ONE UP TO GEORGE

IT was an odd coincidence that it should be on the first anniversary of the start of the Iraq war that George Galloway MP got an apology in Britain's High Court for allegations that he had taken money from Saddam Hussein. The Christian Science Monitor admitted that its claim that Mr Galloway had received millions of pounds from Saddam Hussein for promoting Iraq's interests in Britain was false. The editor of the newspaper - one of the most respected in the United States and with an international readership - said: “At the time we published these documents, we felt they were newsworthy and appeared credible, although we did explicitly state in our article that we could not guarantee their authenticity. It is important to set the record straight: we are convinced the documents are bogus. We apologise to Mr Galloway and our readers.” An apology was offered to Mr Galloway last year but he rejected it. It is understood that he has now received a substantial sum in settlement of the libel. Whether this outcome will in any way enable Mr Galloway to rehabilitate himself with the Labour Party, from which he has been expelled for allegedly inciting Arabs to fight British troops in Iraq, is open to question. He has formed a new anti-war party, “Respect”, and is standing in London in the upcoming European elections. He is convinced that he is the victim of a smear campaign and he has asked the Prime Minister to launch an investigation to discover how the documents at the heart of the case were forged and how they came to found in Baghdad. Mr Blair may think that to meet Mr Galloway's request would be an investigation too far.