Name	John Bruton
Office	Taoiseach
Term start	15 December 1994
Term end	26 June 1997
1blankname	Tánaiste
1namedata	Dick Spring
Predecessor	Albert Reynolds
Successor	Bertie Ahern
Office1	Leader of the Opposition
Term start1	1990
Term end1	1994
Predecessor1	Alan Dukes
Successor1	Bertie Ahern
Term start2	1997
Term end2	2001
Predecessor2	Bertie Ahern
Successor2	Michael Noonan
Office3	European Union Ambassador to the United States
Term start3	24 November 2004
Term end3	October 2009
President3	José Manuel Barroso
Predecessor3	Günter Burghardt
Successor3	Joao Vale de Almeida
Office4	Minister for Finance
Term start4	14 February 1986
Term end4	10 March 1987
Predecessor4	Alan Dukes
Successor4	Ray MacSharry
Term start5	30 June 1981
Term end5	9 March 1982
Predecessor5	Gene Fitzgerald
Successor5	Ray MacSharry
Office6	Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism
Term start6	13 December 1983
Term end6	14 February 1986
Predecessor6	Garret FitzGerald
Successor6	Michael Noonan
Office7	Teachta Dála
Term start7	June 1969
Term end7	October 2004
Predecessor7	Denis Farrelly
Successor7	Shane McEntee
Constituency7	Meath
Party	Fine Gael
Birth date
Birth place	Dunboyne, County Meath, Ireland
Spouse	Finola Bruton
Children	4
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Alma mater	University College Dublin
Profession	Former Barrister
Website	Official website }}

John Gerard Bruton (born 18 May 1947) is an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland from 1994 to 1997. A minister under two taoisigh, Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald, Bruton held a number of the top posts in Irish government, including Minister for Finance (1981–1982 and 1986–1987), and Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism (1983–1986). He became leader of Fine Gael in 1990 and served as Taoiseach from 1994 until 1997, leading the Rainbow Coalition government of Fine Gael–Labour Party–Democratic Left.

Bruton was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for Meath in 1969, and served continuously until his retirement from domestic politics in 2004. He served as the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States from 2004–2009, and is a former Vice-President of the European People's Party (EPP).

Early and personal life

John Gerard Bruton was born to a wealthy, Catholic farming family in Dunboyne, County Meath and educated at Clongowes Wood College.

Oliver Coogan notes in his ''Politics and War in Meath 1913–23'' that Bruton's granduncle was one of the farmers in south Meath who prevented the traditionally Anglo-Irish ascendency hunt from proceeding in the area during the Irish War of Independence.

Bruton later went on to study at University College Dublin where he received an honours Bachelor of Arts degree and qualified as a barrister from King's Inns, but never went on to practice law. Bruton was narrowly elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1969 general election as a Fine Gael TD for Meath. At the age of 22 he was the fourth youngest ever member of the Dáil up to that point. He more than doubled his vote in the general election of 1973, which brought Fine Gael to power as part of the National Coalition with the Labour Party. Bruton was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry & Commerce and to the Minister for Education, by the National Coalition in 1973. He remained in office until 1977.

He is married to Finola Bruton and has four children.

Shadow cabinet and in government

Following Fine Gael's defeat in the 1977 general election, Bruton was appointed to the new front bench as Spokesperson on Agriculture by its new leader, Garret FitzGerald. He was later promoted to the shadow Finance portfolio, making a particular effective speech in the Dáil in response to the budget of 1980. He played a prominent role in Fine Gael's campaign in the 1981 general election which resulted in another coalition with the Labour Party and with FitzGerald as Taoiseach. Bruton received a huge personal vote in Meath, and at the age of only 34 was appointed Minister for Finance, the most senior position in the Cabinet. The new government had to abandon its election promises to cut taxes in the light of overwhelming economic realities. The government collapsed unexpectedly on the night of 27 January 1982 when Bruton's controversial Budget was defeated in the Dáil. The previously supportive Independent Socialist TD, Jim Kemmy, voted against the Budget, which proposed among other things the introduction of VAT on children's shoes, thus causing the Dáil to be dissolved and Fine Gael to lose power.

First leadership bid

The minority Fianna Fáil government which followed only lasted until November 1982 when Fine Gael once again returned to power in a coalition government with the Labour Party but when the new government was formed Bruton was moved from Finance to become Minister for Industry and Energy. The following year (1983), Energy became a separate Department and Bruton's brief became Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism. A 1986 Cabinet re-shuffle saw Bruton return as Minister for Finance. Although he was Minister for Finance, Bruton never presented his Budget. The Labour Party withdrew from the government due to a disagreement over his budget proposals leading to the collapse of the government and another election.

Following the 1987 general election Fine Gael suffered a heavy defeat. Garret FitzGerald resigned as leader immediately, and a leadership contest ensued between Alan Dukes, Peter Barry and Bruton himself. The exact result of the vote was not published. This was a severe blow as the victor, Dukes, was, like Bruton, one of the younger generation of politicians (albeit a couple of years older than Bruton) but had been a TD for 12 years fewer. Bruton was of Fine Gael's Christian Democrat tradition, whereas Dukes was in FitzGerald's Social Democratic mould. Dukes was perceived to be a lacklustre leader however, who alienated his party's TDs and made little progress in recovering the ground lost by Fine Gael in 1987. His Tallaght Strategy where he stated that he would support Fianna Fail on economic reforms was also unpopular. The disastrous performance in the 1990 presidential election in which the party finished a humiliating and unprecedented third in a national election, proved to be the final straw for the party and Dukes forced to resign as leader shortly after. Bruton, who was the deputy-leader of Fine Gael at the time, was unopposed in the ensuing leadership election.

Leadership of Fine Gael

Whereas Dukes came from the social democratic wing of Fine Gael, Bruton came from the more conservative wing. However to the surprise of critics and of conservatives, in his first policy initiative he called for a referendum on a Constitutional amendment permitting the enactment of legislation allowing for divorce in Ireland.

Fine Gael had been in decline for nearly a decade; from the highpoint of the November 1982 general election when it achieved 70 seats in Dáil Éireann, only five seats short of Fianna Fáil's total the party had lost a considerable number of seats. Following the inexperienced Dukes' disastrous period of leadership, Bruton's election was seen as offering Fine Gael a chance to rebuild under a far more politically experienced leader. However Bruton's perceived right wing persona and his rural background was used against him by critics and particularly by the media.

By the 1992 general election, the anti-Fianna Fáil mood in the country produced a major swing to the opposition, but that support went to Labour, not Bruton's Fine Gael, which actually lost a further 10 seats. Due to deadlocked negotiations for government which stemmed in part from Labour Party's refusal to be part of a coalition which would include the liberal conservative Progressive Democrats and due to John Bruton ruling out Labour's preference for Democratic Left to be included in the government, the Labour Party chose to enter into a new coalition with Fianna Fáil. It was a humiliating blow to Bruton. Fine Gael, and Bruton personally, continued to perform poorly in opinion polls throughout 1993 and early 1994 and Bruton narrowly survived a challenge to his leadership in early 1994. However a couple of by-election victories, and a good performance in the 1994 European elections, coupled with a disastrous showing by the Labour Party, shored up his position. When in late 1994 the government collapsed, Bruton was able to form a government with the Labour Party and Democratic Left. Bruton faced charges of hypocrisy for agreeing to enter government with Democratic Left, as Fine Gael campaigned in the 1992 general election on a promise not to enter government with the party. Nevertheless, on 15 December, aged 47, Bruton became the then youngest ever Taoiseach. This was the first time in the history of the state that a new government was installed without a general election being held.

Taoiseach 1994–1997

Bruton's politics were markedly different from most Irish leaders. Whereas most leaders had come from or identified with the independence movement Sinn Féin (in its 1917–22 phase), Bruton identified more with the more moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) tradition that Sinn Féin had eclipsed at the 1918 general election. He hung a picture of his political hero, the IPP's leader John Redmond on a wall in his office as Taoiseach, in preference to other figures such as Patrick Pearse. But as evidence of Bruton's complexity, he also kept a picture of former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach Seán Lemass, which had been hung there by Reynolds, and which Bruton kept because he viewed Lemass as the best and most reforming Taoiseach in the history of the state.

Bruton's Rainbow Coalition was generally perceived to be a good government, with Bruton, who was meant to have had a bad relationship with Tánaiste Dick Spring, being seen as its star performer. His popularity soared while he and Spring (along with Proinsias De Rossa, leader of Democratic Left) were seen as an effective team. Constitutional reform was also on the government's agenda when a referendum to abolish the prohibition on divorce was passed by a narrow majority.

Continued developments in the Northern Ireland peace process and his attitude to Anglo-Irish relations came to define Bruton's tenure as Taoiseach. In February 1995 he launched the Anglo-Irish ‘Framework Document’ with the British Prime Minister, John Major. This document outlined new proposed relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Many of Bruton's opponents considered him to be too willing to accommodate unionist demands (in one famous accusation, Albert Reynolds referred to him as "John Unionist"). However, he took a strongly critical position on the British Government's reluctance to engage with Sinn Féin during the IRA's 1994–1997 ceasefire. Bruton complained to a local radio reporter in Cork that "I am sick of answering questions about the fucking peace process", for which he later apologised.

Bruton also established a working relationship with Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin, however both were mutually distrustful of each other. The relationship became frayed following the ending of the ceasefire in 1996, resulting in a bomb explosion in London. These relations worsened when the IRA killed Jerry McCabe, a member of An Garda Síochána, in a botched post office robbery in County Limerick, and another bomb explosion in Manchester. However, Bruton received widespread praise in the Republic for condemning the Royal Ulster Constabulary for yielding to loyalist threats at Drumcree by allowing members of the Orange Order to parade through a nationalist district. He stated that the RUC had been neither impartial nor consistent in applying the law. His outrage and criticism led to a tense atmosphere between London and Dublin. By the time of the 1997 general election Sinn Féin stated that they would prefer a Fianna Fáil led government and the IRA resumed their ceasefire soon after Fine Gael lost the 1997 general election.

He also presided over a successful Irish Presidency of the European Union in 1996 and helped finalise the Stability and Growth Pact, which establishes macroeconomic parameters for countries participating in the single European currency, the euro. Bruton addressed a joint session of the United States Congress on 11 September 1996, as only the 30th head of state or government of an EU country to do so since 1945.

Bruton's government suffered from some allegations of corruption, and political embarrassment. In 1996 his Minister for Transport, Michael Lowry, resigned from the Cabinet after allegations that he had not paid income tax on payments from the supermarket tycoon, Ben Dunne for work he had done for him as a businessman prior to becoming a minister. His minister of state in the Department of Finance also resigned, on 9 February 1995, as a result of leaks from the department. Additionally, many years later Frank Dunlop made allegations before the planning tribunal that he had informed Bruton about demands for a £250,000 bribe made to him by a Fine Gael Dublin councillor, Tom Hand, in order to rezone the Quarryvale development. Dunlop testified that when he informed Bruton of the bribery attempts, Bruton replied, "There are no angels in the world or in Fine Gael". Bruton vehemently denied this and Fine Gael counsel told the Planning Tribunal in 2003: "I refute entirely Mr Dunlop's contention that he advised me then of the alleged demand made to him by the late Tom Hand". However, following further evidence at the Tribunal, Bruton returned to it in October 2007 and conceded that "it gradually came back to me", that Dunlop, "did say to me something about a councillor looking for money". But, in his own evidence to the tribunal in 2007, Dunlop himself said that he had not mentioned any figure of 250,000 to Bruton in his 1993 conversation with him.

Bruton presided over the first official visit by a member of the British Royal Family since 1912, the Prince of Wales. His welcome speech to Prince Charles was viewed by many journalists negatively in Ireland. In Britain, The Times of London accused him of being "embarrassingly effusive" while The Guardian lambasted that Bruton get a grip on his "extravagantly nonsensical attitudes". Bruton himself viewed the fact that the heir to the British throne could visit the Republic successfully, as marking an important turning point in Anglo Irish relations and stands over the comments he made as appropriate in the circumstances.

Following the murder of crime journalist Veronica Guerin, his government established the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Post-Taoiseach period

The government was widely expected to win re-election in 1997. While Fine Gael gained nine seats, Labour was severely mauled, losing 16 seats. This left Bruton far short of the parliamentary support he needed to retain office, and he resigned. A Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrat coalition led by Bertie Ahern came into power, with Bruton reverting to leadership of the opposition.

Fine Gael became paralysed in opposition. Bruton was deposed from leadership in 2001 in favour of Michael Noonan, due in part to fears Fine Gael would suffer severe losses in the 2002 election. However, Noonan failed to live up to expectations and the party suffered an even greater collapse than had been expected under Bruton. Having gone into the election expecting to increase its seat count from 54 to 60, it only won 31. This not only tied Fine Gael's second-worst performance in an election, but was 39 seats less than at its highpoint twenty years earlier in 1982.

Bruton, a passionate supporter of European integration, was chosen as one of the two Irish Parliament Representatives to the European Convention which helped draft the proposed European Constitution. He was one of two National Parliament Representatives to sit on the 12-member Praesidium, which helped steer the European Convention. He is a member of the Comite d'Honneur of the Institute of European Affairs, along with Peter Sutherland and Bertie Ahern. He accepted an offer to become European Union ambassador to the United States in the summer of 2004, and after resigning from the Dáil on 31 October 2004, he assumed that office. Bruton was praised by Ahern, who said Bruton had played "a pivotal role in developing Ireland’s relations with the European Union."

Bruton received an Honorary Doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2003 and from the University of Missouri in 2009.

He became an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society before leaving for the US in 2004. He regularly lectures at national and international universities. In early 2004 he accepted a position as Adjunct Faculty Member in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. In November 2008, he received the Order of the Polar Star award from the Swedish government.

His brother, Richard Bruton, was formerly deputy leader of Fine Gael.

On 29 October 2009 it was announced that he had written to the ambassadors to the United States of the 27 members of the European Union expressing his interest in applying for the position of president of the European Council following implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Bruton was very much an outside shot for the position as EU leaders firmly indicated they want a chairman-style president rather than a high-profile figurehead to fill the post. Herman Van Rompuy, the then Belgian Prime Minister, was appointed President on 19 November 2009 and took office on 1 December 2009.

On 21 May 2010, it was announced that he would be the chairman of the newly-formed financial services body, IFSC Ireland. His main role will be to promote the Republic of Ireland as a location of choice for international financial services.

Bruton was widely discussed as a candidate for the 2011 presidential election and was approached by Fine Gael with the opportunity to become their candidate; on 28 May 2011, however, Bruton issued a statement that he was "flattered" to be asked, but would not be a candidate for the presidency.

Government

24th Government of Ireland (December 1994–June 1997)

References

External links

Washington Diplomat Bio

{{s-ttl|title = Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Meath |years = 1969–2004}} {{s-ttl|title = Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education |years = 1973–1976}} {{s-ttl|title = Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce |years = 1973–1977}} {{s-ttl|title = Minister for Finance |years = 1981–1982}} {{s-ttl|title = Minister for Industry and Energy |years = 1982–1983}} {{s-ttl|title = Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism |years = 1983–1986}} {{s-ttl|title = Minister for Finance |years = 1986–1987}} {{s-ttl|title = Minister for the Public Service |years = 1987}} {{s-ttl|title = Leader of the Opposition |years = 1990–1994}} {{s-ttl|title = Taoiseach |years = 1994–1997}} {{s-ttl|title = President of the European Council |years = 1996}} {{s-ttl|title = Deputy Leader of Fine Gael |years = 1987–1990}} {{s-ttl|title = Leader of Fine Gael |years = 1990–2001}} {{s-ttl|title = European Union Ambassador to the United States |years = 2004–2009}} {{s-ttl|title = Baby of the Dáil |years = 1969–1975}}

Category:1947 births Category:Alumni of University College Dublin Category:Ambassadors of the European Union Category:Fine Gael politicians Category:Institute of European Affairs Category:Irish Ministers for Finance Category:Leaders of Fine Gael Category:Living people Category:Members of the 19th Dáil Category:Members of the 20th Dáil Category:Members of the 21st Dáil Category:Members of the 22nd Dáil Category:Members of the 23rd Dáil Category:Members of the 24th Dáil Category:Members of the 25th Dáil Category:Members of the 26th Dáil Category:Members of the 27th Dáil Category:Members of the 28th Dáil Category:Members of the 29th Dáil Category:Old Clongownians Category:Order of the Polar Star Category:People from County Meath Category:Politicians of the European People's Party Category:Taoisigh of Ireland Category:Teachtaí Dála

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Name	Carl Paladino
Birth name	Carl Pasquale Paladino
Birth date	August 24, 1946
Resting place coordinates
Residence	Buffalo, New York, United States
Alma mater	St. Bonaventure University (B.A.) Syracuse University College of Law (J.D.)
Employer	Ellicott Development Company
Occupation	BusinessmanCommunity ActivistVeteran
Party	Republican Party (2005–)Democratic Party (1974–2005)
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Mary Catherine Hannon (m. 1970-present)
Children	William Paladino Danielle Paladino JacobsPatrick Paladino (1979-2009)Sarah Paladino
Website	http://paladinoforthepeople.com/
Footnotes	}}

Carl Pasquale Paladino (born August 24, 1946) is an American businessman and political activist from Buffalo, New York. Paladino is the founder and chairman of Ellicott Development Company, a real estate development company he founded in 1973. He was the 2010 Republican nominee for the New York gubernatorial election, but he was defeated by Democrat Andrew Cuomo. His candidacy was supported by the Tea Party movement. Paladino's campaign platform emphasized fiscal reform and improvement of the state's educational system.

