Disgruntled constituents hold a protest
outside the HQ of the Respect party
Cathal McNaughton/PA George Galloway's appearance on Celebrity Big Brother has been as provocative and disturbing as was expected. Apart from the obvious incongruity of seeing the man who saluted Saddam Hussein's indefatigability chatting merrily with Pete Burns and receiving a late-night peck on the cheek from Rula Lenska, there have been questions raised about democracy, censorship and the wasting of taxpayers' money.
Yesterday, Galloway's party, Respect, challenged Channel 4 over what they considered to be the unfair censorship of his overtly political statements, while many of his constituents have publicly protested at his absence. Meanwhile, in today's Guardian Zoe Williams offers up a stout defence of the maverick Scot's appearance on Britain's leading celebrity-reality show, and calls for Channel 4 to let the man speak his mind.
She argues:
Channel 4, while it denies having any agenda, manifestly intends to excise Galloway's political views. Since day one, when it cut several of the contestants agreeing with the MP about the Iraq war, the Big Brother edited highlights have yet to show him saying anything about politics. And in E4's round-the-clock version, the MP is repeatedly bleeped.
Is he going on about sex and using coarse language? Or is he being censored in a more serious way? Precisely because he claims to have principles, they are deemed worthy of less respect than those of someone who slept with Sven Goran Eriksson. And here is the real reason for the disenchantment with politics among 16- to 24-year-olds: idealists, who might inspire passion or loyalty, or even interest, are cut down for something totally trivial.
This may be true, but surely Galloway knew what he was he was letting himself in for when he signed up for BB? You don't have to be an avid consumer of celebrity TV to know that it's not exactly home to political idealism and sophisticated debate. But, is there some kind of conspiracy to keep Galloway quiet? Did Blair set the whole thing up? Will Galloway, who has been nominated for eviction, be booted out of the BB house, thus ending the whole sorry spectacle? And, is Zoe Williams right when she suggests:
Galloway has conviction as well as Big Brother membership; he emerges from this business more sinned against than sinning. His detractors should be held accountable for political inertia in this country. Yes, the Big Brother machine does get a lot of votes. But let's not become so confused by the word "vote" that we seriously believe 16-year-olds want to run the country this way.
