George Galloway accuses BBC of being misleading in awkward EU interview

'When have you ever not wanted to talk about you?'

George Galloway has accused the BBC of being misleading over an interview about the EU referendum in which he ended up pleading with the interviewer “Please stop this, please stop this”.

The former Respect MP and London mayoral candidate took Jo Coburn to task on the Daily Politics when she tried ask him about a Eurosceptic rally on Friday in which “hundreds” of people reportedly left when Mr Galloway started to speak.

After being treated to a selection of clips of people exiting the venue during his BBC interview Mr Galloway accused Coburn of focusing the interview on him, rather than his views on Brexit.

He said: “Well, not for the first time you have misled me by asking me to come in and talk about the referendum but instead wanting to talk about me… If you had told me that I was coming in to discuss me I would have said there are much bigger issues that the British people are occupied by than six or however many vox pop you had.

Coburn responded: “Well you want to defend what you’re doing here”. She later added: "When have you ever not wanted to talk about you?”

“I don’t want to defend me at all,” Mr Galloway added, “you’re not my judge – you’re not fit to be my judge.”

Later in the BBC interview, Mr Galloway said: “Stop this, please stop this. You misled me into coming in here today and every question you’ve asked has been about me…it’s so childish, it’s so tabloid, it’s so Daily Mail.”

It was suggested that over a hundred people walked out as Mr Galloway took the stage as a special guest speaker at the Queen Elizabeth centre in Westminster. He was appearing at a cross-party Eurosceptic rally to coincide with the final day of the European referendum deal.

According to reports on Twitter, boos and jeers were heard from the audience as Mr Galloway began to speak, which was dominated by Conservatives and UKIP members.

One individual said in the clips shown to Mr Galloway: “I don’t like what I’ve just seen on stage… I think any form of association with George Galloway is wholly inappropriate and a lot of people here feel the same.”

Nearly 1,500 people are believed to have attended the rally and those who remained in the hall reportedly gave Mr Galloway a warm reception.