Are there any limits to free speech for MPs who make questionable claims?

George Galloway is under fire from Conservative MPs after accusing Britain of involvement in last week’s terror attack at the Crocus City Hall music venue outside Moscow.

Galloway, who last month returned to the Commons after winning the Rochdale by-election, says the UK and US lied about Isis involvement in the attack, which killed 139 people and left 360 injured.

Vladimir Putin has admitted Islamic terrorists were responsible but Alexander Bortnikov, director of the FSB security service, has fancifully claimed the US, UK and Ukraine were behind it.

Normally, this task falls to party whips, acting in conjunction with the party leader. Andrew Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire, lost the Tory whip last year after seemingly likening the use of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust.

He then joined Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party but quit over a “difference in direction” and now sits as an independent.

Galloway is leader of the Workers Party of Britain and its only MP. Presumably he is also his own chief whip, and unlikely to discipline himself.

Yes. What they say in the Commons or Lords is protected by parliamentary privilege, a right dating back to 1689 that prevents them being sued – for example, for defamation. This has been used by MPs to name individuals accused of breaking the law but is not relevant in Galloway’s case as his claim was made in quotes to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a newspaper published by the Russian government, and on his talk show on YouTube.

Jeremy Corbyn was reluctant to blame Russia for the novichok poison attack in Salisbury in 2018. He was leader of the Labour Party at the time and so no action was taken against him. But Labour sources later admitted his hesitation returned to haunt Labour at the 2019 election.

Er, no. He was expelled by Labour following the 2003 Iraq war after an internal inquiry found he brought the party into disrepute by inciting Arabs to fight British troops, backing an anti-war candidate in Preston, and threatening to stand against Labour. In 2019, he was sacked by TalkRadio for saying Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final meant there would be “no Israel flags on the cup”.

More recently, he posted tweets suggesting the Princess of Wales might be “dead” before she made the video announcing she was being treated for cancer.

Ultimately, the voters of Rochdale, who elected him with a majority of 5,697. If enough of them feel angry about his latest outburst, they have the option of removing him within months at the general election. Labour, which hopes to regain a seat it previously held since 2010, will be quietly hoping that Galloway’s comments boost its chances.