Early life, education and career

Paladino's parents emigrated from Italy to the United States. His father participated in the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Paladino attended Bishop Timon – St. Jude High School in South Buffalo. Paladino attended St. Bonaventure University and the Syracuse University College of Law. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1971. He spent three months on active duty in the United States Army and approximately ten years in the reserve, separating in 1981 at the rank of Captain. Paladino founded Ellicott Development in 1973; the company buys properties, builds stores, and leases them to national retail outlets (most notably Rite-Aid) and government agencies. The company has operations in Western New York, Central New York and portions of Pennsylvania.

In addition to his business developments, Paladino also is a senior managing partner in the law firm of Paladino, Cavan and Quinlivin, a firm that specializes in corporate and real estate law.

Political history

Paladino registered with the Democratic Party in 1974 and remained there until 2005. Later that year, after the retirement of Buffalo mayor Anthony Masiello, Paladino changed to the Republican Party, which is his current affiliation. Paladino and several limited partnerships controlled by him have donated to numerous political candidates and organizations, both Democratic and Republican. During his time as a Democrat, he generally considered himself a conservative Reagan Democrat in the mold of former Buffalo mayor James D. Griffin and former New York governor Hugh Carey; Paladino's campaign site features a 1980s picture of himself alongside former President Ronald Reagan.

Paladino helped lead a campaign to remove the toll barriers on Interstate 190 in the mid-2000s. After finding a state law that required the state to remove the tolls once the bonds for that portion of the thruway had been paid off (which took place in 1996), Paladino threatened to sue, and the Thruway Authority removed the tolls.

In 2009, Paladino involved himself on behalf of South Buffalo councilman Michael Kearns in Buffalo's Democratic primary mayoral election, campaigning against incumbent Byron Brown.

Gubernatorial campaign

On April 5, 2010, Paladino officially entered the race for Governor of New York. Tom Ognibene, the former minority leader of the New York City Council, was his chosen running mate. Michael Caputo was Paladino's manager for the campaign. John Haggerty, who is currently under investigation for funneling money between Michael Bloomberg and the Independence Party of New York, is in charge of circulating petitions. Roger Stone has acted as a supporter and advisor for the campaign and has stated that despite his earlier agreement to work as the campaign manager for another candidate, Kristin Davis, that Davis is a protest candidate and Paladino is the one Stone wants to win; Stone recommended Caputo, a former employee of his, to the Paladino campaign. Tom Golisano, an American businessman and philanthropist who ran three gubernatorial campaigns on third-party lines, is also advising the campaign.

Paladino vied with Rick Lazio, Steve Levy, and Myers Mermel for the Republican nomination. At the state Republican convention, Paladino received 8 percent of the weighted vote; only delegates from Erie and Orleans counties voted for him. He fell short of the 25 percent needed for automatic ballot access. Paladino had 3,000 volunteers circulating petitions in an effort to force a primary election. With a legal minimum requirement of 15,000 signatures to force a primary, he aimed for 40,000 signatures and submitted 28,000, enough of which were valid.

In the primary election on September 14, 2010. Paladino, with heavy support in his native Western New York, defeated Lazio. In the primary for Lieutenant Governor, however, Ognibene, who had been selected by Paladino, lost to Lazio's choice, Greg Edwards. The Paladino-Edwards ticket competed in November against Democrat Andrew Cuomo and his running mate, Robert Duffy, as well as several minor-party candidates.

Paladino originally planned on seeking the nomination of the Conservative Party of New York but dropped out of that nomination battle because party chairman Michael Long allowed him only two minutes of speech time to make his case. As a result, he skipped the party convention and was unable to garner enough support to get the Conservative Party's nomination, with that going to Rick Lazio, Republican known for his support of abortion rights, and gun control. In Paladino's place on the primary ballot was Ralph Lorigo, the chairman of the Erie County Conservative Party and a supporter of Paladino's campaign. Lorigo, being a party member, only needed 25% of the weighted vote at the party's convention on May 28, 2010 to get on the primary ballot instead of the majority required by non-party members. Lorigo joined forces with Steve Levy's supporters to get 42% of the weighted vote. Lorigo and Lazio faced off in the September primary. If Lorigo had won the primary, he could have moved out of state or accepted a nomination for State Supreme Court, clearing the line and allowing the Conservative Party to pick someone else through a committee. Family members of Paladino's campaign ran Lorigo's campaign, including Paladino's brother, Joseph Paladino, and Caputo's father, Raymond Caputo. Lazio defeated Lorigo in the Conservative primary by a 60-40 margin, only to drop out two weeks later. Long later indicated he would endorse Paladino and encourage his allies to nominate him as Lazio's replacement.

Paladino held a two-week boat tour at the end of May 2010 along the Erie Canal to acquaint himself with the rest of upstate New York. He began a television and radio advertising campaign in July of that year, including local TV stations as well as national ads on the Fox News Channel. He has frequently called for debates, first with Lazio (who declined) and now with Cuomo; Paladino has stated that he encourages minor-party candidates to be included in debates, echoing a call from Howie Hawkins and Warren Redlich, two of the minor-party candidates in the race, to be included in debates. All seven candidates were scheduled to debate on October 18. Paladino had indicated a willingness to spend more than $10,000,000 of his own personal wealth on his campaign, with much of that spending being recycled to Ellicott Development.

Founding of the Taxpayers Party

Paladino also plans on founding a "Taxpayers Party" line, which will also field David Malpass and Gary Berntsen for Senate candidates (both dropped out of their races, leading the party to nominate Joseph J. DioGuardi as Malpass's replacement), Rus Thompson for comptroller, and will not field an attorney general candidate. The goal of the line is to give potential Republican candidates who were not selected by the Conservative Party an additional ballot line; as such, the organization is not backing an attorney general candidate and is only running a token comptroller (Thompson's own Web site does not even mention his candidacy), because Republican nominees Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. and Harry Wilson already have Conservative Party endorsements and the party does not seek to divide the Republican and conservative vote. Paladino's campaign submitted 30,000 signatures for the Taxpayers line on August 10, 2010. The line has drawn interest from other potential candidates for state office, and several state legislature candidates have filed petitions under the "Taxpayers" banner.

Results

Preliminary results showed Paladino earning 1,406,382 votes, or 34% of the total tally. He finished second to Andrew Cuomo, who had 61% of the vote. Paladino won all eight counties in the Buffalo media market but only a few counties outside of that region, all of which were rural counties in upstate New York. Paladino helped propel the Conservative Party into third place on the ballot for the first time since losing the line in 1998, retaking the ballot line from the Independence Party of New York by drawing more votes on the Conservative line than Andrew Cuomo did on the Independence line. The Taxpayers line failed to achieve 50,000 votes, in part due to poor ballot location (the line was last on the ballot and on most ballots was placed in a second column). Paladino's strong showing also propelled Erie County into first place in the New York Republican Party's vote weighting; its votes will count 11.53% in state party votes, up from the previous 6.98%. After the election, Paladino indicated that it would be the last one in which he would be a candidate. Paladino, who lives in the 27th congressional district, was considering a run in the New York's 26th congressional district special election, 2011, but later ruled out a run for that seat, endorsing eventual Republican nominee Jane Corwin, who lost to Kathleen Hochul.

Political positions

Paladino's campaign platform emphasized fiscal reform in Albany and improvement of the state's educational system. and cut the state budget by 10 to 20 percent. He proposed closing off welfare services to those who come from out of state to receive benefits, by placing a minimum residency requirement of one year before anyone could claim state benefits. He sought to cut the state's Medicaid budget by nearly 30%, or $20 billion ($10 billion from the state's share, the other $10 billion coming from the county and federal shares) by making significant cuts to benefits, reducing reimbursement rates, requiring identification, fingerprints and drug testing in order to receive benefits, and training family members to take care of people who would otherwise be in long-term care. He planned to eliminate state capital gains taxes and corporate franchise taxes, at a cost of approximately $1 billion.

In the past, Paladino has called for a constitutional convention to make changes in the state constitution, which, he argued, creates a welfare state and contributes to many of the state's problems. He has proposed increasing the frequency of constitutional convention referendums, currently set for every 20 years with the next one scheduled for 2017, down to 10 years, with the next one moved up to 2011. He has also expressed distaste for public service labor unions, which he has compared to pigs, and is an outspoken critic of state laws such as the Wicks Law, which sets prevailing wage requirements, and the Taylor Law, which gives unions significant negotiating advantages in exchange for prohibiting them from striking. He promised to take a hard line in negotiations with unions, whose contracts expire in April 2011, and would have refused to grant them favorable conditions. Non-union employees would have seen immediate pay cuts of 10 percent. He supported current governor David Paterson's efforts to furlough state employees. In the event of a late budget, he would have shut down most levels of government except those related to public health and safety. Paladino would have first targeted what he considered to be patronage jobs for elimination; i.e., those who, according to him, received their jobs as political favors and through family connections. Deputy commissioners would be another target for elimination. He would also have relied on the state's rank and file to target persons "incapable for whatever reason of performing their functions at a cost productive level," and hoped to eliminate 60,000 jobs from the state workforce through these reductions. He would have sought to eliminate numerous perks such as state-owned take-home vehicles. He sought to institute a merit-based pay system and end automatic raises. Paladino favored what he called "school choice," saying it would "put some competition in the marketplace" against the New York State United Teachers. Paladino also supported converting some minimum security prisons into Civilian Conservation Corps-style job camps for unemployed youth, which he dubbed the "Dignity Corps," a program he based on both the CCC and the work of a local mission in Buffalo.

He supported proposals to enforce excise tax laws on Indian tribes such as the Iroquois who have so far refused to pay said taxes and promised severe punishment if the tribes protested, stating: "The fact that the past three governors have neglected to go up and enforce the law because they're afraid of somebody standing on top of a police car or they're afraid of somebody burning some tires in the street, that's not me. Let one of them stand on top of a police car in my administration, it would be the last time they stood on top of a police car." He believes the tribes are run by a cabal of "fifteen to twenty thugs" who are using their price advantage to benefit themselves and not the general populace of their reservations. He supports the review and potential revocation of land claims given to the Iroquois; in particular, he believes the Turning Stone Resort & Casino is operating illegally and should be shut down. Ellicott Development had sold the land where the current Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino stands for between US$1,300,000 and US$3,750,000, and Paladino claims he only received $47,000 from the Seneca nation for the land and that the plans for the casino were far different than the ones that were proposed at the time, incorporating hotels and restaurants that Paladino opposes.

Paladino supports hard term limits of eight years on all elected officials within the state's jurisdiction, including county and local governments. He also desires to see their positions declared "part time" and as such ineligible for a state pension or lifetime medical coverage; in addition, he opposes automatic cost of living adjustment increases and seeks to force legislators to take an up or down vote on their own pay raises. He would seek a complete reorganization of the state education department and encourages dissolution of the Board of Regents, the SUNY Board of Trustees, the Lower Manhattan Development Agency, the Empire State Development Corporation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Off-Track Betting Corporation, the Adirondack Park Agency, and the New York Power Authority. Similarly, the state Department of Transportation would, under Paladino's proposal, absorb the currently independent Thruway Authority and the Bridge and Tunnel Authorities. Paladino has proposed the use of repeatedly calling special sessions to pressure uncooperative legislators into passing his legislation, much as current governor Paterson did during the 2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis and the 2010 budget negotiations. He supports moving the due date of the state budget, currently set for April 1, back to July 1 so that tax revenue can be better evaluated. He also proposes supermajority approval of any tax increase. At the local government level, he would consolidate the operations of most school districts at the county level, with a single appointed superintendent, and also consolidate other local town and village operations at that level. He is currently considering a solution for districts that span multiple counties. He does not support a reduction in operational aid for school districts and believes the budget can be balanced without reducing that aid. In response to criticisms regarding Paladino's existing leases to the state, he has stated that he is willing to renegotiate the prices he charges for the leases once they expire, and he would put most of his assets in trust, turning over operations of the company to his son. (Ellicott Development's leases currently charge a "below average" rate as it is, according to the state.) He is willing to support a hard property tax cap, such as the one Cuomo proposes, if it is part of a broader effort to cut spending. Some of these proposals would require amendments to the state constitution.

Paladino, who has a handgun permit and "carries wherever it is legal," is strongly in favor of firearm ownership and Second Amendment rights; he seeks to repeal the NYS Assault Weapon Ban.

He personally opposes same-sex marriage. He has spoken negatively of the concept of gay pride, particularly the sexual demonstrations at gay pride parades, which he believes are unsuitable for children. In a speech to a group of Hasidic Jews organized by Yehuda Levin on 10 October 2010, Paladino said, “I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don’t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option — it isn’t.” He later stated that he did not agree with the statement and had not fully proofread the speech before he read it. He has said he would take a more libertarian stance on the matter in regard to state policy; he follows a "live and let live" approach to the topic of homosexuality, actively opposes discrimination against homosexuals, and encourages a statewide referendum on allowing same-sex marriage in the state, saying that he would honor the result of said referendum. If the state legislature were to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage or civil unions without a referendum, he would veto it.

He is pro-life and favors adoption over abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Abortion would not be a legislative priority if he were to be elected, but he would continue to personally advocate against abortion.

He is firmly in favor of drilling in the Marcellus Formation.

He opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and says that he believes that the long-term impact of the act would be just as memorable and possibly more deadly than the September 11 attacks. If elected, he would file a lawsuit to have the law overturned.

Paladino does not object to raising the minimum wage. He does object to excessive regulations on businesses.

Paladino has pledged himself to one term in office and, like fellow businessmen-turned-politicians Chris Collins and Michael Bloomberg, would forgo collecting his salary if elected. He would then endorse his lieutenant governor for the 2014 gubernatorial election.

With regard to a planned Islamic community center two blocks from the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City, in late July, 2010, Paladino issued a radio ad which stated, "As Governor, I will use the power of eminent domain to stop this mosque and make the site a war memorial instead of a monument to those who attacked our country." He added that the mosque should not be built within a range of "the dust cloud containing human remains [of the 9/11 victims] traveled".

Campaign controversies

In April 2010, a local progressive Web site released a series of racist and sexually explicit e-mails that purported to be from Paladino. Paladino acknowledged some of them were indeed circulated by him among a circle of friends, mostly in the construction industry. Campaign manager Michael Caputo initially stated that the authenticity of some of the e-mails could not be verified and continues to maintain that the e-mails were "of questionable origin;" the site themselves could not identify the anonymous source of the e-mails and was only able to verify them through a series of cc: addresses included with the package of e-mails. Paladino acknowledged that some of the e-mails were authentic, but denied that he originated any of them, saying that he was nevertheless "somewhat careless" about forwarding them to others Paladino admitted many of these emails were "off-color" and could be considered offensive, took responsibility for them, and apologized.

In a statement to ''The Politico'' on September 29, 2010, Paladino asked why the media was concerned with any of his extramarital affairs, and not asking similar questions of Andrew Cuomo. ''New York Post'' columnist Fredric U. Dicker confronted Paladino at a meeting of the New York State Business Council later that evening and insisted that Paladino produce evidence about any accusations against Cuomo, but Paladino alleged the ''Post'' had followed and photographed Paladino's daughter several days prior to the appearance, and demanded that Dicker not do it again or he would "take him out." Paladino later said he did not know of any actual affairs, and that the implication was not intended. The ''New York Post''s editor in chief, Col Allen, in a statement released on ''Politico'', said the ''Post'' did not send a photographer to the house of Paladino's daughter. Two days later, Allen admitted to sending photographer Christopher Sadowski and reporter Amber Sutherland to the 10-year old's house on two occasions but said the New York Post would not print the photographs their staff snapped of the child from outside the house. After the first visit, Sutherland wrote a story featuring photographs of the young girl's mother in the New York Post. Michael Caputo claimed he spoke to Sutherland who confirmed Dicker was her "team leader" for coverage of the child. Paladino told New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser to clear Sutherland and Sadowski away from the child's windows before resuming an interview with her in Queens, and Peyser called Fred Dicker in front of Paladino to get that done.

