King and Galloway clash again

Labour MP Oona King claims Muslim voters are being told not to vote for her because she is Jewish.

Ms King, who is in a bitter battle with anti-war candidate George Galloway for her Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, was speaking after being pelted with eggs as she joined mourners at a memorial to the Jewish war dead in the East End.

One of the eggs hit a war veteran in the chest, while an onion hit a bugler sounding the Last Post at the ceremony.

Ms King today told the Evening Standard that constituents were being told by canvassers for Respect - the party co-founded by Mr Galloway after he was expelled by Labour - that they should not vote for her because of her religion.

Ms King, whose mother is Jewish and whose father is a black American civil rights campaigner, said: "I have been told by several people that members of Respect have told them not to vote for me because I am Jewish."

The claim was vehemently denied by Respect. "She had really better have signed depositions to that effect because we will issue writs against anybody who says that," said John Rees, Respect's national secretary.

He added: "We would not dream of arguing this kind of rubbish on the doorstep... Respect coalition has a very large number of Jewish supporters and an extremely long record of fighting fascism, Nazism and anti-Semitism."

Ms King today risked further controversy when she said that losing her seat "won't be the worst thing that ever happened". "If I lose the election, I get my life back. I don't imagine I'll be crying all night," she said.

Mr Galloway said her remarks proved she was "not a serious MP". He added: "Oona King is increasingly zany in her interviews. This is a woman who is looking at a very significant political defeat."

Ms King blamed the egg-throwing incident yesterday on youths on the Tower Hamlets estate where the memorial service took place. "I think they were aimed at me but the sheer ignorance is shocking. They have no idea where their freedom came from and who gave it to them," she said.

The service commemorated the 60th anniversary of the deaths of 134 people from a German V2 rocket.

The egg-throwing protest came before Ms King traded insults with Mr Galloway at a rowdy hustings meeting in the East End seat. Normallya rock-solid Labour seat with a 10,000 majority, Bethnal Green and Bow has seen a string of visits by Cabinet ministers amid fears that Respect could cause an upset.

The hustings, organised by BBC London 94.9 FM, saw the former Labour MP hit out when he was asked how he felt about challenging one of just two black women MPs in Parliament. "Oona King voted to kill a lot of women in the last few years. Many of them had much darker skins than her," he said. Mr Galloway was furious when Ms King laughed at his suggestion that he was the best debater in Parliament. "People can laugh. I suspect they will laughing on the other side of her face on 5 May," he said.

Ms King countered with an attack on Mr Galloway's decision to salute Saddam Hussein on a visit to Iraq.

"When I come across someone who is guilty of genocide I do not get on a plane and go to Baghdad and grovel at his feet," she said.