Big bucks beckon Galloway

GEORGE GALLOWAY is to cash in his new-found status as the poster boy of the anti-war movement in America with plans for a speaking tour that could earn him a six-figure sum. He has returned to Britain from his barnstorming appearance on Capitol Hill with what his associates claim is a firm offer of a two-week lecture series in America.

One friend said that Galloway could now set himself up as a successor to Michael Moore, whose documentary, Fahrenheit 911, became a lightning conductor for enemies of President George W Bush.

The Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow is also likely to boost his profile in America by fitting in a series of free events, addressing opponents of the occupation of Iraq.

“I think in the United States the ground was tinder dry, waiting for a spark like this. The democratic underground is alive with the transcript and video screening of this event (with the senators), so there are a lot of people in the United States who are very happy about it,” he said.

Dominic Morley, a director of Speakers UK, one of Britain’s largest such agencies, said he thought that the MP would be able to charge about $25,000-$30,000 (£14,000- £16,000) per engagement.

According to Jeremy Lee, managing director of JLA, a speakers’ bureau, Galloway’s main asset is his achievement in breaking through the “recognition barrier” in America. He believes he could fulfil 20 paid-for engagements in a fortnight.

He achieved that recognition in an extraordinary 15-minute performance in front of a US Senate sub-committee last Tuesday to challenge its allegation that he had accepted oil money from Saddam Hussein.

From the moment he arrived in Washington, he turned on his accusers, describing himself as “the leader of the British anti-war movement”.

He even turned to his advantage his meetings with Saddam. “As a matter of fact, I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps to target those guns,” he said.

“You have nothing on me, senator, except my name on lists of names from Iraq, many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad.”