On October 10, Paladino was criticized for "anti-gay remarks" to Orthodox Rabbis in Brooklyn. The speech was discovered to have been prepared by Rabbi Yehuda Levin. Paladino apologized for his comments, saying that "The portrayal of me as anti-gay is inconsistent with my lifelong beliefs and actions and my prior history as an father, employer and friend to many in the gay and lesbian community," He later said he meant what he had said, but regretted not wording it differently. In response to this apology, Rabbi Levin rescinded his endorsement of Paladino.

In response to the controversies, Paladino took responsibility for them, saying "This the first time I have ever run for public office and yes, I let things get out of hand. It’s my responsibility. Nobody else’s. I have also learned what monsters the press can be."

Personal life

Paladino resides in the South Buffalo portion of the city of Buffalo, and is married to Mary Catherine Hannon. They had three children: William Paladino, Danielle Jacobs, and Patrick Paladino ( who died March 30, 2009, from injuries received in an automobile accident). Paladino also has a ten-year-old daughter from an extramarital relationship with his former employee, Suzanne Brady. He has five grandchildren. He owns a pit bull named Duke, which he has taken with him on his campaign stops.

Paladino was honored in 1991 by the City of Buffalo as Buffalonian of the Year and in 1993 as Alumnus of the Year by St. Bonaventure University.

During his concession speech, Paladino gave a heartfelt address to his late son, Patrick. Nancy Naples, chairwoman of the Paladino campaign told the New York Times that Paladino gained a feeling of emotional closure through his gubernatorial campaign. After his vote on election day, he gathered with relatives for a prayer service dedicated to his son. Paladino had stated that running for governor was something his son wanted him to do.

Notes

References

McCarthy, Robert and Tom Precious (2010-04-04). Is New York ready for Carl Paladino?. ''The Buffalo News''. Retrieved 2010-04-04.

Conservative Developer Joins Race for Governor ''The New York Times''.

External links

Paladino for the People''official campaign site''

Ellicott Development ''official business site''

Category:1946 births Category:People from Buffalo, New York Category:New York Republicans Category:American businesspeople Category:Living people Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Syracuse University College of Law alumni Category:St. Bonaventure University alumni Category:Tea Party movement Category:American people of Italian descent Category:United States Army officers

name	George Galloway
birth date	August 16, 1954
birth place	Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
residence	London, England, United Kingdom
office	Vice President of theStop The War Coalition
term start	21 September 2001
president	Tony Benn
predecessor	Office created
office2	Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow
majority2	823 (1.9%)
term start2	5 May 2005
term end2	6 May 2010
predecessor2	Oona King
successor2	Rushanara Ali
office3	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Kelvin
term start3	1 May 1997
term end3	5 May 2005
predecessor3	Constituency created
successor3	Constituency abolished
majority3	7,260 (27.1%)
Office4	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead
term start4	11 June 1987
term end4	1 May 1997
predecessor4	Roy Jenkins
successor4	Constituency abolished
majority4	4,826 (12.3%)
party	Respect (2004–present)Labour (1967–2003)
nationality	Scottish
citizenship	British
religion	Roman Catholic
website	www.georgegalloway.com
footnotes	}}

George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year that he came to public attention for his opposition to the Iraq War. He subsequently became a founding member of the left wing Respect Party. He became the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in the 2005 parliament. In the 2010 election, Galloway unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Poplar and Limehouse.

Galloway is also known for his vigorous campaigns in favour of the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He attempted to both overturn economic sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s and early 2000s and to avert the 2003 invasion. He is also known for a visit to Iraq where he met Saddam Hussein and delivered a speech, which ended in English with the statement "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability." Galloway opposed Saddam's regime until the United States-led Gulf War in 1991 and has always stated that he was addressing the Iraqi people in the speech. Galloway is known in the US for his testimony in the Senate in 2005, where he turned a defence of allegations against him into an attack against US foreign policy.

Early and personal life

Galloway was born in the Lochee area of Dundee, Scotland, to a Scottish trade unionist father and Irish republican mother. He grew up in Charleston and attended Charleston Primary and then Harris Academy, a non-denominational school. During his school years at Charleston Primary and Harris Academy, he used to play football for the school team. As an amateur footballer, he went on to play for West End United U12s, Lochee Boys Club U16s and St Columbus U18s.

From 1979 to 1999, he was married to Elaine Fyffe, with whom he has a daughter, Lucy. In 2000, he married Amineh Abu-Zayyad. Zayyad filed for divorce in 2005. He married Rima Husseini, a Lebanese woman and former researcher, who in May 2007 gave birth to a son, Zein.

Galloway was raised as a Roman Catholic. He turned away from the church as a young man, but returned in his mid-20s. By his own account he decided to never drink alcohol at the age of 18, disapproves of it, and describes it as having a "very deleterious effect on people".

Galloway is a lifelong supporter of Celtic Football Club.

Labour Party organiser

Galloway joined the Labour Party at 13 years old and, within five years, was secretary of the Dundee West constituency party. His enthusiasm led him to become vice-chairman of the Labour Party in the city of Dundee and a member of the Scottish Executive Committee in 1975. On 5 May 1977, he contested his first election campaign in the Scottish district elections, but failed to hold the safe Labour seat at Gillburn, Dundee. He was beaten by the Independent candidate Bunty Turley, who was a trade unionist running on the campaign slogan "enough is enough" after allegations were made about Galloway's personal and financial behaviour. Galloway became the secretary organiser of Dundee Labour Party—the youngest ever Scottish chairman—in March 1981 at 26 years old.

His support for the Palestinian cause began in 1974 when he met a Palestinian activist in Dundee; he supported the actions of Dundee City council which flew the Palestinian flag inside the City Chambers. He was involved in the twinning of Dundee with Nablus in 1980, although he did not take part in the visit of Lord Provost Gowans, Ernie Ross MP and three city councillors to Nablus and Kuwait in April 1981.

In 1981, Galloway wrote an article in ''Scottish Marxist'' supporting Communist Party affiliation with the Labour Party. In response, Denis Healey, deputy leader of the Labour Party, tried and failed to remove Galloway from the list of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates. Galloway successfully argued that this was his own personal viewpoint, not that of the Labour Party. Healey lost his motion by 13 votes to 5. He once quipped that, in order to overcome a £1.5 million deficit which had arisen in the city budget, he, Ernie Ross and leading councillors should be placed in the stocks in the city square: "we would allow people to throw buckets of water over us at 20p a time."

Parliamentary career and public profile

War On Want

From November 1983 to 1987, Galloway was General Secretary of War On Want, a British charity that campaigns against poverty worldwide. In this post he was much travelled, writing eye-witness accounts of the famine in Eritrea in 1985 which were published in ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Spectator''.

The ''Daily Mirror'' accused him of living luxuriously at the charity's expense. An independent auditor cleared him of misuse of funds, though he did repay £1,720 in contested expenses. He later reportedly won £155,000 from the ''Mirror'' in an unrelated libel lawsuit.

More than two years after Galloway stepped down to serve as a Labour MP, the UK government investigated War on Want. It found accounting irregularities from 1985 to 1989, but little evidence that money was used for non-charitable purposes. Galloway had been General Secretary for the first three of those years. The commission said responsibility lay largely with auditors, and did not single out individuals for blame.

Member of Parliament, Glasgow

He fought for a place on the Labour Party National Executive Committee in 1986; in a large field of candidates he finished second from the bottom. At the 1986 Labour Party Conference, he made a strong attack on the Labour Party's Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor Roy Hattersley for not favouring exchange controls.

In the 1987 election, Galloway won Glasgow Hillhead constituency for the Labour Party from Roy Jenkins of the Social Democratic Party (who had briefly led that party earlier in the decade) with a majority of 3,251. Although known for his left-wing views, Galloway was never a member of Labour's leftist groupings of MPs, the Tribune Group or the Campaign Group.

Troubles within the Labour Party

Asked about a War on Want conference on Mykonos, Greece during his previous job, the new MP Galloway notoriously replied "I travelled to and spent lots of time with people in Greece, many of whom were women, some of whom were known carnally to me. I actually had sexual intercourse with some of the people in Greece." The statement put Galloway on the front pages of the tabloid press and in February 1988 the Executive Committee of his Constituency Labour Party passed a vote of no confidence in him.

He went on to win re-selection over Trish Godman (wife of fellow MP Norman Godman) in June 1989, but failed to get a majority of the electoral college on the first ballot. This was the worst result for any sitting Labour MP who was reselected; 13 of the 26 members of the Constituency Party's Executive Committee resigned that August, indicating their dissatisfaction with the result.

In 1990, a classified advertisement appeared in the Labour left weekly ''Tribune'' headed "Lost: MP who answers to the name of George", "balding and has been nicknamed gorgeous", claiming that the lost MP had been seen in Romania but had not been to a constituency meeting for a year. A telephone number was given which turned out to be for the Groucho Club in London, from which Galloway had recently been excluded (he has since been readmitted). Galloway threatened legal action and pointed out that he had been to five constituency meetings. He eventually settled for an out-of-court payment by ''Tribune''.

The leadership election of the Labour Party in 1992 saw Galloway voting for the eventual winners, fellow Scot John Smith for Leader and Margaret Beckett as Deputy Leader. In 1994, after Smith's death, Galloway declined to cast a vote in the leadership election (one of only three MPs to do so). In a debate with the leader of the Scottish National Party Alex Salmond, Galloway responded to one of Salmond's jibes against the Labour Party by declaring "I don't give a fuck what Tony Blair thinks."

Although facing a challenge for the Labour nomination for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin in 1997, Galloway successfully defeated Shiona Waldron. He was unchallenged for the nomination in 2001.

In the 1997 and 2001 elections Galloway was the Labour candidate for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin, winning with majorities of over 16,000 and 12,000 respectively. During the 2001 Parliament, he voted against the Whip 27 times. During the 2001-02 session he was the 9th most rebellious Labour MP.

Expulsion from the Labour Party

Galloway became the Vice President of the Stop the War Coalition in 2001. He is actively involved, often speaking on StWC platforms at anti-war demonstrations. From this position Galloway made many aggressive and controversial statements in opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These were the formal reasons for his expulsion from the Labour Party. He reportedly said in a 28 March 2003 interview with Abu Dhabi TV that Tony Blair and George W. Bush had "lied to the British Air Force and Navy, when they said the battle of Iraq would be very quick and easy. They attacked Iraq like wolves...." and added, "... the best thing British troops can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders." He called the Labour government "Tony Blair's lie machine." His most controversial statement from the interview may have been "Iraq is fighting for all the Arabs. Where are the Arab armies?". ''The Observer'' reported in 2003 that the Director of Public Prosecutions was considering a request to pursue Galloway under the Incitement to Disaffection Act, 1934, though no prosecution occurred.

On 18 April, ''The Sun'' published an interview with Tony Blair who said: "His comments were disgraceful and wrong. The National Executive will deal with it." The General Secretary of the Labour Party, citing Galloway's outspoken opinion of Blair and Bush in their pursuit of the Iraq war, suspended him from holding office in the party on 6 May 2003, pending a hearing on charges that he had violated the party's constitution by "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute through behaviour that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Party". The National Constitutional Committee held a hearing on 22 October 2003, to consider the charges, taking evidence from Galloway himself, from other party witnesses, viewing media interviews, and hearing character testimony from Tony Benn, among others. The following day, the committee found the charge of bringing the party into disrepute proved, and so expelled Galloway from the Labour Party. Galloway called the Committee's hearing "a show trial" and "a kangaroo court".

2005 election

In January 2004, Galloway announced he would be working with members of the Socialist Alliance in England and Wales, and others, under the name Respect - The Unity Coalition, generally referred to simply as Respect. This was despite Galloway having a track record of antipathy toward Trotskyists, and the largest component of Respect being the Socialist Workers Party, which broadly identifies itself as part of the Trotskyist political tradition.

Some former members of the Socialist Alliance, including the Workers Liberty and Workers Power groups, objected to forming a coalition with Galloway, citing his political record, and his refusal to accept an average worker's wage, with Galloway claiming "I couldn’t live on three workers’ wages."

He stood as the Respect candidate in London in the 2004 European Parliament elections, but failed to win a seat after receiving 91,175 of the 115,000 votes he needed.

Galloway later announced that he would not force a by-election and intended not to contest the next general election in Glasgow. Galloway's Glasgow Kelvin seat was split between three neighbouring constituencies for the May 2005 general election. One of these, the redrawn Glasgow Central constituency, might have been his best chance to win, but had his long-time friend Mohammad Sarwar, the first Muslim Labour MP and a strong opponent of the Iraq War in place; Galloway did not wish to challenge him. After the European election results became known, Galloway announced that he would stand in Bethnal Green and Bow, the area where Respect had its strongest election results and where the sitting Labour MP, Oona King, supported the Iraq War. On 2 December, despite speculation that he might stand in Newham, he confirmed that he would be the candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow.

The ensuing electoral campaign in the seat proved to be a difficult one with heated rhetoric. The BBC reported that Galloway had himself been threatened with death by extreme Islamists from the banned organisation al-Ghurabaa. All the major candidates united in condemning the threats and violence.

On 5 May, Galloway won the seat by 823 votes and made a fiery acceptance speech, saying that Tony Blair had the blood of 100,000 people on his hands and denouncing the returning officer over alleged discrepancies in the electoral process. When challenged in a subsequent televised interview by Jeremy Paxman as to whether he was happy to have removed one of the few black women in Parliament, Galloway replied "I don't believe that people get elected because of the colour of their skin. I believe people get elected because of their record and because of their policies."

Oona King later told the ''Today'' programme that she found Paxman's line of question inappropriate. "He shouldn't be barred from running against me because I'm a black woman ... I was not defined, or did not wish to be defined, by either my ethnicity or religious background."

"It's good to be back", Galloway said on being sworn in as MP for Bethnal Green after the May election. He pledged to represent "the people that New Labour has abandoned" and to "speak for those who have nobody else to speak for them."

Parliamentary participation statistics

After he was suspended and later expelled from the Labour Party, Galloway's participation in Parliamentary activity fell to minimal levels. After speaking in a debate on Iraq on 25 March 2003, Galloway did not intervene in any way in Parliamentary debates or ask any oral questions for the remainder of the Parliament and his participation in House of Commons Divisions was among the lowest of any MP.

Following the 2005 election, his participation rate remained low, at the end of the year he had participated in only 15% of Divisions in the House of Commons since the general election, placing him 634th of 645 MPs - of the eleven MPs below him in the rankings, one is the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, five are Sinn Féin members who have an abstentionist policy toward taking their seats, three are the speaker and deputy speakers and therefore ineligible to vote, and two have died since the election. Galloway claims a record of unusual activity at a "grass roots" level. His own estimate is that he has made 1,100 public speeches between September 2001 and May 2005.

As of September 2009, he still had one of the lowest voting participation records in parliament at 8.4% as a total of 93 votes out of a possible 1113 divisions.

Suspension from the House of Commons

On 17 July 2007, following a four-year inquiry, the House of Commons Select Committee on Standards and Privileges published its sixth report. The committee concluded that there was "no evidence" that Galloway gained any personal benefit from either the former Iraqi regime, or from the Oil-for-Food Programme. It did not examine the bank account of Galloway's former wife or their joint account.

}} However, it found that Galloway's use of parliamentary resources to support his work on the Mariam Appeal "went beyond what was reasonable."

}}

In response, Galloway stated At a press conference following publication of the report, Galloway stated "To be deprived of the company for 18 days of the honourable ladies and gentleman behind me [in parliament] will be painful ... but I'm intending to struggle on regardless ... What really upset them [the committee] is that I always defend myself.

The 2010 general election

On 10 August 2007, Galloway confirmed he would stand in newly created constituency of Poplar and Limehouse where the Labour Party had a notional majority of 3,942. The Labour candidate was the current Poplar and Canning Town MP Jim Fitzpatrick. Galloway said he had planned to stand down from Parliament at the next election, but was prompted to stay on and fight to win the neighbouring east London constituency after he felt he was unfairly suspended from Parliament for 18 days.

In the election Galloway was defeated, coming third after the Labour and Conservative candidates. He received 8,460 votes.

Victim of ''News of the World'' phone hacking

Galloway says that the Metropolitan Police Service told him they had evidence he was targeted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator working for the ''News of the World'' who was jailed for phone hacking in 2007. Galloway is now taking legal action for breach of privacy, and has issued proceedings against the ''NOTW'' and Mulcaire. Galloway claims he has been offered "substantial sums of money" by ''NOTW'' ahead of his court action.

2011 Scottish Parliament election

Galloway ran for the Glasgow regional list in the Scottish Parliament Elections held on 5 May 2011. Despite running for the Respect party, he stated that he would have backed the Labour Party in the parliament, and that he might end his political career in his native Scotland should he be elected. Galloway did not get sufficient votes and thus failed to obtain a seat.

