Galloway may quit MP ‘tedium’ in bid to become London Mayor

The Respect MP said yesterday he was considering a bid for the mayoralty in the 2016 election, in a bid to escape what he dubbed the “tedium” of Parliament.

Mr Galloway revealed he discussed his plans with Ed Miliband at a meeting in January, which the Labour leader said at the time was devoted to an upcoming vote on boundary changes.

Rumours have circled throughout the year that Mr Galloway was considering a bid to succeed Boris Johnson in 2016.

Speaking to Total Politics magazine, Mr Galloway – who was a Labour MP for 16 years before being expelled from the party in 2003 – said he found Parliament “two per cent terrifying, and 98 per cent tedium”.

And he added: “I’m interested in running for the mayor of London in 2016, but I haven’t decided.

“I like elections more than I like serving. I relish them in the way most politicians don’t, and this is the only mass popular election that there is here.

“Seven million people have the right to vote in it; it’s the next best thing to a presidential election that you’re ever going to get in Britain.

“So, I relish running for the office, and the opportunity finally to be in power over substantial sets of important tasks in a city as great as London is obviously attractive.”

Mr Galloway was elected to his West Yorkshire seat in a shock by-election win in March 2012. He overturned a sizeable Labour majority to win a landslide victory for his Respect party.

He has made a number of high-profile speeches in the Commons, although the Yorkshire Post revealed earlier this year he had missed the vast majority of votes in his first year in office.