George Galloway on his documentary film The Killing$ of Tony Blair: ‘It’s a considered narrative, not an angry tirade’

The former Labour and Respect MP has taken inspiration from Michael Moore for his new film project

Galloway says he sold his house to fund the film (AFP/Getty)

“I’m a film-lover and a Blair-hater, so you put the two together...” says former Labour and Respect MP George Galloway, who is currently reinventing himself as a documentarian. He is the co-writer and presenter of The Killing$ of Tony Blair, a documentary timed to coincide with the release of the Chilcot report that takes several pops at the former Labour Prime Minister.

Anyone who saw Galloway’s stint on Celebrity Big Brother will know that he has a certain presence on camera – miaow – but if that series showed the, er, exuberant side of the politician, he wants to be more a Michael Moore for this appearance. “I think docs are the future: they are already supplanting books,” he says. “The classic political documentaries, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Inside Job tell the story far better than any book could.” He tried to get in touch with Moore before he started on the film, but they never met. “We have taken some tradecraft from Moore, but he has more of a comic persona than I do.” That’s one way of putting it. “So it’s easier for him.”

Still, taking his lead from the American documentarian, Galloway does go in for some doorstopping of Blair’s offices and residences. He occasionally talks to camera and provides the voiceover that connects the dots in the story he wants to tell. And that is? “There are three killings in the film,” he says. “The killing of the Labour Party, the killing of a million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the financial killings made out of the first two.”

The film takes the former PM to task over the Iraq War

In particular, those made by Tony Blair and his wife. Galloway believes that’s what most interests the British public – and such “expert witnesses” as Will Self, whom he quotes as one of several talking heads in the documentary: “I’m staggered by the avarice of Tony Blair. He’s bought more than 30 houses in the United Kingdom since he left Downing Street. He’s worth £100m.”

Galloway contrasts this situation with the one in which he has found himself through making this documentary. He raised £165,000 funding on Kickstarter; but with archive footage costs, the budget rose to £600,000. He says he sold his own house to fund the film. “I’m lucky that I have a wife who would allow me to do so,” he says. “We now live in rented accommodation.”

The long documented history of spats between Blair and Galloway will make some believe that this film cannot be impartial. But Galloway sees his battle honours as an advantage. “More people will see it, or download it, because they know that I’ve fought Blair, not just since the Iraq War but since 1994. And that of course flavours the film. But there are more people who agree with me about Tony Blair than agree with Tony Blair about Tony Blair.”

But how about those who probably agree more with Blair about Galloway than agree with Galloway about Galloway? For example, Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, who accused him of making false claims about her at the last general election, when he campaigned to hold the same seat for Respect (the party he founded when he was booted out of Labour). He was also reported to the police by the returning officer for breaking the law when he retweeted his party’s own exit poll before voting finished. There have been other reputation-damaging instances, too – detentions, suspensions from Parliament, complaints against him – which must diminish any case he puts.

Galloway is aware of this credibility gap. “We do acknowledge that there were some good things that New Labour did. But we are not pretending this film is anything other than a ‘j’accuse’. It’s not an angry tirade. I think it’s a considered narrative, it’s intellectually coherent and it flows. It’s an assembly of facts, which in itself is an indictment. We can’t get him in the Hague, so we’ll get him in the cinema.”

Galloway in his film ‘The Killing$ Of Tony Blair’

Talking of war crimes, he has mixed emotions over reactions to the Chilcot report: “Look at how Chilcot has completely disappeared from the news. It’s only been two weeks since it was published. You would have thought that the British state would have been turned over.” He puts that down to British indifference: that Iraqis’ lives are given less value than our own. But it could have been worse, if Tony’s cronies had managed to oust Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn before the report’s publication. And he fears that the party’s current leadership battle “proves that Blair still is alive and kicking. This is an existential turning point in British political history. If the Blairites come back and Jeremy Corbyn is defeated, it would be like nothing has changed and the same people are running things. If Corbyn wins a big victory – and I think he will – then that should be, and it’s important that it is, the final burial of Blair and Blairism”.

To achieve that, Galloway is willing even to cede the part of main talking head in the documentary to Seamus Milne, who was a journalist while it was being made but has since been appointed executive director of strategy and communications of the Labour Party – that is, Corbyn’s spin doctor. “When we interviewed him, he was not as well-known as he is now. And at the time, too, I did pass on an interview with a then little known backbencher called Jeremy Corbyn. I didn’t interview him because I was sat next to him for 30 years. I feel like the guy who turned down the Beatles.”

Galloway is backing Corbyn in the leadership contest, although he says he’d benefit more if Corbyn lost and his army of supporters formed a new party. He recently stood in the London mayoral race, still harbours political ambitions and says we shouldn’t be surprised if we see him back in Westminster.

Or we may just see more of Galloway the author and filmmaker. He has a book coming out on Blair to accompany the documentary and he’s working on a novel about the current Labour leadership campaign: “I think a novel is the best way to tell the story.” As for filming, the most likely project is about the alleged MI5/right-wing conspiracy to smear Labour politicians in the mid-1970s. “I knew Harold Wilson very well and used to visit his house in Victoria, so I have a lot of background and it has some contemporary resonance.”

And what does Galloway – who has a wide constituency through his show on Talk Radio – think about the fact that he’s now employed by Rupert Murdoch, who is lambasted in the documentary, and recently bought the station? Will he resign like fellow presenter Colin Murray, a Liverpool-supporting broadcaster who felt that he couldn’t work for the proprietor of The Sun?

“Who would have thought that I would be employed by Murdoch?” Galloway chortles. “I work for Russia Today, Press TV, Al Mayadeen TV and Talk Radio. I’ll work for anybody else, as long as they don’t try to interfere with what I’ve got to say. The minute that someone tries to interfere with what I say, then I’ll be off. I said that before Murdoch took over. And my guess is that Murdoch would be very foolish to interfere with my show. It’s the biggest on the station. The advertisers are so happy that I complain I have too many ads.”

‘The Killing$ of Tony Blair’ has a world premiere in London tonight, at the Curzon Soho, followed by a Q&A hosted by Keith Allen and featuring a panel to include George Galloway, Michael Mansfield QC and David Davies MP. The film and Q&A will then be touring nationwide, with a DVD & digital HD released on 15 August