Political views

Galloway advocates greater spending on welfare benefits, and some nationalisation of large industries. Galloway is opposed to abortion, although he supports Respect's pro-choice stance. He opposes Scottish independence but supports the right of the people to vote on the matter via a referendum. He also supports the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, George Galloway supported Solidarity, despite not supporting all their policies, such as Scottish independence. Galloway has attracted most attention for his comments on foreign policy, taking a special interest in Libya, Pakistan, Iraq, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to the report "Preventing terrorism, where next for Britain?" from the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, which receives private and public funding, Galloway is "Islamist backed". Inayat Bunglawala, chair of Muslims4Uk and a former MCB spokesperson, said: "This is just like something straight out of a Stasi manual. The advice from Quilliam is frankly appalling and incredibly self-serving."

Iraq and Saddam Hussein

Galloway opposed the 1991 Gulf War and was critical of the effect the subsequent sanctions had on the people of Iraq. He visited Iraq twice and met senior government officials. His involvement caused some critics to deride him as the "member for Baghdad North". In 1994, Galloway faced some of his strongest criticism on his return from a Middle-Eastern visit during which he had met Saddam Hussein "to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war". At the meeting, he reported the support given to Saddam by the people of the Gaza Strip and ended his speech in English with the statement "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability,". Galloway's most recent public statement on the matter was in a January 2007 edition of the BBC's ''Hardtalk'' in which he states that he was saluting the "Iraqi people". Galloway's speech was translated for Hussein. Anasal-Tikriti, a friend of Galloway's and a Respect candidate, spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain said: "I understand Arabic and it [Galloway's salutation] was taken completely out of context. When he said "you" he meant the Iraqi people, he was saluting their indefatigability, their resolve against sanctions. Even the interpreter got it right and, in Arabic, says salutes the stand of the Iraqi people'."

In 1999, Galloway was criticised for spending Christmas in Iraq with Tariq Aziz, then Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister. In the 17 May 2005, hearing of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Galloway stated that he had had many meetings with Aziz, and characterised their relationship as friendly. After the fall of Saddam, he continued to praise Aziz, calling him "an eminent diplomatic and intellectual person". In 2006 a video surfaced showing Galloway enthusiastically greeting Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest son, with the title of "Excellency" at Uday's palace in 1999. "The two men also made unflattering comments about the United States and joked about losing weight, going bald and how difficult it is to give up smoking cigars," according to ''The Scotsman''.

In a House of Commons debate on 6 March 2002, Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw said of Galloway that he was "not just an apologist, but a mouthpiece, for the Iraqi regime over many years." Galloway called the Minister a liar and refused to withdraw: "[Bradshaw's] imputation that I am a mouthpiece for a dictator is a clear imputation of dishonour" he said, and the sitting was suspended due to the dispute. Bradshaw later withdrew his allegation, and Galloway apologised for using unparliamentary language. In August 2002, Galloway returned to Iraq and met Saddam Hussein for a second time. According to Galloway, the intention of the trip was to persuade Saddam to re-admit Hans Blix, and the United Nations weapons inspectors into the country.

Giving evidence in his libel case against the ''Daily Telegraph'' newspaper in 2004, Galloway testified that he regarded Saddam as a "bestial dictator" and would have welcomed his removal from power, but not by means of a military attack on Iraq. Galloway also pointed that he was a prominent critic of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s, as well as of the role of Margaret Thatcher's government in supporting arms sales to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war. Labour MP Tam Dalyell said during the controversy over whether Galloway should be expelled from the Labour Party that "in the mid-1980s there was only one MP that I can recollect making speeches about human rights in Iraq and this was George Galloway." When the issue of Galloway's meetings with Saddam Hussein is raised, including before the U.S. Senate, Galloway has argued that he had met Saddam "exactly the same number of times as U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns." He continued "I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war".

During a 9 March 2005 interview at the University of Dhaka campus Galloway called for a global alliance between Muslims and progressives: "Not only do I think it’s possible but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already. It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries mainly Muslim countries."

Israel and Palestine

At a 22 July 2006 demonstration (and later in a ''Socialist Worker'' op-ed), Galloway stated "Hezbollah has never been a terrorist organisation!" The National Union of Students of the United Kingdom passed a motion condemning Galloway for this statement.

In an interview with the American radio host Alex Jones, Galloway blamed Israel for creating "conditions in the Arab countries and in some European countries to stampede Jewish people ... into the Zionist state". Jones then alleged that the "Zionists" funded Hitler, to which Galloway replied that Zionists used the Jewish people "to create this little settler state on the Mediterranean," whose purpose was "to act as an advance guard for their own interests in the Arab world..."

In a series of speeches broadcast on Arab television, Galloway described Jerusalem and Baghdad as being "raped" by "foreigners," referring to Israel's illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, and the war in Iraq.

Galloway was introduced as “a former member of the British Houses of Parliament” during a live interview with Qatari Al-Jazeera television, to which he responded: “I am still a member of parliament and was re-elected five times. On the last occasion I was re-elected despite all the efforts made by the British government, the Zionist movement and the newspapers and news media which are controlled by Zionism.”

Galloway expressed support for the Syrian presence in Lebanon five months before it ended, telling the ''Daily Star'' of Lebanon "Syrian troops in Lebanon maintain stability and protect the country from Israel". In the same article he expressed his opposition to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, which urged the Lebanese Government to establish control over all its territory.

In an interview with the Hizbullah run Al-Manar TV, which aired on July 26, 2011 (as translated by MEMRI), Galloway accused Israel of being responsible for the assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri, stating that "Israel was the only country with any interest and any benefit to gain from the assassination of the martyr Rafiq Al-Hariri. They are the ones who had the capability to do so, they are the ones who had the motive for doing so, and they are the ones who had the criminal record for doing so. How many hundreds of people has Israel killed in Lebanon? Assassination squads of people landing on the beach, and people planting bombs of one kind or another…" He further stated that "When this inquiry [the Special Tribunal for Lebanon] refused to lead in that direction, I knew it was a fake inquiry" and that "this process and all these individuals are completely discredited."

Several months earlier in a speech given in Edmonton, Alberta in November 2010, Galloway stated that

“I believe, and I don’t know anybody who is objective in this matter who does not believe, that Hezbollah are absolutely innocent of this crime, and it is time that the tribunal looked to the people who benefited from this crime…..in Israel."

Blair and Bush

At the national conference of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, on 30 June 2003, Galloway apologised for describing George W. Bush as a "wolf", saying that to do so defamed wolves: "No wolf would commit the sort of crimes against humanity that George Bush committed against the people of Iraq."

On 20 November 2004, George Galloway gave an interview on Abu Dhabi TV in which he said:

On 20 June 2005, he appeared on Al Jazeera English to lambast these two leaders and others.

On 3 February 2006, Galloway was refused entry to Egypt at Cairo Airport and was detained "on grounds of national security", where he had been invited to 'give evidence' at a 'mock trial' of Bush and Blair. After being detained overnight, he said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "apologised on behalf of the Egyptian people", and he was allowed to enter the country. After initial derogatory comments from Galloway and a spokesman from his Respect party regarding Mubarak's pro-Western stance and ties to Bush and Blair, Galloway later commented: "It was a most gracious apology which I accept wholeheartedly. I consider the matter now closed."

In an interview with Piers Morgan for ''GQ Magazine'' in May 2006, Galloway was asked whether a suicide bomb attack on Tony Blair with "no other casualties" would be morally justifiable "as revenge for the war on Iraq?". He answered "Yes it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it, but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable, and morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq as Blair did." He further stated that if he knew about such a plan that he would inform the relevant authorities, saying: "I would [tell the police], because such an operation would be counterproductive because it would just generate a new wave of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab sentiment whipped up by the press. It would lead to new draconian anti-terror laws, and would probably strengthen the resolve of the British and American services in Iraq rather than weaken it. So yes, I would inform the authorities." Some news analysts, notably Christopher Hitchens, took this to be a call for an attack while appearing not to.

The July 2005 London bombings

In the House of Commons, on the day of the 7 July 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people and injured hundreds, and following a visit to the Royal London Hospital in his constituency where many of the victims had been taken, Galloway condemned the attacks strongly, but argued that they could not be separated from the hatred and bitterness felt among Muslims because of injustices in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, including injustices, he said, suffered as a result of British foreign policy: }}

Winding up the debate for the government in the last moments allotted, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram described Galloway's remarks as "disgraceful" and accused Galloway of "dipping his poisonous tongue in a pool of blood." No time remained for Galloway to intervene and he ran afoul of the Deputy Speaker when trying to make a point of order about Ingram's attack. He later went on to describe Ingram as a "thug" who had committed a "foul-mouthed, deliberately timed, last-10-seconds smear." The men had previously clashed over claims in Galloway's autobiography (see below).

Pakistan coup of 1999

At the time of the 1999 Musharraf coup in Pakistan, he wrote, "In poor third world countries like Pakistan, politics is too important to be left to petty squabbling politicians. Pakistan is always on the brink of breaking apart into its widely disparate components. Only the armed forces can really be counted on to hold such a country together... Democracy is a means, not an end in itself and it has a bad name on the streets of Karachi and Lahore." Nonetheless, on his TalkSport talk radio show, Galloway has been outspoken in criticising the former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf.

Record on LGBT issues

In 1994, Galloway voted in support of the equalisation of the age of consent for homosexuality (which was then 21 years) with that for heterosexuality at 16 years. He also voted against a reduction of the homosexual age of consent to 18. He voted in favour of permitting unmarried and gay couples to adopt children. Critics have claimed that his involvement in the leadership of Respect - which made no explicit mention of gay rights in its 2005 election manifesto and accepted donations from Islamic Party members - raise questions about commitment to those issues, as does his rather poor voting record in parliamentary divisions, 80% of which he missed, during the 2001-5 parliament while still a Glasgow MP. However, Respect's 2005 conference, in which Galloway took part, resolved that explicit defence of equal rights and calls for the end to all discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people would be made in all of its manifestos and principal election materials.

Galloway's assertion on ''The Wright Stuff'' chat show (13 March 2008) that the executed boyfriend of homosexual Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for sex crimes rather than for being homosexual received criticism from Peter Tatchell, among others. Galloway also stated on ''The Wright Stuff'' that the case of gay rights in Iran was being used by supporters of war with Iran.

2009 Iranian elections

Galloway has encouraged Western governments to accept the election of the conservative President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Humanitarian work

Mariam Appeal

In 1998 Galloway founded the Mariam Appeal, intended "to campaign against sanctions on Iraq which are having disastrous effects on the ordinary people of Iraq". The campaign was named after Mariam Hamza, a child flown by the fund from Iraq to Britain to receive treatment for leukaemia. The intention was to raise awareness of the suffering and death of hundreds of thousands of other Iraqi children due to poor health conditions and lack of suitable medicines and facilities, and to campaign for the lifting of the Iraq sanctions that many maintained were responsible for that situation.

The fund received scrutiny during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, after a complaint that Galloway used some of the donation money to pay his travel expenses. Galloway said that the expenses were incurred in his capacity as the Appeal's chairman. Although the Mariam Appeal was never a registered charity and never intended to be such, it was investigated by the Charity Commission. The report of this year-long inquiry, published in June 2004, found that the Mariam Appeal was doing charitable work (and so ought to have registered with them), but did not substantiate allegations that any funds had been misused.

A further Charity Commission Report published on 7 June 2007 found that the Appeal had received funds from Fawaz Zureikat that originated from the Oil For Food programme, and concluded that: "Although Mr Galloway, Mr Halford and Mr Al-Mukhtar have confirmed that they were unaware of the source of Mr Zureikat’s donations, the Commission has concluded that the charity trustees should have made further enquiries when accepting such large single and cumulative donations to satisfy themselves as to their origin and legitimacy. The Commission’s conclusion is that the charity trustees did not properly discharge their duty of care as trustees to the Appeal in respect of these donations." They added: "The Commission is also concerned, having considered the totality of the evidence before it, that Mr Galloway may also have known of the connection between the Appeal and the Programme". Galloway responded: "I've always disputed the Commission's retrospective view that a campaign to win a change in national and international policy—a political campaign—was, in fact, a charity."

Viva Palestina aid convoy

In response to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, in January 2009 Galloway instigated the ''Viva Palestina'' aid convoy to the Gaza Strip. On 14 February 2009, after raising over £1 million-worth of humanitarian aid in four weeks, Galloway and hundreds of volunteers launched the convoy comprising approximately 120 vehicles intended for use in the Strip, including a fire engine donated by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), 12 ambulances, a boat and trucks full of medicines, tools, clothes, blankets and gifts for children. The 5,000-mile route passed through Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

On 20 February, Galloway condemned Lancashire Police after they arrested nine of the volunteers under the Terrorism Act a day before the convoy's launch. Galloway said: "The arrests were clearly deliberately timed for the eve of the departure of the convoy. Photographs of the high-profile snatch on the M65 were immediately fed to the press to maximise the newsworthiness of the smear that was being perpetrated on the convoy." ''Viva Palestina'' reported an 80% drop in donations following the broadcast of the arrests and the police allegations on the BBC.

The convoy arrived in Gaza on 9 March, accompanied by approximately 180 extra trucks of aid donated by Libya's Gaddafi Foundation. All the British aid was delivered with the exception of the fire engine and boat which were blocked by the Egyptian government. The boat is to be delivered later in a flotilla of craft which Viva Palestina! intends to take into Gaza harbour. On 10 March 2009, Galloway announced at a press conference in Gaza City attended by several senior Hamas officials: "We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of their contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine," adding he would personally donate three cars and 25,000 pounds to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.

The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into Viva Palestinia! on 23 March 2009, citing concerns over the finances, use of funds for non-charitable purposes, and the lack of "substantive response" to their repeated requests. George Galloway admitted that the appeal had not responded to the requests, but argued that a substantive response was anyway due to be passed to the Charity Commission only hours after they launched the inquiry. He argued that the Charity Commission's actions were suspicious, hinting that they might be politically motivated. On 8 April 2009, Galloway joined Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic to launch Viva Palestina US.

A third Viva Palestina convoy began at the end of 2009. On 8 January 2010, Galloway and his colleague Ron McKay were deported from Egypt immediately upon entry from Gaza. They had been attempting to help take about 200 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip. They were driven by the police to the airport and put on a plane to London. The previous day an Egyptian soldier had been killed during a clash at the border with Hamas loyalists. Several Palestinians were also injured.

Controversy

Oil for Food

''Daily Telegraph'' libel case

On 22 April 2003, the ''Daily Telegraph'' published news articles and comment describing documents found by its reporter David Blair in the ruins of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. The documents purported to be records of meetings between Galloway and Iraqi intelligence agents, and state that he had received £375,000 per year from the proceeds of the Oil-for-Food Programme. Galloway completely denied the story, and pointed to the nature of the discovery within an unguarded, bombed-out building as being questionable. He instigated legal action against the newspaper, which was heard in the High Court from 14 November 2004.

On 2 December, Justice David Eady ruled that the story had been "seriously defamatory", and that the ''Telegraph'' was "obliged to compensate Mr Galloway ... and to make an award for the purposes of restoring his reputation". Galloway was awarded damages of £150,000 plus, after a failed appeal in 2006, legal costs of about £2 million.

The libel case was regarded by both sides as an important test of the Reynolds qualified-privilege defence. The ''Daily Telegraph'' did not attempt to claim justification (where the defendant seeks to prove the truth of the defamatory reports): "It has never been the ''Telegraph's'' case to suggest that the allegations contained in these documents are true". Instead, the paper sought to argue that it acted responsibly because the allegations it reported were of sufficient public interest to outweigh the damage caused to Galloway's reputation. However the trial judge did not accept this defence saying the suggestion such as Galloway was guilty of "treason", "in Saddam's pay", and being "Saddam's little helper" caused him to conclude "the newspaper was not neutral but both embraced the allegations with relish and fervour and went on to embellish them". Additionally Galloway had not been given a fair or reasonable opportunity to make inquiries or meaningful comment upon the documents before they were published.

The issue of whether the documents were genuine was likewise not at issue at the trial. However, it later transpired that the expert hired by Galloway's lawyers, a forensic expert named Oliver Thorne, said "In my opinion the evidence found fully supports that the vast majority of the submitted documents are authentic." He added "It should be noted that I am unable to comment on the veracity of the information within the disputed ''Telegraph'' documents, whether or not they are authentic."

Others

The ''Christian Science Monitor'' also published a story on 25 April 2003, stating that they had documentary evidence that he had received "more than ten million dollars" from the Iraqi regime. However, on 20 June 2003, the ''Monitor'' reported that their own investigation had concluded the documents were sophisticated forgeries, and apologised. Galloway rejected the newspaper's apology, asserted that the affair was a conspiracy against him, and continued a libel claim against the paper.

