Peace deal promise between Oona and George break down

28 April 2005

Promises of a peace deal between Oona King and George Galloway were shot down in flames yesterday.

A spokesman for Galloway's Respect party slammed King's peace proposals for the final days of the election campaign in Bethnal Green and Bow. He described the offer as "ludicrous" and said that Respect had already signed up to the normal guidelines.

But Oona King said that Mr Galloway had "unilaterally withdrawn" from the agreement.

Last week Ms King and Mr Galloway both said they were concerned by escalating levels of intimidation and violence in the campaign.

The two candidates sat down with the police and the constituency returning officer to hammer out an agreement which barred inflammatory language and personal attacks.

The meeting went ahead and Oona King believed, until yesterday, that the agreement was still on track.

But the Respect spokesman said Ms King's additional proposal to keep party supporters up to 500 metres from polling stations was "ludicrous".

He said: "The whole thing was a non-starter. The document she has composed has gone into the dustbin of history".

The rejection means that no limits will be set on inflamatory language or the behaviour of supporters.

Oona King said that George Galloway had agreed, in front of the Borough police commander, to go above and beyond the standard electoral agreements.

She added: "There must now be fears that his campaign team will be unable to control the outsiders and extremists coming into Bethnal Green and Bow and I am very worried about what might happen here."

The agent for Conservative candidate, Shahagir Faruk, has warned that the standard electoral guideline would be broken by "enthusiatic" supporters.