The Ukraine crisis claims another victim. Step forward George Galloway, the mystic Myrtle who bet in February that the country would not be invaded by Moscow. The journeyman politician is in something of a strop at present, after Twitter took the step of labelling his account as ‘Russia state-affiliated media’ following a series of bizarre takes on the conflict. Addressing the social media giant publicly, Gorgeous George moaned that:
Dear @TwitterSupport I am not “Russian State Affiliated media”. I work for NO #Russian media. I have 400,000 followers. I’m the leader of a British political party and spent nearly 30 years in the British parliament. If you do not remove this designation I will take legal action.
Ah, legal action – the classic GG move. Longtime readers might recall that during last year’s Batley by-election, the former Respect leader took to threatening such a move to anyone who shared images of him displaying clearly mocked-up photoshops of guns. Mr S is still yet to hear of any lawsuits actually being launched – let alone won by Galloway .
While the onetime Bradford MP might protest that ‘I work for no Russian media’, his ‘Sputnik’ show on RT (formerly Russia Today) was inviting guests on as, er, recently as last month. Indeed, the Celebrity Big Brother star previously called it ‘the ultimate accolade’ and ‘a badge of honour’ to be dubbed state media affiliated. What changed, George?
Amusingly, every time Galloway protests his innocence, Twitter still labels his messages as ‘Russia state-affiliated media.’ Let’s hope he does, in fact, launch a lawsuit – Steerpike looks forward to the sage of Dundee duking it out in the courts with Twitter’s newest shareholder, billionaire Elon Musk.
No wonder Galloway’s threats appear to have earned him a new nickname: Spurious George.
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