The ''Christian Science Monitor'' settled the claim, paying him an undisclosed sum in damages, on 19 March 2004. It emerged that these documents had first been offered to the ''Daily Telegraph'', but they had rejected them. The documents' origin remains obscure.

In January 2004, a further set of allegations were made in ''al-Mada'', a newspaper in Iraq. The newspaper claimed to have found documents in the Iraqi national oil corporation showing that Galloway received (through an intermediary) some of the profits arising from the sale of 19.5 million barrels (3,100,000 m³) of oil. Galloway acknowledged that money had been paid into the Mariam Appeal by Iraqi businessmen who had profited from the UN-run programme, but denied benefiting personally, and maintained that, in any case, there was nothing illicit about this:

The report of the Iraq Survey Group published in October 2004 claimed that Galloway was one of the recipients of a fund used by Iraq to buy influence among foreign politicians. Galloway denied receiving any money from Saddam Hussein's regime. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards had begun an investigation into George Galloway but suspended it when Galloway launched legal action. On 14 December, it was announced that this investigation would resume.

U.S. Senate

Allegations

In May 2005, a U.S. Senate committee report accused Galloway along with former French minister Charles Pasqua of receiving the right to buy oil under the UN's oil-for-food scheme. The report was issued by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota. The report cited further documents from the Iraqi oil ministry and interviews with Iraqi officials.

Coleman's committee said Pasqua had received allocations worth from 1999 to 2000, and Galloway received allocations worth from 2000 to 2003. The allegations against Pasqua and Galloway, both outspoken opponents of U.N. sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s, have been made before, including in an October report by U.S. arms inspector Charles Duelfer as well as in the various purported documents described earlier in this section. But Coleman's report provided several new details. It also included information from interrogations of former high-ranking officials in U.S. custody, including former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. Among the claims is that there is new evidence to suggest that the Mariam Appeal, a children's leukaemia charity founded by Galloway, was in fact used to conceal oil payments. The report cites Ramadan as saying under interrogation that Galloway was allocated oil "because of his opinions about Iraq."

''Socialist Worker'' reported what they say is evidence that the key Iraqi oil ministry documents regarding oil allocations, in which Galloway's name appears six times (contracts M/08/35, M/09/23, M/10/38, M/11/04, M/12/14, M/13/48) have been tampered with. They published a copy of contract M/09/23 and allege that George Galloway's name appears to have been added in a different font and at a different angle to the rest of the text on that line. In these documents (relating to oil allocations 8-13), Galloway is among just a few people whose nationality is never identified, whilst Zureikat is the only one whose nationality is identified in one instance but not in others. Galloway combatively countered the charges by accusing Coleman and other pro-war politicians of covering up the "theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth... on your watch" that had occurred under a post-invasion Coalition Provisional Authority, committed by "Halliburton and other American corporations... with the connivance of your own government."

Galloway's response

On 17 May 2005, the committee held a hearing concerning specific allegations (of which Galloway was one part) relating to improprieties surrounding the Oil-for-Food programme. Attending Galloway's oral testimony and enquiring of him were two of the thirteen committee members: the chair (Coleman) and the ranking Democrat (Carl Levin).

Upon Galloway's arrival in the US, he told Reuters, "I have no expectation of justice from a group of Christian fundamentalist and Zionist activists under the chairmanship of a neo-con George Bush". Galloway described Coleman as a "pro-war, neo-con hawk and the lickspittle of George W. Bush", who, he said, sought revenge against anyone who did not support the invasion of Iraq.

In his testimony, Galloway made the following statements in response to the allegations against him:

He questioned the reliability of evidence given by former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, stating that the circumstances of his captivity by American forces call into question the authenticity of the remarks. Galloway also pointed out an error in the report, where documents by ''The Daily Telegraph'' were said to have covered an earlier period from those held by the Senate. In fact the report's documents referred to the same period as those used by ''The Daily Telegraph'', though Galloway pointed out that the presumed forgeries pertaining to the ''Christian Science Monitor'' report did refer to an earlier period.

Galloway also denounced the invasion of Iraq as having been based on "a pack of lies" in his Senate testimony. The U.S. media, in reporting his appearance, emphasised his blunt remarks on the war. The British media gave generally more positive coverage; TV presenter Anne Robinson said Galloway "quite frankly put the pride back in British politics" when introducing him for a prime time talk show.

A report by the then-majority Republican Party staff of the United States Senate Committee on Investigations published in October 2005 asserted that Galloway had given false "or misleading" testimony under oath when appearing before them. The report exhibits bank statements it claims show that £85,000 of proceeds from the Oil-for-Food Programme had been paid to Galloway's then-wife Amineh Abu-Zayyad. Galloway reiterated his denial of the charges and challenged the U.S. Senate committee to charge him with perjury. He claimed Coleman's motive was revenge over the embarrassment of his appearance before the committee in May.

Stance on the Islamic Republic of Iran

Galloway has attracted criticism from both the Left and the Right for his comments relating to the regime in Iran, and his work for the state-run satellite television channel, Press TV. Scott Long, writing in The Guardian, criticized Galloway's claim that "homosexuals aren't executed in Iran, just rapists", pointing out that current law in the country stipulates that "Penetrative sex acts between men can bring death on the first conviction". Long-time Gay Rights activist Peter Tatchell, also writing in The Guardian, accused Galloway of spouting "Iranian Propaganda", continuing: "His claim that lesbian and gay people are not at risk of execution in Iran is refuted by every reputable human rights organisation, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the International Lesbian and Gay Association."

The Trotskyist Workers' Liberty also condemns Galloway, largely on the basis of his support and work for the current Iranian regime. In "No vote for Galloway - an open letter to the left", he is quoted from his Press TV interview with President Ahmadinejad as stating that he requires "police protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my support for your election campaign. I mention this so you know where I’m coming from."

Controversies at university debating societies

On 2 November 2006, ''The Times'' reported that Galloway was in a fracas at the Oxford Union. He was there to discuss his book. () In his speech to the Union, Galloway claimed "that democracy in Cuba is more “free” than in the UK", and when questioned on this, he mentioned "that Oxford students are too privileged to understand what he was talking about". Three former state school students who met him afterwards and disputed this description, allege that Galloway said: "I don’t represent anyone’s views. I represent me. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks." and: "You are confusing me with someone who gives a fuck". When the students tried to get Galloway to apologise, he asked for them to be removed from the room, but they left of their own accord. His assistant, Kevin Ovenden, alleged that the students Galloway swore at carried offensive placards, which was the cause of his behaviour, although the students denied this. His comments were criticised by several MPs, including Boris Johnson, who said: "there’s no need to swear" and Stephen Pound said: "If he wishes to be respected by anyone other than Fidel Castro he should apologise." A response to the incident on the Oxford Student website can be found.

Sectarian attack at airport

On 10 June 2007, Galloway claimed that he was the victim of a sectarian attack at Glasgow Airport. He believes that his attackers were on the way home from attending an Orange Order parade in London and that they attacked him because he is a Celtic fan. However, no arrest was made in connection with this.

Support for the Soviet Union

Galloway once stated "I am on the anti-imperialist left... If you are asking did I support the Soviet Union, yes I did. Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life. If there was a Soviet Union today, we would not be having this conversation about plunging into a new war in the Middle East, and the US would not be rampaging around the globe."

Forbidden to enter Canada

On 20 March 2009, Galloway was advised by the Canada Border Services Agency he was deemed inadmissible to Canada on "security grounds" due to his involvement in the ''Viva Palestina'' aid convoy to the Gaza Strip following the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. The Gaza Strip is governed by Hamas, which is on Canada's list of terrorist organisations. This resulted from a personal donation of £25,000 made by Galloway ten days earlier. The Canadians ruled (and maintained on appeal) that this constituted explicit support for Hamas, although Galloway argued it was not the case as the money was intended to be used for aid purposes.

Galloway was on a lecture tour of North America, and was due to speak on war prevention and Gaza for a United Church congregation in Toronto, as well as for events in Mississauga, Ottawa and Montreal. Galloway was also described as an "infandous street-corner Cromwell" by Alykhan Velshi, communications director for Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. Galloway described the ban as "idiotic" and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was accused by Jack Layton, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP), of being a "minister of censorship." Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, the group who invited Galloway to Canada, sought an emergency injunction to allow for his entry into Canada for the first speech in Toronto citing their rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression. On 30 March 2009, the Federal Court of Canada upheld the decision of the Canada Border Services Agency. Justice Luc Martineau cited non-citizens "do not have an unqualified right to enter in Canada. The admission of a foreign national to this country is a privilege determined by statute, regulation or otherwise, and not as a matter of right." The judge also noted "a proper factual record and the benefit of full legal argument...are lacking at the present time." Subsequently, Galloway canceled his Canadian tour and instead, delivered his speech over video link from New York to his Canadian audiences.

Galloway was allowed entry into Canada in October 2010, after a judge concluded that the original ban had been undertaken for political reasons. He continued to criticise Jason Kenney, saying that the minister had "damaged Canada's reputation" and had used "anti-terrorism" as a means of suppressing political debate. Galloway has also threatened to sue the Canadian government for the banning incident.

Forbidden to enter Egypt

On 8 January 2010, Galloway and his colleague Ron McKay were deported from Egypt immediately upon entry from Gaza. He had been attempting to help take 200 aid trucks into the blockaded Gaza Strip. They were driven by the police to the airport and put on a plane to London. The previous day an Egyptian soldier had been killed during clashes at the border with Hamas loyalists. Several Palestinians were also injured. The Foreign Ministry of Egypt released a statement reading: "George Galloway is considered persona non grata and will not be allowed to enter into Egypt again". Shortly after his deportation Galloway said, "It is a badge of honour to be deported by a dictatorship" and "I've been thrown out of better joints than that." He also vowed to go back to the Gaza strip. ''The Daily Record'' described his mood as "defiant".

Publishing / media activities

Autobiography

His autobiography, ''I'm Not The Only One'', was published on 28 April 2004. The book's title is a quotation from the song "Imagine" by John Lennon. Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram applied for an interim interdict to prevent the book's publication. Ingram asserted that Galloway's text, which stated that Ingram "played the flute in a sectarian, anti-Catholic, Protestant-supremacist Orange Order band", was in bad faith and defamatory, although Ingram's lawyers conceded that for a year as a teenager he had been a member of a junior Orange Lodge in Barlanark, Glasgow, and had attended three parades. The Judge, Lord Kingarth, decided to refuse an interim interdict, that the balance of the arguments favoured Galloway's publisher, and that the phrase "sectarian, anti-Catholic, Protestant-supremacist" was fair comment on that organisation. Although Ingram was not and never had been a flute-player, the defending advocate observed that "playing the flute carries no obvious defamatory imputation ... it is not to the discredit of anyone that he plays the flute." The judge ruled that Ingram should pay the full court costs of the hearing.

''Fidel Castro Handbook''

Galloway also published the ''Fidel Castro Handbook'', a biography of the former Cuban President in 2006 (MQ Publications. ISBN 1-84072-688-1).

Friction Books

In 2005 Galloway established Friction Books, an imprint for fiction and non-fiction, with longstanding associate Ron McKay. Friction claimed its purpose was to publish ''"books that burn, books that cause controversy and get people talking"''. it has released at least two books: Paco Ignacio Taibo II novel ''An Easy Thing'' and ''Topple the Mighty'' by Leon Kuhn and Colin Gile.

''Celebrity Big Brother''

In January 2006 Galloway appeared on the fourth series of the reality show for three weeks. During his time on the programme he appeared in a scene where he licked milk from the cupped hands of another housemate in an incident that drew a large amount of criticism and mockery. This situation attracted further controvesy as Galloway was a sitting member of parliament at the time leading to the allegation that he was bringing parliament into disrepute.

''Big Brother's Big Mouth''

Galloway acted as the guest presenter for the E4 companion programme to the 2007 edition of Big Brother, ''Big Brother's Big Mouth'', from 5 June to 8 June 2007.

talkSPORT

Show name	The Mother of All Talk Shows
Italic title	no
Format	Political discussion
Runtime	Friday 22:00-01:00Saturday 22:00-01:00
Country	UK
Language	English
Home station	talkSPORT
Syndicates	Talk 107
Presenter	George Galloway
Rec location	Central London
Opentheme	The theme from ''Top Cat''
Podcast	}}

On 11 March 2006, Galloway started broadcasting on Britain's biggest commercial radio station, the UTV-owned talkSPORT, and two weeks later started a simultaneous broadcast on Talk 107, TalkSPORT's Edinburgh-based sister station.

Billed as "The Mother Of All Talk Shows", Galloway began every broadcast by playing the theme from the ''Top Cat'' cartoon series. UTV said that Galloway was pulling in record call numbers and the highest ever ratings for its weekend slots, even pulling in more than the station's ''Football First'' programme.

On 3 January 2009, after Galloway was manhandled by riot police in London at the demonstration in protest over the Israeli offensive in the Gaza strip, the director of programming replaced Galloway with Ian Collins, saying that this would allow for more balanced reporting of the situation.

Galloway halted presenting the show on March 27, 2010, due to campaign commitments in the 2010 UK General Election. During this time, he was replaced by Mike Graham.

In August 2010, Galloway returned to the radio station with a new show bearing a similar format to his original, but this time titled ''The Week with George Galloway'', described by the station as a "No-holds barred review of the past seven days around the world". The show is broadcast during the 10pm-1am slot on Friday nights .

''The Real Deal''

On 21 May 2007, Galloway began presenting a programme titled ''The Real Deal'' on Raj TV, a satellite channel, broadcasting on Sky 171, primarily aimed at the British Asian community. Following a break, the show was resurrected on 10 February 2008 on Press TV, a Tehran-based news channel controlled by the government of Iran.

''Comment''

Galloway also hosts a 45-minute weekly current affairs show that invites the viewers to engage in lively debate on international political issues. The show is also filmed and broadcast from the London-bureau of Iranian state-controlled news channel Press TV. In 2009, the British telecommunications regulator Ofcom criticised Galloway "for breaking impartiality rules" regarding his coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and accused him of promoting "Iranian propaganda".

Mazher Mahmood

In March 2006 Galloway claimed in a statement that Mazher Mahmood, an undercover reporter for the ''News of the World'' who uses a disguise as a sheikh to frame celebrities, targeted him in an alleged sting operation. Galloway claims that Mahmood and an accomplice tried but failed to implicate him in illegal party funding, and to agree with anti-Semitic statements. Galloway wrote to the Metropolitan police commissioner and the Speaker of the House of Commons about the incident. He also released photographs of Mahmood and revealed other aspects of his activities. The ''News of the World'' lost a High Court action to prevent publication of photographs of Mahmood.

''Asian Voice''

Galloway has been involved in several publishing companies. He owned ''Asian Voice'', which published a newspaper called ''East'' from 1996. It later transpired that the Pakistan Government was funding Galloway's company Asian Voice with several hundred-thousand-pounds. "Documents show that the Pakistan government agreed an initial budget for the weekly newspaper of £547,000. According to a memorandum dated 2 January 1996, the Pakistan government proposed to "covertly sponsor" the publication, with money allocated to "the Secret Fund of the High Commissioner for Pakistan in the UK as a special grant for the project". The Commons Committee cleared Galloway of any wrongdoing in this matter.

''Daily Record'' column

As of 25 June 2007, Galloway has contributed a weekly column in the ''Daily Record'' giving his views on politics and popular culture. He used this column to reveal he was considering running for a seat in the Scottish Parliament in the May 2011 election.

''The Guardian''

Galloway is also a regular contributor to The Guardian, writing for both the newspaper and Comment Is Free, its sister political opinion forum at guardian.co.uk.

TV and film appearances

''INN World Report'' (US) (2009) (TV)

''Question Time'' (numerous appearances) - Panellist answering questions

As a policeman, in Ugly Rumours "War", 25 February 2007

''Our Story Our Voice'' (2007)

''The Friday Night Project'' (2007)

''Offside'' (BBC Scotland football talk show) (2006-12-04)

''30 Greatest Political Comedies'' (2006) (TV)

''The Wright Stuff'' - Panellist

''The Late Late Show'' (1 programmes, 2006)

''Richard & Judy'' (2 programmes, 2006)

''Tubridy Tonight'' (2006)

''Celebrity Big Brother'' (23 episodes, 2006)

''Have I Got News For You'' - Panellist (2003)

As an orator

According to the ''Boston Globe'', Galloway is "known, even in the highly articulate world of British politics, for his memorable turns of phrase", whereas ''The Times'' finds that he has "the gift of the Glasgow gab, a love of the stage and an inexhaustible fund of self-belief." ''The Guardian'' finds him "renowned for his colourful rhetoric and combative debating style" and the ''Spectator'' once awarded him Debater of the Year.).

