Factbox-Who is George Galloway, the left-winger elected again to UK parliament?

LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran left-wing political maverick George Galloway was elected as the new lawmaker for the English town of Rochdale on Friday, the latest political comeback for the former Labour politician.

Here are some notable moments from his colourful and often controversial political career.

MEETING SADDAM

Born in the Scottish city of Dundee, Galloway was first elected as a Labour lawmaker to Britain's parliament in 1987 to a seat in Glasgow, and soon gained a reputation for controversy.

In 1994, he drew criticism for meeting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and telling him: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."

IRAQ WAR

Galloway was an outspoken critic of Britain's involvement in the Iraq War, leading to his suspension from Labour in 2003. He joined the anti-war Respect Party in 2005 and won the London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow in that year's national election.

SENATE HEARING

In 2005, he appeared in a U.S. Senate Committee hearing at which he attacked the justification for the invasion of Iraq as being based on "a pack of lies." Galloway had been summoned as part of an investigation into Iraqi oil sales under Hussein which he dismissed as "the mother of all smokescreens."

CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER

The following year, in 2006, Galloway was in the headlines for a very different reason when he pretended to be a cat on reality television show Celebrity Big Brother, purring and pretending to drink milk out of the hand of actress Rula Lenska.

TIME OUT OF PARLIAMENT

Galloway won the seat of Bradford West in a by-election in 2012, but had been out of parliament for nine years until his victory on Friday.

He was sacked from his TalkRadio show in 2019 after soccer club Tottenham Hotspur criticised him for anti-semitism when he tweeted there would be "no Israel flags on the cup" after Liverpool won the Champions League final.

He was also censured by broadcasting regulator Ofcom for casting doubt on Russian involvement on the poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Toby Chopra)