George Galloway, the Respect MP, was ordered out of the House of Commons last night during a debate on a motion to suspend him for 18 days over his alleged financial links to Saddam Hussein's regime.Michael Martin, the Speaker, "named" Mr Galloway for repeated infringements of the Commons rules and attacks on the integrity of the MPs on the Commons standards and privileges committee.
As the debate continued, Sir George Young, the Conservative chairman of the committee, told MPs that Mr Galloway was "trapped in a fantasy world of conspiracy and victimisation for his views".
Sir George upheld the account of David Blair, The Daily Telegraph's diplomatic correspondent, who entered the foreign ministry in Baghdad shortly after Saddam's overthrow and found documents purporting to show that Mr Galloway had taken money from the Iraqi regime for the Mariam Appeal charity.
The cross-party committee last week accused Mr Galloway of damaging Parliament's reputation. The 18-day suspension, which will run from Oct 8, was later approved without a vote.
Mr Galloway said the committee was a "politicised tribunal". Mr Martin intervened repeatedly and as the MP was ordered from the chamber, he shouted that he would continue his speech outside for anyone who wanted to hear it.
The committee censured Mr Galloway for failing to register an interest and "excessive" use of facilities for the charity.
It also said that he should be punished for "conduct aimed at concealing the true source of Iraqi funding of the Mariam Appeal".
Sen. Norm Coleman has the last laugh on Scurrilous George in the WSJ today. Turns out the Brits used a forensic scientist to validate the documents found in Baghdad.