Galloway has not, however, received ubiquitously positive reaction to his use of rhetoric. On Friday 6th May, 2005, in an interview with Jeremy Paxman during the BBC election coverage, he was accused of being a demagogue; a term originally used by Labour Member of Parliament Nick Raynsford. The term was also used by Hugo Rifkind in The Times, in a satirical dissection of Respect's 2005 manifesto.

See also

Oil-for-Food Program Hearings

References

External links

Video

George Galloway interviews David Strahan author of “The Last Oil Shock – A Survival Gide to the Imminent Extinction of Petroleum Man”

Galloway speaks at Manchester Town Hall, UK, 29 February 2004 about launch of Respect. Video, Chris Edwards

Galloway speaks in Manchester, UK, 22 November 2003 on future of anti-war movement. Video, Chris Edwards

Galloway speaks in Manchester, UK, 8 November 2003 about next steps for the anti-war movement. Video, Chris Edwards

George Galloway speaks in Manchester, UK, 9 May 2003 about media witch hunt. Video, Chris Edwards

The Fruitceller - Huge Video archive for the Anti-War Movement

Galloway talking about war with Iran

Galloway speaks at Manchester University, UK, 26 November 2006 about British politics after Blair. Video, Chris Edwards

Galloway speaks in Manchester, UK, 21 February 2006 about local elections. Video, Chris Edwards

Galloways speaks in Manchester, UK, 6 October 2004 about European Social Forum. Video, Chris Edwards

INN World Report Interviews Galloway US, 16 February 2009

Documentary featuring George Galloway about the 2010 election in Poplar and Limehouse by Catch21

Galloway's appearance before the US Senate A riveting defense

General

GeorgeGalloway.com Official website.

RESPECT RENEWAL Official party website

RESPECT - The Unity Coalition The previous Official party website.

Official George Galloway MySpace page

CouchTripper Unofficial forum, high quality downloads & large archive of Galloway on radio and TV, where other sites come to stock up.

George Galloway's talkSPORT page

Galloway downloads on SpideredNews.com. George Galloway media downloads (including talkSPORT shows).

Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: George Galloway MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - George Galloway MP

The Public Whip - George Galloway MP voting record

George Galloway interviewed by eyebrow magazine September 2007

mp3s of Galloway speaking at London International Peace Conference, 10 December 2005

Galloway's participation at the International Peace Conference December 2005

IMDB Profile

Christopher Hitchens' attack leaflet of selected Galloway statements, including quotes admiring unelected dictators.

George Galloway Is Gruesome, Not Gorgeous by Christopher Hitchens, ''Slate.com'', 13 September 2005.

: (Prequel to Galloway vs Hitchens debate held at CUNY)

Articles and news reports

George Galloway's interview with The Third Estate

Galloway, George Respect at the Crossroads

Channel 4 News - ''Galloway:"I'm no punchbag" - July 2007

FactCheck - ''"That's a fact." With all due respect, George... - April 2005

Al-Jiran. ''Iraqi author Fadhil Rashad: George Galloway, You Will Be Tried Just Like Your Friend and Benefactor Saddam Hussein''. 30 November 2005.

The Independent George Galloway vs. Christopher Hitchens, 16 September 2005.

Zirin, Dave. ''Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington''. Znet 13 September 2005

Sunday Herald George Galloway - personal interview 7 August 2005.

BBC. George Galloway interview on "What's the problem?". 10 June 2005.

McKay, Ron. ''Galloway Beats New Labour and the Ghost Voters''. ''Sunday Herald''. 8 May 2005.

Greenslade, Roy. ''No need for balance''. ''The Guardian''. 13 May 2005.

BBC. ''Galloway Wins Saddam Libel Case''. 2 December 2004.

Abu Dhabi TV. ''British MP Galloway: US and British Governments Will Burn in "Hell-Fires"''. 20 November 2004.

''The Scotsman''. ''Galloway Iraq appeal cleared of impropriety over funds''. 29 June 2004.

The Guardian. Special Report: George Galloway Expulsion from the Labour Party. 25 April 2004.

Al Jazeera. ''So what do I believe in?'' transcript of speech. 30 October 2003.

Watson, Richard. ''Why the MP went begging to Pakistan''. ''The Daily Telegraph'', 26 April 2003.

''The Scotsman''. ''Indefatigably yours''. Personal interview, 19 May 2003.

New Worker. End the blockade on Iraq 1998 interview

Alliance for Workers Liberty. ''Would You Vote For This Man?: "Respect" and George Galloway''. ''Solidarity'' 3/70. 31 March 2005.

Tatchell, Peter. Galloway's Iranian propaganda? ''The Guardian'', 26 March 2008.

US Congressional testimony & related

mp3s of Galloway's speeches made during his tour of US, 13-24 December 2005

Unspinning the US’s web of lies against Galloway, ''Socialist Worker'', 5 November 2005

mp3 of George Galloway vs. Christopher Hitchens, 14 September 2005

Galloway lied over Iraqi oil payments, says Congress report, Rupert Cornwell, The Independent, 25 October 2005

Christopher Hitchens' documentation of the Oil for Food issue, September 2005

Unmitigated Galloway, Christopher Hitchens, ''Weekly Standard'', 30 May 2005

"Galloway and the mother of all invective", ''The Guardian'' newspaper, 18 May 2005

Link to full video recording of hearing in this BBC News report:Galloway takes on US oil accusers, BBC, 17 May 2005

UK's Galloway blisters US policy on Iraq on MSNBC Crooks & Liars: audio and video

Two Fox News reports: one short and sceptical; the other is a longer recording of Galloway's testimony, Fox News, 18 May 2005

Transcript of Galloway's comments, CNN

Full Text of Galloway's statements, Times online

Galloway's statements including senators questions

US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 12 May 2005, "Report on oil allocations granted to Charles Pasqua & George Galloway"

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ar:جورج غالاوي cy:George Galloway de:George Galloway eo:George Galloway fa:جورج گالوی fr:George Galloway he:ג'ורג' גאלאוויי la:Georgius Galloway no:George Galloway nn:George Galloway pl:George Galloway ru:Гэллоуэй, Джордж fi:George Galloway sv:George Galloway tl:George Galloway uk:Джордж Ґалловей

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	Iain Duncan Smith
Honorific-suffix	MP
Office	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Primeminister	David Cameron
Term start	12 May 2010
Predecessor	Yvette Cooper
Office1	Leader of the Opposition
Monarch1	Elizabeth II
Primeminister1	Tony Blair
Term start1	13 September 2001
Term end1	29 October 2003
Predecessor1	William Hague
Successor1	Michael Howard
Office2	Leader of the Conservative Party
Term start2	13 September 2001
Term end2	6 November 2003
Predecessor2	William Hague
Successor2	Michael Howard
Office3	Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Leader3	William Hague
Term start3	15 June 1999
Term end3	13 September 2001
Predecessor3	John Maples
Successor3	Bernard Jenkin
Office4	Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security
Leader4	William Hague
Term start4	2 June 1997
Term end4	15 June 1999
Predecessor4	Harriet Harman
Successor4	David Willetts
Office5	Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford GreenChingford (1992–1997)
Term start5	9 April 1992
Predecessor5	Norman Tebbit
Majority5	12,963 (30.1%)
Birth date	April 09, 1954
Birth place	Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Party	Conservative
Spouse	Betsy Fremantle
Children	4
Alma mater	Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Profession	Politicianbusinessmansoldier
Religion	Roman Catholic Church
Branch	British Army
Serviceyears	1975–1981
Rank	Captain
Unit	Scots Guards }}

George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954; often referred to by his initials "IDS") is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003. He was first elected to parliament at the 1992 General Election as the MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, a seat which he has held ever since.

Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and served in the Scots Guard from 1975 to 1981, with service in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia. He joined the Conservative Party in 1981, and was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1992. When William Hague resigned as Conservative Party leader in 2001, Duncan Smith won the subsequent leadership election, bolstered by the support of Margaret Thatcher and his Eurosceptic ideology. Duncan Smith was the first Roman Catholic to serve as Conservative Party leader, and the first born in Scotland since Arthur Balfour.

In 2003, the Conservative Party passed a Vote of No Confidence in Duncan Smith, as many considered him unable to return the party to government. He resigned, and was succeeded as party leader by Michael Howard. As a backbencher, Duncan Smith founded the Centre for Social Justice, a centre-right think tank independent of the Conservative Party and became a published novelist. On May 12, 2010, Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Duncan Smith to serve in the cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Early life

Duncan-Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1954. He is the son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force Group Captain highly decorated in World War II, and Pamela, a ballerina, who married Iain's father 1946. Pamela's maternal grandmother (Iain's great-grandmother) was Ellen Oshey, a Japanese woman, making Iain one-eighth Japanese (''Yonsei''). Other ancestors and relatives include British Canadian CBC wartime broadcaster Peter Stursberg, whose 2002 book, ''No Foreign Bones in China'', records the story of this uncommon couple, and his son, current CBC vice-president, Richard Stursberg. Through Group Captain Shaw, Duncan Smith is also a distant relative of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright and socialist.

Education and early career

Duncan Smith was educated at St. Peter's RC Secondary School, Solihull until the age of 14 and was subsequently educated at HMS ''Conway'', a naval training school on the isle of Anglesey (where he allegedly played rugby union in the position of fly-half alongside Clive Woodward at centre) until he was 18. He then also attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

He joined the Scots Guards in 1975, with his six-year service including spells in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia, where he served as ''aide-de-camp'' to Major-General Sir John Acland

On leaving the Guards, Duncan Smith joined the Conservative Party and took up employment at the General Electric Company in 1981. He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Fremantle, daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe, in 1982. The couple have four children.

Parliamentary career

At the 1987 general election, Duncan Smith contested the constituency of Bradford West, where he was defeated by the incumbent Labour Party MP Max Madden. At the 1992 general election, he stood in the constituency of Chingford (where the Conservative MP, Norman Tebbit, was retiring), and was elected to parliament. (Following boundary changes, Duncan Smith's constituency became Chingford and Woodford Green in 1997.)

A committed Eurosceptic, Duncan Smith was a constant thorn in the side of Prime Minister John Major's government in 1992–97, disrupting Major's pro-European agenda at the time (something that would often be raised during his own subsequent leadership when he called for the party to unite behind him).

Duncan Smith remained on the backbenches until 1997, when the new Conservative leader William Hague brought him into the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Social Security Secretary. In 1999, Duncan Smith was moved to replace John Maples as Shadow Defence Secretary.

Leader of the Conservative Party

William Hague resigned after the Labour Party's victory in the 2001 general election. On 13 September 2001, Duncan Smith won the Conservative Party leadership election. He had initially been seen as an outsider candidate, but his support was bolstered when Margaret Thatcher publicly announced her support for him. His victory in the contest was helped by the fact that his opponent in the final vote of party members was Kenneth Clarke, whose strong support for the European Union was at odds with the views of much of the party.

As a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, the announcement of Duncan Smith's victory in the leadership contest was delayed until 13 September 2001. In November 2001, he was one of the first politicians to call for an invasion of Iraq and held talks in Washington, DC, with senior US officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz.

In local elections, the only elections in which Duncan Smith led the party, the Conservatives gained over 500 extra seats on local councils, primarily in England.

Problems as leader

In 2002, Michael Crick on the TV programme ''Newsnight'' caused some embarrassment when probing Duncan Smith's ''curriculum vitae'', which had been in circulation for years, for example, being reproduced in the authoritative annual Dod's Parliamentary Companion for the previous ten years. The CV claimed that he had attended the University of Perugia when he had in fact attended the Università per Stranieri, which did not grant any degrees at that time, and a claim that he had attended the prestigious-sounding Dunchurch College of Management turned out to refer to some weekend courses at GEC Marconi's staff college.

Duncan Smith proved not to be a particularly effective public speaker in the rowdy atmosphere of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons. His seeming troubles with a "frog in his throat" throughout most of his two years as leader prompted ''Private Eye'' to refer to him incessantly as ''"Iain Duncan Cough"''. As well as this, there were continued rumours of discontent among his backbenchers, not dampened by his warning to his party in November 2002: "My message is simple and stark, unite or die".

The 2002 Conservative Party conference saw an attempt to turn Duncan Smith's lack of charisma into a positive attribute, with his much-quoted line, "do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man". The line was as much derided as it was admired. During PMQs, Labour backbenchers would raise their fingers to their lips and say "shush" when he was speaking. The following year, Duncan Smith's conference speech appeared to have abandoned this technique in favour of an aggressive hard-man approach that few found convincing, even if the party members in the hall punctuated the speech with several ovations. The most remembered sound bite from the speech was his, "the quiet man is here to stay, and he's turning up the volume."

Duncan Smith stated in December 2002 that he intended to be party leader for a "very long time to come." This did little to quell the speculation in Westminster regarding his future. On 21 February 2003, ''The Independent'' newspaper published a story saying that a number of MPs were attempting to start the process of petitioning for a vote of no confidence in Duncan Smith, as many Conservative MPs considered him to be unelectable.

These worries came to a head in October 2003. Michael Crick revealed that he had compiled embarrassing evidence, this time of dubious salary claims Duncan Smith made on behalf of his wife that were paid out of the public purse from September 2001 to December 2002. The ensuing scandal, known as "Betsygate" weakened his already tenuous position.

Vote of no confidence

Under leadership vote of confidence rules, 15 % of Conservative MPs (at this point twenty-five MPs) had to write to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee demanding the vote. On 26 October, amid mounting claims that the threshold of 25 was about to be reached, Duncan Smith made an appearance on television daring his opponents to show their hand by the evening of 29 October or to withdraw their challenge. He also stated that he would not step down if a vote was called. Duncan Smith's demand that the 25 five MPs write to the Chairman by 29 October had no bearing on party regulations. Had the votes not been delivered until later, the vote of no confidence would still have gone ahead. Nevertheless, by 28 October, 25 Conservative MPs had indeed signed on to demand a vote.

After the vote was announced, Duncan Smith made an appearance in front of Conservative Party headquarters in Smith Square, where he stated that he was "absolutely" going to contest the vote, which was held on 29 October. He lost by 90 votes to 75. He stepped down as leader eight days later when Michael Howard was confirmed as his successor (Howard was unopposed for the role and so no election was required).

Duncan Smith followed William Hague as only the second Conservative Party leader since Austen Chamberlain not to have become Prime Minister and was the first since Neville Chamberlain not to have led the party in a general election.

Return to the backbenches

After his term as party leader, Duncan Smith established the Centre for Social Justice in 2004. This organisation is a centre-right think tank which works with small charities with the aim of finding innovative policies for tackling poverty. (Duncan Smith served as the centre's Chairman until he joined the Cabinet in May 2010, and remains its Life Patron.) He also served under Michael Howard on the Conservative Party's advisory council, along with John Major, William Hague and Kenneth Clarke.

On 7 December 2005, Duncan Smith was appointed Chairman of the Social Justice Policy Group, which was facilitated by the Centre for Social Justice. The group's aim was to "study the causes and consequences of poverty in Britain and seek practical ideas to empower the least well-off," and was one of several that were set up by Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Duncan Smith's Deputy Chair was Debbie Scott, the Chief Executive of the charity Tomorrow's People. The group released two major reports, ''"Breakdown Britain"'' and ''"Breakthrough Britain"''. ''"Breakdown Britain"'' was a three hundred thousand word document that analysed what was going wrong in the areas of Economic Dependence and Unemployment, Family Breakdown, Addiction, Educational Failure, Indebtedness, and the Voluntary Sector. ''"Breakthrough Britain"'' recommended almost two hundred policy ideas using broadly the same themes. On their website the group claimed that the Government has so far taken on sixteen of the recommendations, and the Conservatives twenty-nine.

Duncan Smith was re-elected comfortably in Chingford and Woodford Green at the 2005 general election, almost doubling his majority, and remained a backbencher for the Conservative Party. He has been Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green since 1992, when he succeeded Norman Tebbit.

In September 2006 he was one of fourteen authors of a report concerning Anti-Semitism in Britain. He was also one of the only early supporters of the Iraq surge policy. In September 2007, he called for Britain to withdraw from the war against Afghanistan and to fight in the war in Iraq indefinitely. In his 2009 Conservative Party Conference speech, Conservative Party leader David Cameron signalled that Duncan Smith might serve in his Cabinet, with responsibility for social justice, should he be called upon to form an administration after the next general election.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Following the 2010 general election, the Conservative Party formed coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, with David Cameron as Prime Minister. Cameron appointed Duncan Smith to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with responsibility for seeing through changes to the welfare state.

Outlining the scale of the problem, Duncan Smith said almost five million people were on unemployment benefits, 1.4 million of whom had been receiving support for nine or more of the last 10 years. In addition, 1.4 million under-25s were neither working nor in full-time education. "''This picture is set against a backdrop of 13 years of continuously increasing expenditure, which has outstripped inflation,''" he said. "Worse than the growing expense though, is the fact that the money is not even making the impact we want it to. He continued saying "''A system that was originally designed to support the poorest in society is now trapping them in the very condition it was supposed to alleviate.''"

