Political View: George Galloway

He has the gall to talk about my votes in parliament. I voted and campaigned against the war which killed a million people. He voted and campaigned for it.

I voted against Student Tuition Fees. He voted for them. I voted against ID cards. He voted for them. I voted for publishing MPs expenses. He voted against it. I voted for capping emissions to protect the environment. He voted against them. I voted against post office closures. He shut them. I voted against the third runway at Heathrow. He forced it through.

He talks about my speeches. I am the reigning parliamentary debating champion. No-one, anywhere, can remember a single speech Mr Fitzpatrick has ever made. You'll find just one, 26 second long, speech by Mr Fitzpatrick on Youtube, delivered in what he claimed to be the Sylheti dialect of Bangla.

Tower Hamlets has the worst council in England. It is viscerally hated by thousands of its residents. Fitz backs it up to the hilt.

He says my constituents turn up to his surgery pleading for help. But MPs are only allowed to represent their own constituents unless expressly given permission by the constituent's MP.

In five years I haven't had even one request from one of my constituents to be represented by Mr Fitzpatrick. But I've had plenty of his constituents asking me to represent them.

Above all, I say the New Labour government, which has widened the gap between rich and poor, promised to abolish boom and bust yet presided over the worst crash for 60 years, took Britain into more wars in fewer years than any ruler in British history, tied us to George W Bush and let him take us over the cliff with him, has become a byword for sleaze, lies, crime and spin.

Jim Fitzpatrick is mired up to his ears in it.

Most readers of The Wharf would rather have an MP with a voice. A strong one, which is heard, and listened to. An MP who they'd recognise if they saw him in the street. And who if they need him, will always turn up for the fight, for them.