George Galloway plans legal action against Metropolitan Police over airport stop

Former MP George Galloway has pledged to take legal action against the Met Police after he and his wife were stopped by counter-terrorism officers when they returned from a trip to Moscow.

The 71-year-old and his wife Putri Gayatri Pertiwi were questioned on Saturday after flying back to Gatwick from Russia via Abu Dhabi.

Mr Galloway said officers stopped the pair for “no reason at all” other than to “gain access to our communications”.

They will both appear at a press conference in Belfast on Monday afternoon, at which their solicitor Kevin Winters will give details of legal action they plan against the Met and other agencies.

They claim they were unlawfully detained and will demand the return of their phones and laptops from police.

In a ranting introduction to his Mother Of All Talk Shows internet show on Sunday, Mr Galloway said officers had questioned him about his views on Russia and China.

He said: “Not a single effort was made to show cause for having detained me and her with armed officers in public in an English airport.”

Addressing his viewers, he said: “If they can arrest me under the terrorism Act at an English airport, what hope have you got?”

“They’re too stupid to be anti-terrorism police, they’re too stupid to be in MI5 if they think they can intimidate me, not even death will intimidate me.”

He said: “It’s come to something when a man like me, a man with the profile that I have, can be stopped by armed policemen at an English airport.”

Police officers based at UK airports are routinely armed.

The Metropolitan Police did not name the couple, but said: “We can confirm that on Saturday September 27, counter-terrorism officers at Gatwick Airport stopped a man in his 70s and a woman in her 40s under Schedule 3 of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019.

“Neither of them were arrested and they were allowed on their way.”