It was also announed that Duncan Smith will chair a new Cabinet Committee, involving Cabinet members from the Treasury, Home Office, Health, and Communities and Local Government departments, to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.

In June 2010, Duncan Smith said that the Government will encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65. At the same time, the age at which employees can claim the state pension will rise to 66 as soon as 2016 for men – 10 years earlier than the last government had decreed. Life expectancy is currently 77.4 for men and 81.6 for women. At present rates, there will be three people in their nineties for every newborn by 2050. Duncan Smith told ''The Daily Telegraph'' that the radical pension reform he will oversee was designed to “''reinvigorate retirement''”. “''People are living longer and healthier lives than ever, and the last thing we want is to lose their skills and experience from the workplace due to an arbitrary age limit,''” he said. “Now is absolutely the right time to live up to our responsibility to reform our outdated pension system and to take action where the previous government failed to do so. If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement. He continued saying, “''That is why we are issuing a call for evidence on moving the state pension age to 66, and thereafter plan to take a frank look at the relationship between state pension age and life expectancy.''” The announcement coincides with John Hutton, the former Labour minister, beginning a review of public sector pensions which is expected to recommend that staff contributions increase substantially as soon as 2011.

In July 2010, Duncan Smith said that more workers will have to wait until they are 68 to claim their state pension as the Government speeds up plans to raise the retirement age saying the move would save billions of pounds. Labour set out plans to increase the retirement age to 66 by 2024 and 68 by 2046 to reflect growing life expectancy. Before the election, the Tories suggested that it should rise to 66 sooner – by 2016. Duncan Smith said workers would have to accept even quicker increases as Britain tightens its belt. The Government's timetable suggests that the retirement age is likely to reach 68 by 2038, meaning millions more will be forced to wait for their pension.

On 30 July 2010, Duncan Smith announced a series of reforms that are intended to ensure that low earners will always be better off in employment. They are in a document that will form the basis of a White Paper to be published this autumn and herald the end of Labour’s complicated tax credits system, with many benefits being rolled into one. "''After years of piecemeal reform the current welfare system is complex and unfair,''" said Duncan Smith. One example cited by Duncan Smith involves the case of a lone parent with three school-age children earning £7.50 an hour as an office administrator. Working 23 hours a week, he says, she would have a net weekly income (including benefits and tax credits) of £345 after paying rent and council tax. However, if she were to increase her hours to 34 a week she would get only about £10 more due to a loss of benefits. The new system will be called the Universal Credit.

In November 2010, as Work and Pensions Secretary, Duncan Smith said a major shake-up in the welfare system would benefit all those who "play by the rules". The plan, which will see people who refuse to take up job opportunities stripped of benefits for up to three years, is part of a "contract" with the unemployed. Duncan Smith said simplifying the welfare system would ensure "work always pays more" than relying on the state by easing the rate at which benefits are withdrawn as income rises.

In a Commons statement on 11 November 2010, he said: "This is our contract: we make work pay and support you through the Work Programme to find a job. "''But in return, if we do that, we also expect co-operation from those who are seeking work. "That is why we are developing a regime of sanctions for those who refuse to play by the rules as well as targeted work activity for those who need to get used to the habits of work''".

Views on marriage

In December 2010 Duncan Smith studied a state-sponsored relationship education programme in Norway, under which couples are forced to “think again” and confront the reality of divorce before formally separating. The policy has been credited with reversing Norway’s trend for rising divorce rates and halting the decline of marriage in the country over the past 15 years. Duncan Smith said he was keen to explore ways in which similar approaches could be encouraged in Britain. Officials point out that such a programme would be expensive but an approach could reduce the long-term cost of family breakdown, which has been estimated at up to £100 billion. Duncan Smith said couples in Norway were able to “work through what is going to happen with their children”, which has “a very big effect on their thinking”. “Many of them think again about what they are going to embark on once they really understand the consequences of their actions subsequently,” he said.

Duncan Smith said in February 2011 that it is "absurd and damaging" for ministers not to extol the benefits of marriage for fear of stigmatising those who choose not to marry. Duncan Smith said: "''We do a disservice to society if we ignore the evidence which shows that stable families tend to be associated with better outcomes for children.''" He added: "''There are few more powerful tools for promoting stability than the institution of marriage.''" He added that "''The financial costs of family breakdown are incredibly high. But what is most painful to see is the human cost – the wasted potential, the anti-social behaviour, and the low self-esteem.''"

Views on immigration

In July 2011 Duncan Smith said that tighter immigration controls are vital if Britain is to avoid “losing another generation to dependency and hopelessness”. In a speech delivered in Spain he said that only immigrants with “something to offer” should be allowed into the country and that too often foreign workers purporting to be skilled take low-skilled jobs that could be occupied by British school leavers. According to the ''Daily Telegraph'''s analysis, the speech contained a warning to David Cameron "that a 'slack' attitude to immigration will result in the Coalition repeating the mistakes made under Labour, when the vast majority of new jobs generated before the recession were taken by immigrants". However, the published text of the speech does not refer to the prime minister in its comments on "seeing the situation repeat itself, with more than half of the rise in employment in the past year accounted for by foreign nationals".

Mr Duncan Smith believes that some companies are using immigration as “an excuse to import labour to take up posts which could be filled by people already in Britain”. He says Britain needs an immigration system that gives the unemployed “a level playing field”. “If we do not get this right then we risk leaving more British citizens out of work, and the most vulnerable group who will be the most affected are young people,” he said.

Personal life

Football

Duncan Smith has been reported to support both Tottenham Hotspur where he holds a season ticket and Aston Villa. Gareth Southgate cited Duncan Smith when he remarked after England's 2002 World Cup quarter-final defeat against Brazil that "we were expecting Winston Churchill and instead we got Iain Duncan Smith." This comparison was seen as being a scathing criticism of the then England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson's quiet and understated approach to management.

Family

Duncan Smith has been married to Betsy since 1982; they have two sons and two daughters.

Wealth

His wealth is estimated at £1 million.

Novel

On 6 November 2003, Duncan Smith's novel ''The Devil's Tune'' was released, less than a fortnight after his removal from the party leadership. The book received heavily critical reviews such as, "Really, it's terrible ... Terrible, terrible, terrible.", by Sam Leith in the ''Daily Telegraph''. The book was never published in paperback.

References

External links

Iain Duncan Smith MP ''official constituency website''

Profile at the Conservative Party

Article archive at ''The Guardian''

|- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- ! colspan="3" style="background:#cfc;" | Order of precedence in Northern Ireland

Category:1954 births Category:21st-century Roman Catholics Category:British people of Japanese descent Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:Leaders of the Conservative Party (UK) Category:Leaders of the Opposition (United Kingdom) Category:Living people Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:People from Edinburgh Category:Politicians of Japanese descent Category:Scots Guards officers Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:UK MPs 2010– cy:Iain Duncan Smith da:Iain Duncan Smith de:Iain Duncan Smith fr:Iain Duncan Smith it:Iain Duncan Smith la:Ioannes Duncan Smith nl:Iain Duncan Smith ja:イアン・ダンカン・スミス no:Iain Duncan Smith pl:Iain Duncan Smith ru:Дункан Смит, Иан simple:Iain Duncan Smith fi:Iain Duncan Smith sv:Iain Duncan Smith

Name	Rush Limbaugh
Birth name	Rush Hudson Limbaugh III
Birth date	January 12, 1951
Birth place	Cape Girardeau, Missouri, U.S.
Years active	1967–present
Occupation	Radio host, political commentator, author, television host (former)
Spouse	Roxy Maxine McNeely (1977–1980, div.)Michelle Sixta (1983–1990, div.)Marta Fitzgerald (1994–2004, div.)Kathryn Rogers (2010–pres)
Alma mater	Southeast Missouri State University (did not graduate)
Website	rushlimbaugh.com
Publisher	Forbes.com
Year	2007
Accessdate	2008-05-08 }}

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (; born January 12, 1951) is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United States. Limbaugh signed an 8-year, $400 million contract extension with Clear Channel in 2008.

He was born into a family with a long history of involvement in Republican politics and first began working at a local radio station at age sixteen. In 1984, after a series of radio related jobs, Limbaugh began working as a radio talk show host in Sacramento, California at radio station KFBK, which still airs his syndicated program today. His unique program featured no guests, relying exclusively on his conservative political analysis for content. He moved to New York City in 1988 where he began the national broadcast of his program on WABC radio. His program grew in popularity and he began his rise to national fame.

In the 1990s, Limbaugh’s fame grew beyond radio, into publishing and television. He became a bestselling author with his books ''The Way Things Ought to Be'' (1992) and ''See, I Told You So'' (1993). From 1992 to 1996, Limbaugh hosted a half-hour television talk show. Limbaugh criticizes liberal policies and politicians and promotes positions viewed as conservative. He frequently accuses the American mainstream media of having a strong liberal bias.

Early life

Family and background

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the son of Mildred Carolyn "Millie" (née Armstrong) and Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Jr. His father was a lawyer and a U.S. fighter pilot who served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His mother was a native of Searcy, Arkansas. The name "Rush" was originally chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of family member Edna Rush.

His family has many lawyers, including his grandfather, father and brother David. His uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Sr. is a Ronald Reagan-appointed federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. His cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., is currently a judge in the same court, appointed by George W. Bush. Rush Limbaugh, Sr., Limbaugh's grandfather, was a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner, member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1930 until 1932, and longtime president of the Missouri Historical Society. The Federal Courthouse in Cape Girardeau is named for Limbaugh's grandfather.

Education and Vietnam draft

Limbaugh began his career in radio as a teenager in 1967 in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, using the name Rusty Sharpe. Limbaugh graduated from Cape Girardeau, Missouri Central High School, in 1969. Because of his parents' desire to see him attend college, he enrolled in Southeast Missouri State University but left the school after two semesters and one summer. According to his mother, "he flunked everything", and "he just didn't seem interested in anything except radio."

Limbaugh was not drafted during the Vietnam War draft lottery, as his birth date's high rank (152) was well above the 125 rank below which service members were drafted. He was classified as "1-Y" (later reclassified "4-F") due to a Pilonidal cyst.

Professional career

1970s

After dropping out of college, Limbaugh moved to McKeesport, Pennsylvania. In 1972, he became a Top 40 music disc jockey on WIXZ, a small AM radio station that reached much of the Pittsburgh area. He started with an afternoon show and later did mornings, broadcasting under the name "Jeff Christie". Limbaugh moved to Pittsburgh station KQV in 1973 as the evening disc jockey, succeeding Jim Quinn. He was fired in late-1974, when the station was sold to Taft Broadcasting. Limbaugh was reportedly told by management that he would never make it as on air talent, and should consider going into sales. Unable to find another job in local radio, Limbaugh moved back home to Cape Girardeau. He became a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers from his time in the region.

For the rest of the decade Limbaugh took jobs at several radio stations, working in music radio, before settling in Kansas City. In 1979, he left radio and accepted a position as director of promotions with the Kansas City Royals baseball team. There he developed a close friendship with now retired Kansas City Royals star George Brett; the two remain close friends.

1980s

In 1984, Limbaugh returned to radio as a talk show host at KFBK in Sacramento, California, where he replaced Morton Downey, Jr. The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine—which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast—by the FCC in 1987 meant stations could broadcast editorial commentary without having to present opposing views. Daniel Henninger wrote, in a ''Wall Street Journal'' editorial, "Ronald Reagan tore down this wall (the Fairness Doctrine) in 1987 ... and Rush Limbaugh was the first man to proclaim himself liberated from the East Germany of liberal media domination."

On August 1, 1988, after achieving success in Sacramento and drawing the attention of former ABC Radio President Edward F. McLaughlin, Limbaugh moved to New York City and began his national radio show. He debuted just weeks after the Democratic National Convention, and just weeks before the Republican National Convention. Limbaugh's radio home in New York City was the talk-format station WABC, 770 AM, and this remains his flagship station (although Limbaugh now hosts his program from West Palm Beach, Florida).

1990s

In December 1990, journalist Lewis Grossberger wrote in the ''New York Times'' that Limbaugh had "more listeners than any other talk show host" and described Limbaugh's style as "bouncing between earnest lecturer and political vaudevillian". Limbaugh's rising popularity coincided with the Persian Gulf War, and his support for the war effort and his relentless ridicule of peace activists. The program gained more popularity and was moved to stations with larger audiences, eventually being broadcast on over 650 radio stations nationwide.

In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States. Limbaugh satirized the policies of Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as those of the Democratic Party. When the Republican Party won control of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections, the freshman Republican class awarded Limbaugh an honorary membership in their caucus. This event confirmed him as an influential figure on the national political scene.

2000s

Limbaugh had publicized personal difficulties in the 2000s. In late 2001, he acknowledged that he had gone almost completely deaf, although he continued his show. He was able to regain much of his hearing with the help of cochlear implants.

In 2003, Limbaugh had a brief stint as a pro football commentator with ESPN. He resigned a few weeks into the 2003 NFL season after making comments about the press coverage for quarterback Donovan McNabb that caused a lot of controversy and accusations of racism on the part of Limbaugh. His comment was: "I don't think [McNabb's] been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team." For example, a sportswriter construed the comment as racist against himself and other sportswriters. Another sports analyst wrote Limbaugh's viewpoint was shared by "many football fans and analysts" and "it is ...absurd to say that the sports media haven't overrated Donovan McNabb because he's black."

In April 2006, Limbaugh turned himself in and was arrested "on a single charge of prescription fraud". His record was later expunged after 18 months of rehabilitation and paying court costs.

In October 2006, Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, was featured in a political TV ad in which he advocated funding for stem cell research. In response to the ad, Limbaugh said the following: "He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. ... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting." Major media outlets criticized Limbaugh for his characterization of Fox's symptoms, while Fox himself remained largely silent, responding simply, "I'm kind of lucky right now. It's ironic, given some of the things that have been said in the last couple days, that my pills are working really well."

''The Rush Limbaugh Show''

Limbaugh's radio show airs for three hours each weekday beginning at noon Eastern Standard Time on both AM and FM radio. The program is also broadcast worldwide on the Armed Forces Radio Network.

Radio broadcasting shifted from AM to FM in the late 1970s because of the opportunity to broadcast music in stereo with better fidelity. Limbaugh's show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988, in a later stage of AM's decline. Limbaugh's popularity paved the way for other conservative talk radio programming to become commonplace on the AM radio. In March 2006, WBAL in Baltimore, MD became the first major market radio station in the country to drop Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio program. In 2007, ''Talkers'' magazine again named him #1 in its "Heavy Hundred" most important talk show hosts.

Limbaugh frequently mentions the EIB (Excellence In Broadcasting) network, but this is a mythic construction, as he told the ''New York Times'' in 1990. In reality, his show was co-owned and first syndicated by Edward F. McLaughlin, former president of ABC who founded EFM Media in 1988, with Limbaugh's show as his first product. In 1997, McLaughlin sold EFM to Jacor Communications, which was ultimately bought up by Clear Channel Communications. Today, Limbaugh owns a majority of the show, which is syndicated by the Premiere Radio Networks.

According to a 2001 article in ''U.S. News & World Report'', Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, at the rate of $31.25 million a year. In 2007, Limbaugh earned $33 million. On July 2, 2008, Matt Drudge reported that Limbaugh signed a contract extension through 2016 that is worth over $400 million, breaking records for any broadcast. A November 2008 poll by Zogby International found that Rush Limbaugh was the most trusted news personality in the nation, garnering 12.5% of poll responses.

Television show

Limbaugh had a syndicated half-hour television show from 1992 through 1996, produced by Roger Ailes. The show discussed many of the topics on his radio show, and was taped in front of an audience. Rush Limbaugh says he loves doing his radio show but not a TV show.

Other media appearances

Limbaugh's first television hosting experience came March 30, 1990, as a guest host on Pat Sajak's CBS late-night talk show, ''The Pat Sajak Show''. ACT UP activists in the audience heckled Limbaugh repeatedly; ultimately the entire studio audience was cleared. In 2001, Sajak said the incident was "legendary around CBS".

On December 17, 1993, Limbaugh appeared on ''The Late Show with David Letterman''. Limbaugh also guest-starred (as himself) on a 1994 episode of ''Hearts Afire''. He appeared in the 1995 Billy Crystal film ''Forget Paris'', and in 1998 on an episode of ''The Drew Carey Show''.

