Former MP George Galloway and his wife, Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, were stopped by counter-terrorism officers at Gatwick Airport on Saturday morning, the Workers Party of Britain (WPB) has confirmed.
The couple, returning to the UK from Moscow via Abu Dhabi, were stopped under Schedule 3 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which allows officers at UK ports to question, search, and detain individuals to determine if they have engaged in hostile activity.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said:
“We can confirm that on Saturday, 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.”
The WPB, led by Galloway, condemned the incident as an attempt to intimidate those promoting diplomacy rather than conflict. In a statement, the party said:
“There was never any chance of an offence. We were obstructed from providing legal support, and the conduct of the affair has been designed to intimidate political opponents of the drive towards war with Russia and China.”
The couple were later released without charge, with the WPB stressing that no offence had occurred. It is not known whether police requested access to devices or passwords during the stop.
Galloway, 71, served as a Labour MP until 2003, before representing three constituencies as an independent and Respect Party MP between 2003 and 2015. He became the first MP for the Workers Party of Britain after winning a by-election in Rochdale in March 2024, though he lost the seat in last year’s general election.
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