Ex-England cricketer to stand for Galloway's party

Former England cricketer Monty Panesar has been unveiled as a general election candidate for George Galloway's Workers Party of Britain.

Mr Panesar said he wanted to "represent the working class people of this country" in Parliament.

He was one of dozens of Workers Party candidates unveiled by Mr Galloway in Parliament Square earlier.

The Rochdale MP claimed his fledgling outfit had already selected 500 general election candidates.

And he said it was in talks with a Labour peer and three Labour MPs about switching sides, although he declined to name the potential defectors as they were not yet "nailed on".

Luton-born Mr Panesar is aiming to overturn Labour's Virendra Sharma 16,000 majority in Ealing Southall, in West London.

He was introduced to the crowd of Workers Party candidates and supporters in Parliament Square by a beaming Mr Galloway.

In a brief speech, Mr Panesar said he wanted to "give something back" to the working class people who had supported him when he played cricket for England, and to "make sure the gap between rich and poor gets closer".

Speaking afterwards to BBC News, Mr Panesar said he had never voted before but had been impressed by Workers Party policies, such as a wealth tax to boost the NHS, and had been encouraged to become a candidate by a friend.

"I was a very good spin bowler," added the former Northants, Sussex and Essex cricketer, who was part of the side that won the 2009 Ashes series.

"This is not a spin. I expect my politics to be played with a straight bat."

Mr Galloway, who became the Workers Party first MP in February after winning the Rochdale by-election, said Labour was his party's "number one enemy because we seek to replace them".

"We will have the same impact on Labour that [Nigel] Farage and the Reform party are likely to have on the Conservatives.

"We will win seats, but in potentially hundreds of seats, we will materially affect the results."

If the prime minister decided to wait until the autumn to call an election, Mr Galloway said his party would have candidates lined up in nearly all of the 650 Parliamentary constituencies.

He said it would be campaigning hard to unseat leading Labour figures, such as deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy.

But he also confirmed the Workers Party would not be standing against former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn, in Islington North, and Diane Abbott, in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, should they decide to stand as independents.

He said he did not know why Mr Corbyn was "delaying" a decision to announce that he was standing as an independent and he had "very much hoped" the former Labour leader would lead "an alliance of forces" on the left of British politics. He said he would be "delighted" if Ms Abbott joined his party but she was not among the MPs it was talking to.

Among the other Workers Party candidates, who will be expected to cover the £500 deposit for standing in a general election out of their own pocket, are former UKIP MEP Amjad Bashir, who defected to the Conservatives in 2015 and two former British ambassadors, Peter Ford and Craig Murray.