Recent events

In 2007, Limbaugh made cameo appearances on Fox News Channel's short-lived ''The 1/2 Hour News Hour'' in a series of parodies portraying him as the future President of the United States. In the parodies, his vice president was fellow conservative pundit Ann Coulter. He also made a cameo in the ''Family Guy'' episode "Blue Harvest" that year. In the episode, a parody of ''Star Wars'', Limbaugh can be heard on the radio claiming that, among other things, the "intergalactic liberal space media" was lying about climate change on the planet Hoth, and that Lando Calrissian's administrative position on Cloud City was a result of affirmative action. He also appeared in the 2010 ''Family Guy'' episode "Excellence in Broadcasting", once again as himself.

His persona has often been utilized as a template for a stereotypical conservative talk show host on TV shows and in movies, including an episode of ''The Simpsons'' (as a conservative talk radio host named Birch Barlow), as "Gus Baker" on an episode of ''Beavis and Butt-head'', as "Lash Rambo" (host of "Perfection in Broadcasting") on an episode of ''The New WKRP in Cincinnati'', and as "Fielding Chase" in the ''Columbo'' spinoff film ''Butterfly in Shades of Grey''.

As a result of his television program, Limbaugh became known for wearing distinctive neckties. In response to viewer interest, Limbaugh launched a series of ties designed primarily by his then-wife Marta. Sales of the ties reached over US$5 million in their initial sales year, but were later discontinued.

In January 2010, Chicago's Second City announced a new production, ''Rush Limbaugh: The Musical'', a musical parody-pastiche following in the footsteps of 2009's successful run of ''Rod Blagojevich Superstar'', which has been written and developed by the same creative team.

On January 30, 2010, Limbaugh was a judge for the 2010 Miss America pageant in Las Vegas. In early 2011, Limbaugh was the subject of the third season of Golf Channel's ''The Haney Project'', in which instructor Hank Haney coached him in eight episodes.

Views

Defining the conservative movement

Limbaugh wrote in an op-ed piece in ''The Wall Street Journal'' in 2005:

I love being a conservative. We conservatives are proud of our philosophy. Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals.

We are confident in our principles and energetic about openly advancing them. We believe in individual liberty, limited government, capitalism, the rule of law, faith, a color-blind society and national security.

We support school choice, enterprise zones, tax cuts, welfare reform, faith-based initiatives, political speech, homeowner rights and the War on Terrorism.

And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation — the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.

We conservatives are never stronger than when we are advancing our principles.

Balance and point of view

In his first ''New York Times'' best seller, Limbaugh describes himself as conservative, and is critical of broadcasters in many media outlets for claiming to be objective. He has criticized political centrists, independents, and moderate conservatives, claiming they are responsible for Democrat Barack Obama's victory over Republican John McCain in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election and inviting them to leave the Republican party. He calls for the adoption of core conservative philosophies in order to ensure the survival of the Republican party.

Limbaugh is critical of environmentalism and climate science. He has disputed claims of anthropogenic global warming, and the relationship between CFCs and depletion of the ozone layer, saying the scientific evidence does not support them. Limbaugh has argued against the scientific opinion on climate change saying the alleged scientific consensus "is just a bunch of scientists organized around a political proposition. You can't have consensus in science ... they think consensus is the way to sell it because, 'Oh, but all these wonderful people agree.'" Limbaugh has used the term "environmentalist wacko" when referring to left-leaning environmental advocates. As a rhetorical device, he has also used the term to refer to more mainstream climate scientists and other environmental scientists and advocates with whom he disagrees.

Limbaugh is critical of feminism, saying that "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society." He also popularized the term "feminazi", referring to about two dozen feminists "to whom the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur." He credited his friend Tom Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, with coining the term.

Limbaugh supports capital punishment, saying "the only thing cruel about the death penalty is last-minute stays."

On the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, Limbaugh said, "This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation ... And we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day [referring to the U.S. Military service members]. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release?"

Limbaugh has asserted that African-Americans, in contrast with other minority groups, are "left behind" socially because they have been systematically trained from a young age to hate America through a widespread movement headed by figures such as Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and Barack and Michelle Obama.

James Rainey of the ''Los Angeles Times'' quoted Limbaugh as saying after the 2008 election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States that the Democrats will "take your 401(k), put it in the Social Security Trust Fund."

Entertainment props

Limbaugh utilizes props to introduce his monologues on various topics. On his radio show, news about the homeless has often been preceded with the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song "Ain't Got No Home." For a time, Dionne Warwick's song "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again" preceded reports about people with AIDS. These later became "condom updates" preceded by Fifth Dimension's song, "Up, Up and Away (in My Beautiful Balloon)." For two weeks in 1989, on his Sacramento radio show, Limbaugh performed "caller abortions" where he would end a call suddenly to the sounds of a vacuum cleaner and a scream. He would then deny that he had "hung up" on the caller, which he had promised not to do. Limbaugh claims that he used this gag to illustrate "the tragedy of abortion" as well as to highlight the question of whether abortion constitutes murder. During the Clinton administration, while filming his television program, Limbaugh referred to media coverage of Socks, the Clintons' cat. He then stated, "But did you know there is also a White House dog?" and a picture of Chelsea Clinton was shown. When questioned about it, Limbaugh claimed that it was an accident and that without his permission some technician had put up the picture of Chelsea.

Claims of inaccuracy

Some groups and individuals have criticized Limbaugh's accuracy. The July/August 1994 issue of ''Extra!'', a publication of the progressive group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), alleges 50 different inaccuracies and distortions in Limbaugh's commentary. Others have since joined FAIR in questioning Limbaugh's facts. Al Franken, a former comedian and current Democratic Senator of Minnesota, wrote a satirical book (''Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations'') in which he accused Limbaugh of distorting facts to serve his own political biases.

Limbaugh has been criticized for inaccuracies by the Environmental Defense Fund. A defense fund report authored by Princeton University endowed geosciences professor Michael Oppenheimer and Princeton University professor of biology David Wilcove lists 14 significant scientific facts which, the authors allege, Limbaugh misrepresented in his book ''The Way Things Ought to Be''. The authors conclude that "Rush Limbaugh ... allows his political bias to distort the truth about a whole range of important scientific issues."

Charitable work

Leukemia and lymphoma telethon

Limbaugh holds an annual fundraising telethon called the "EIB Cure-a-Thon" for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In 2006, the EIB Cure-a-Thon conducted its 16th annual telethon, raising $1.7 million, totaling over $15 million since the first cure-a-thon. According to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society annual reports, Limbaugh personally contributed between $100,000 and $499,999 from 2000–2005 and 2007, and Limbaugh claims to have contributed around $250,000 in 2003, 2004 and 2005. NewsMax reported Limbaugh donated $250,000 in 2006, and the Society's 2006 annual report placed him in the $500,000 to $999,999 category. Limbaugh donated $320,000 during the 2007 Cure-a-Thon which the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society reported had raised $3.1 million. On his radio program April 18, 2008, Limbaugh claimed to pledge $400,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after being challenged by two listeners to increase his initial pledge of $300,000.

Rush 24/7 Adopt-A-Soldier Program

Limbaugh's website maintains a page where US soldiers can register for a free subscription to Limbaugh's online premium service, ''Rush 24/7'', through memberships purchased by donors who buy a subscription (at a reduced price) as a gift.

Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation

Limbaugh conducts an annual drive to help the Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation collect contributions to provide scholarships for children of Marines and law enforcement officers/agents who have died in the line of duty. The foundation was the beneficiary of a record $2.1 million eBay auction in October 2007 after Limbaugh listed for sale a letter critical of him signed by 41 Democratic senators and pledged to match the selling price. With the recent founding of his and his wife's company "Two if by Tea", they have pledged to donate at least $100,000 to the MC-LEF beginning in June, 2011.

Personal life

Limbaugh has been married four times and has no children. He was first married at the age of 26 to Roxy Maxine McNeely, a sales secretary at radio station WHB in Kansas City, Missouri. They were married at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Limbaugh's hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri on September 24, 1977. McNeely filed for divorce in March 1980, citing "incompatibility." They were formally divorced on July 10, 1980.

In 1983, Limbaugh married Michelle Sixta, a college student and usherette at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. They were divorced in 1990, and she remarried the following year.

On May 27, 1994, Limbaugh married Marta Fitzgerald, a 35-year-old aerobics instructor whom he met on the online service CompuServe in 1990. They were married at the house of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who officiated. They were separated on June 11, 2004. Limbaugh announced on the air, "Marta has consented to my request for a divorce, and we have mutually agreed to seek an amicable separation." The divorce was finalized in December 2004. In September 2004, Limbaugh became romantically involved with then-TV personality Daryn Kagan, and they broke up in February 2006.

He dated Kathryn Rogers, a party planner from Florida, for three years before he married her on June 5, 2010. During the wedding reception after the ceremony, Elton John entertained the wedding guests for a reported $1 million fee, however Limbaugh himself denied that the $1 million figure was accurate on his September 7, 2010 radio show.

Through a holding company, KARHL Holdings (KARHL meaning "Kathryn and Rush Hudson Limbaugh"), Limbaugh launched a line of bottled iced tea beverages, entitled "Two if by Tea" after a line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride."

Prescription drug addiction

On October 3, 2003 the ''National Enquirer'' reported that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other news outlets quickly confirmed the investigation. He admitted to listeners on his radio show on October 10, 2003 that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and stated that he would enter inpatient treatment for 30 days, immediately after the broadcast. Limbaugh stated his addiction to painkillers resulted from several years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.

A subsequent investigation into whether Limbaugh had violated Florida's doctor shopping laws was launched by the Palm Beach State Attorney, which raised privacy issues when investigators seized Limbaugh's private medical records looking for evidence of crimes. On November 9, 2005, following two years of investigations, Assistant State Attorney James L. Martz requested the court to set aside Limbaugh's doctor–patient confidentiality rights and allow the state to question his physicians, stating it was necessary because "I have no idea if Mr. Limbaugh has completed the elements of any offense yet." Limbaugh's attorney opposed the prosecutor's efforts to interview his doctors on the basis of patient privacy rights, and argued that the prosecutor had violated Limbaugh's Fourth Amendment rights by illegally seizing his medical records. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement in agreement and filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Limbaugh. On December 12, 2005, Judge David F. Crow delivered a ruling prohibiting the State of Florida from questioning Limbaugh's physicians about "the medical condition of the patient and any information disclosed to the health care practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient."

On April 28, 2006 a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping. According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Sheriff, during his arrest, Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed. He was then released after about an hour on $3,000 bail. After his surrender, he filed a "not guilty" plea to the charge. Prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation and completed an 18-month therapy regimen with his physician.

Limbaugh asserted that the state's settlement agreement resulted from a lack of evidence supporting the charge of doctor shopping. Under the terms of the agreement, Limbaugh may not own a firearm for eighteen months and must continue to submit to random drug testing, which he acknowledges having undergone since 2003.

Before his addiction became known, Limbaugh had condemned illegal drug use on his television program, stating that "Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

Roy Black, one of Limbaugh's attorneys, stated that "Rush Limbaugh was singled out for prosecution because of who he is. We believe the state attorney's office is applying a double standard."

In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport. Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh's luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic. The prescription was not in Limbaugh's name.

After he was released with no charges filed, Limbaugh joked about the incident on his radio show, claiming that he got the Viagra at the Clinton Library and was told they were blue M&M's. He also stated that "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."

Cigar aficionado

In the early 1990s, when the cigar boom was gaining momentum, Limbaugh was seen frequently with a cigar in hand and by the end of the 1990s, cigars had become Limbaugh's staple in many public appearances. Often starting segments of his show with the phrase, "Amid billowing clouds of fragrant and aromatic first, second, and sometimes third hand premium cigar smoke" as well as mentioning a story print-out in his "formerly nicotine-stained fingers", cigars became a common topic of discussion. In the spring of 1994, Limbaugh appeared on the cover of the magazine ''Cigar Aficionado'' and shared the story of his conversion to cigars. He has since been a frequent participant in many events such as "The Big Smoke", hosted throughout the year by the magazine. Limbaugh has participated in many charity cigar auctions hosted by the magazine, and is known to talk frequently with his listeners about his and their cigar interests, preferences and recommendations. "I think cigars are just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life." He is also frequently seen in his studio smoking a cigar during his show.

Deafness

Rush Limbaugh has described himself as being "100%, totally deaf". In 2001, he was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED), which, in the span of three months, rendered his right ear completely deaf and left ear severely deaf. "I cannot hear television. I cannot hear music. I am, for all practical purposes, deaf – and it's happened in three months." On December 19, 2001, doctors at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles were able to successfully restore a measure of his hearing through a surgical procedure known as a cochlear implant surgery. Limbaugh received a Clarion CII Bionic Ear. In 2005, Limbaugh was forced to undergo "tuning" due to an "eye twitch", an apparent side-effect of cochlear implants.

NFL team ownership bid controversy

On October 6, 2009, Limbaugh announced that he was planning on bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League along with current owner of the NHL's St. Louis Blues, Dave Checketts. This was met with opposition by some players, and team owners. NFL Players executive director DeMaurice Smith stated in his opposition that he had "spoken to the Commissioner [Roger Goodell] and [he understood] that this ownership consideration is in the early stages. But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred." Limbaugh was eventually dropped from the group that was putting in the bid due to the distraction that came from his consideration.

Hospitalization for chest pains

On December 30, 2009, while vacationing in Honolulu, Hawaii, Limbaugh was transported to Queen's Medical Center where he was admitted in serious condition with intense chest pains. Testing revealed nothing specific and his doctors attributed the pain to angina pectoris, which is an obstruction or spasm of the coronary arteries.

Awards and recognition

A month after Bill Clinton's defeat of George H.W. Bush in 1992, Ronald Reagan sent Limbaugh a letter in which he thanked him "for all you're doing to promote Republican and conservative principles ... [and] you have become the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country."

Limbaugh was the 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2005 recipient of the Marconi Radio Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year (given by the National Association of Broadcasters), joining the syndicated ''Bob & Tom Show'' as the only other four-time winners of a Marconi award. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1993.

In 2002, ''Talkers Magazine'' ranked him as the greatest radio talk show host of all time. Limbaugh is the highest-paid syndicated radio host.

On March 29, 2007, Limbaugh was awarded the inaugural William F. Buckley, Jr. Award for Media Excellence, by the Media Research Center, a conservative media analysis group.

On January 5, 2008, the conservative magazine ''Human Events'' announced Limbaugh as their 2007 Man of the Year.

On December 1, 2008, ''TV Guide'' reported that Limbaugh was selected as one of America’s top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.

On February 28, 2009, following his self-described "first address to the Nation" lasting 90 minutes, carried live on CNN and Fox News and recorded for C-SPAN, Limbaugh received CPAC's "Defender of the Constitution Award", a document originally signed by Benjamin Franklin, given to someone "who has stood up for the First Amendment ... Rush Limbaugh is for America, exactly what Benjamin Franklin did for the Founding Fathers ... the only way we will be successful is if we listen to Rush Limbaugh".

Zev Chafets, whose book ''Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One'' was published May 25, 2010, wrote after the first primaries of the 2010 U.S. election season that Limbaugh was "the brains and the spirit behind" the Republican Party's "resurgence" in the wake of the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. In the May, 2010 ''New York Times'' op-ed column, Chafets pointed among others to Sen. Arlen Specter's defeat, after being labeled by Limbaugh "Republican in Name Only," and to Sarah Palin, whose "biggest current applause line — Republicans are not just the party of no, but the party of hell no — came courtesy of Mr. Limbaugh." More generally, Chafets wrote, Limbaugh has argued the party-of-no Ronald Reagan conservative course for the Republicans vigorously, notably since six weeks after the Obama inauguration, and has been fundamental to, and encouraging to, the more prominently noted Tea Party movement.

Bibliography

''The Way Things Ought to Be'' (1992) Pocket Books ISBN 0-671-75145-X

''See, I Told You So'' (1993) Pocket Books ISBN 0-671-87120-X

In 1992, Limbaugh published his first book, ''The Way Things Ought To Be'', followed by ''See, I Told You So'' in 1993. Both became number one on the New York Times Best Seller list, ''The Way Things Ought to Be'' remaining there for 24 weeks. Limbaugh acknowledges in the text of the first book that he taped the book and it was transcribed and edited by ''Wall Street Journal'' writer John Fund. In the second book, Joseph Farah of ''WorldNetDaily'' is named as his collaborator.

References

Further reading

External links

''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' official site

New York Times Magazine

The 2009 TIME 100: Rush Limbaugh by Glenn Beck

Koran-Burning Preacher Terry Jones and Rush Limbaugh: Class of 69, Cape Central High School Girardeau History and Photos (yearbook photos)

Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:People from Cape Girardeau, Missouri Category:American anti-communists Category:American Christians Category:American infotainers Category:American political pundits Category:American political writers Category:American talk radio hosts Category:National Radio Hall of Fame inductees Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:Criticism of feminism Category:Deaf political professionals Category:Environmental skepticism Category:People from Palm Beach County, Florida Category:Southeast Missouri State University alumni Category:The Rush Limbaugh Show

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