Galloway is quizzed over flag ‘insult’
GEORGE Galloway has been condemned over his ‘appalling’ views on the UK.
The former Labour MP yesterday faced a series of questions about remarks he has made about the Union as he launched the manifesto of his new party, All For Unity.
He once admitted his family described the Union Flag as the ‘Butcher’s Apron’ and told an interview around the 2014 independence referendum: ‘If you ever see me standing under a Union Jack shoulder-to-shoulder with a Conservative, shoot me.’
Mr Galloway is appealing for pro-UK voters to back All For Unity on the regional list – despite fears it could damage the other pro-Union parties and lead to more pro-independence MSPs.
One of his party’s key manifesto pledges is a plan to allow regions of Scotland to choose to remain in the UK if there is a vote for independence.
Scottish Tory candidate Annie Wells said: ‘It’s appalling to hear anyone say they hate the Union Flag and brand it the “Butcher’s Apron”. That’s a grave insult to everyone who loves our country.’
In 2012, Mr Galloway said in an interview with a political newsletter: ‘In my family, the Union Jack was routinely referred to as “The Butcher’s Apron”.’
He also said on social media in 2018 that he hated the Union Jack more than anyone else.
However, Mr Galloway has now said that he will be voting Conservative on the constituency vote this May because the party is best placed to defeat the SNP in the area where he lives. He is appealing for pro-UK voters to back the bestplaced pro-Union party on the constituency and All For Unity on the regional list.
However, he faced a series of questions yesterday about his previous controversial comments. He admitthe ted he is now ‘shoulder-to-shoulder with a Tory’, but added: ‘From 2014 to now, that existential danger has sharpened, become more acute, and therefore when the facts changed so do my opinions.’
Pressed to say if he still referred to Union flag as the ‘Butcher’s Apron’, he said he does not – but claimed journalists asking questions had an ‘agenda’.
He said: ‘I believe in the Union, that makes me a unionist.’
Asked if he had abandoned his principles to try to get elected – given he previously said he hated the Union Jack and Tories but has now published a manifesto proposing it should be flown at Scottish Government buildings and is voting Tory – he said: ‘It turns out the Tories hate me even more than I hated them back in 2014….
‘It’s the same answer as I gave earlier: that was then and this is now. The danger of the break-up of the country now is more acute than it was then.’
‘It’s appalling to hear’