George Galloway

Well, it's a long and difficult story.

It started last month when my good wife and I were detained but not arrested by the anti-terrorism police at Gatwick Airport in London.

Now, ponder that piece of Kafkaesque framing.

You are not under arrest, but you are not free to leave, they said, these pistol-packing anti-terrorist cops.

They said, you have no right to silence, and if you refuse to answer any of our questions, you will automatically be guilty under the Terrorism Act of an act in defiance of that very serious act.

And the policeman joked, good luck ever getting on an airplane again.

Now, to complete the framing, I'm 71 years old, seven times elected Member of Parliament, a member of the British Parliament across five decades, the leader of a British political party, the

Biggest broadcaster in Britain, not nearly as big as you, but the biggest British broadcaster in Britain, broadcasting to the largest audience every single week.

I'm one of the best known people in the country, and I've got armed anti-terrorist police telling me I'm not under arrest, but I am not free to leave.

And of course, it quickly turned out that the purpose of the pool, the detention, was speech.

My podcasts, my broadcasts, my tweet output, my Facebook output.

That's the Britain that we now have today.

And we spent four hours in my case, five hours in my wife's case, in two separate rooms surrounded by armed police officers being questioned about our political views.

And in my wife's case, her fingernail, which is painted rather nicely in the Palestine colors.

Now, if you had told me eight weeks ago that such a thing was even remotely possible, I would not have believed you.

There is no more patriotic British citizen than me.

In the last decade, Mr. Carson, I fought two major battles for the British state.

2014, the Spectator said, my speeches saved the Union.

when Scotland's separatist referendum looked very much like it was going to succeed.

And 2016, I was one of the leading figures in the Brexit movement trying to win Britain's independence.