He managed to beat Oona King in the East London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow in the 2005 election, standing for his ‘Respect’ party. There were plenty of strange stories of what his activists managed to get up to. But then he managed to win a massive libel case against the Daily Telegraph, and performed brilliantly in front of a committee of the US Senate to defend himself against claims he received money from Saddam Hussein.

But now it has just become absurd: he’s a contestant on the TV Show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’. He shares the house with political luminaries such as Dennis Rodman and Maggot from Goldie Lookin’ Chain. Oh dear. Plus there’s the certain problem that he’s meant to be representing the people of Bethnal Green and Bow in the House of Commons – so very little Respect for them then! Some cunning (I suspect Labour-supporting) web designers have come up with this site to count how much George’s stay is costing the taxpayer.

He’s clearly clever, a bit witty, but seems to have no morals whatsoever – the sooner he is out of UK politics and sticks to entertainment the better!