Ex-cricketer Monty Panesar to contest in UK general elections as candidate for Workers Party

Former England cricketer Monty Panesar announced on Tuesday that he will stand as a candidate for George Galloway's Workers Party for Britain in Ealing Southall.

Standing beside Galloway, Panesar told a crowd of Workers Party members in London that he joined the party to "represent the working class people of this country."

Galloway said that the party plans to have a candidate in every constituency in London and aims to have a candidate in every constituency in England by the general election.

"Bar one or two that we will not stand in," he added.

But Galloway added that the party were "some way short" of having a candidate in every constituency in Scotland and Wales, and would not have any candidates in Northern Ireland "as a matter of principle."

Galloway 69, swept to victory in a special election back in February this year, winning almost 40% of the vote in the parliamentary seat of Rochdale.

His victory was described as “beyond alarming" by Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, warning that British democracy was being targeted by extremists.

Galloway dismissed Sunak's central charge, telling Sky News that he does “not respect the prime minister at all” and that “millions and millions of people in this country despise the prime minister.”

It's not the first time that Galloway has created a stir since he began his political career a half-century ago as a firebrand left-wing Labour member of Parliament for a constituency in Glasgow, Scotland.

In 1994, he faced widespread opposition for meeting then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and telling him: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.”

In 2004, he returned to Parliament as a lawmaker for the anti-war Respect Party after a special election in a heavily Muslim seat in east London, but was defeated in the general election the following year.

He was elected again in a special election in 2012, but lost his seat once more in the election of 2015.