George Galloway is a fervent supporter of Jeremy Corbyn.
The ex-Labour MP urges his more than 250,000 Twitter followers to back Corbyn’s leadership re-election bid almost daily.
But today he issued a startling warning to Corbyn’s opponents, posting an old picture of him clad in a dark overcoat and cigar in mouth standing in front of a perched Corbyn.
Galloway said the Labour leader’s detractors would have to “get around me [and] millions like me” to unseat him.
Despite the threat, some questioned why Galloway was positioning himself as the defender of “Real Labour” some 13 years after his expulsion from the party.
While MEP Nessa Childers claimed any Labour members who shared the post would swiftly join the “purge surge”, a reference to some Corbynistas’ theory they are having voting rights rescinded unfairly.
Galloway last year announced he would re-join Labour “pretty damn quick” if Corbyn won the 2015 leadership election, but has yet to do so.
The leader himself was asked whether he would like to see Galloway back in the party, to which he replied: “There is a five year rule.”
“If he applies in five years’ time, it goes to the National Executive, they decide. Not me.”