is the point you
spend your time obsessing about things
like this and that is something that I
think a lot of ordinary people who want
someone to represent them in a city
where as you say it's Run for the 1% in
the metropolitan Elite people like
yourself earning way into six figure
sums um and and and you know enjoying
life perhaps you should have better
things to worry about well let me tell
you why careless talk costs lives I have
been multiply physically attacked you
have and that's outrageous by people by
people who are whipped up by the kind of
falsehood that you tweeted last night
now I could show you my scars but I
won't I have to point out he's not
wearing his hat I'm not wearing my hat
but I usually wear my hat because my
head is scarred my ribs were broken my
back was injured it's absolutely apping
that you were physically still limping
and the people who carry out these
attacks are whipped up by the kind of
fake propaganda that you retweeted it's
quite serious actually Julia I I didn't
say it was anything but serious I think
I'm Absol apped by the fact that anyone
in a democracy running for office should
ever be physically attacked I was in
office exact but the point is that the
point is I what I I'm concerned about is
that you look can we move on Julia I've
got so much else we do have lots to talk
about okay well let's move on then um
would you agree to appear on a reality
TV show while you're mayor of London as
you did with Celebrity Big Brother while
you were supposed to be an MP for Beth
green and bow in 2006 no I did that
because it was the Christmas holidays
and the uh very substantial sum of money
I raised for the refugees in Gaza when
no one else cared about them but I had
done it I won't do it again and I
certainly wouldn't do it if I was mayor
and you certainly wouldn't wear a red
leotard again has that dogged you
uh no uh it's an obsession you're not
embarrassed by it uh of course uh people
are embarrassed by all kinds of things
in the you embarrassed I did it I did it
for charity people are you embarrassed
by it people yes people tend to uh do
embarrassing things for charity and
that's all I did okay um your company
Miranda media went into Administration
over what the uh hmlc claims is a 00,000
unpaid tax bill I know you have disputed
that yeah um how can you claim to be
able to run a city a multi-billion pound
City if you can't run a small company
well make up your mind um a few minutes
ago you were saying I was one of the 1%
oh you earn a lot of money didn't no no
I'm not disputing whether you earn a lot
of money that's not the same as running
a company am I am I successful or am I
not you're very rich and very successful
that doesn't mean you run a company well
there's a disputed tax bill for a
liquidated company it's being negotiated
now it's not proper to discuss it on the
air okay but uh the the fact you've had
to gone in that company went into
Administration yes it did because the
main customer of the company was subject
to sanctions and uh couldn't uh pay the
money couldn't bring money here okay and
a lot of your earnings say in terms of
De declaration in 2014 from TV work
alone you say you've earned far more
than this you earn £
239,000 Plus £70,000 in expenses at what
tax rate do you pay because you've said
you want to close all tax loopholes what
tax rate do you pay on that income uh
top you pay top rate you don't that's
not a private that's not a personal
service company on which you pay 21%
corporations ta rather than 45% the
amount that the company earns isn't all
for me we have employees and we have
costs you do um and in terms of your the
people who do uh employ you uh press tv
owned by the Uranian government uh RT a
Russian government owned uh show there's
also some question marks over uh Al
mayadin you worked for in 2012 which
there were claims I'm not in a position
to prove or disprove these that they had
going with the Syrian government um do
do you ever worry that your associations
with totalitarian governments actually
undermines your claim to to be for the
people well I work for all kinds of
people and it's unfortunate that you
should pose the question in that way
because you know that I am precluded
from adumbrating all the people who
employ me so it's an unfortunately but
you choose to work for you choose people
broadcasting Oran I work for all kinds
of people but unfortunately uh for legal
reasons I'm not allowed nothing to do
with legal reasons George why do you
work for press tv why do you why do you
work for I work for I work for anyone
who give me will you please let me
finish I'll work for anyone who will
give me a show that they don't interfere
in no one tells me what to say or what I
can't say That's the basis on which I do
the shows now I work for lots of people
some of whom are not uh foreign owned uh
broadcasters but I'm not able to fully
explain that as you will no yeah uh but
you choose to work for an organization
that is owned by the Russian government
um where and and and an or organization
owned by the Iranian government are you
aware of how gay people are treated in
Iran and in Russia and does it bother
you given that you're about to you hope
to be mayor for a city where an awful
lot of gay people live and and work and
how are gay people treated in Russia
remind me I think I think you know
perfectly well very people can be
imprisoned simp for homosexual acts in
in in Russia
do that doesn't bother you do you know
anything about which you talk no
apparently not that's completely untrue
you're quite happy I like Russia and I
like the foreign policy of the Russian
government I am against many of their
domestic policies economic and social
including their policy on the so-called
promotion of homosexuality which is the
based on actually the British government
Margaret Thatcher's policy of clause 28
or 31 depending on where you lived in
the country which I was one of the
leading opponents of I was commended by
Stonewall for my support for gay rights
long before they became gay rights in
Britain you yes exemplary record on no
question absolutely so you're quite
happy of foreign governments do don't
people the same way I'm not I'm not but
you're happy to take their money I'm
happy to broadcast my show on any
platform that will not interfere in what
I say okay George Galloway thank you
very much for joining us we are overtime
George Galloway is the respect candidate
for London May on the 5th of May he's
the final one of the candidates the
leading candidates we've been talking to