Who is George Galloway?

British politics-watchers well know the man and his history. To many Americans, he's a new name, though he ought to be better known. How well did our news outlets do today in explaining him to us?

According to Reuters, he's "A maverick kicked out of the British Labour Party for his fervent opposition to the Iraq war and for personal attacks on Prime Minister Tony Blair ...."

According to AFP, he "set up his own left-wing Respect Party after being expelled from the Labour Party of Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Iraq war."

The Washington Post describes him as "a formidable debater recently ousted from the British Labor Party after attacking Prime Minister Tony Blair for supporting the war in Iraq."

Oliver Kamm, who is much closer to the source, sets the record straight.

Galloway, of course, was expelled from the Labour Party not for his 'views on Iraq' but for four specific acts: inciting foreign troops to fight British troops; inciting British troops to disobey orders; threatening to stand against Labour; and supporting a candidate for the Respect 'Coalition' in Preston. On a unanimous vote on all of these charges, he was expelled from the party. The fairness of the procedure was such that he was acquitted on a fifth charge of urging voters in Plymouth not to support Labour.

As far as I can tell from here, only AP got it close to right: "He was expelled from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party after urging British soldiers not to fight in Iraq."