Monty Panesar to stand as parliamentary candidate in UK general election

Former England spinner Monty Panesar will stand as a parliamentary candidate for George Galloway’s Workers Party at the next general election.

Panesar, who was born in Luton and played 50 Tests for England, taking 167 wickets at 34.71, will be on the ballot in Ealing Southall. The constituency has been a Labour Party stronghold under Vivendra Sharma since 2007. Sharma currently holds a majority of over 16,000.

Galloway returned to the House of Commons in March after victory in the Rochdale by-election, following the death of the previous incumbent, Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd. Speaking on Tuesday morning, Galloway confirmed Panesar, 42, will be unveiled as one of his party’s candidates at a press event outside the Houses of Parliament.

Speaking to LBC, Galloway said: “I’ll present 200 of them outside Parliament this afternoon, including – you’ll like this – Monty Panesar, the ace Indian cricketer, former England international cricketer, who will be our candidate in Southall.”

“Monty, of course, was a great left-arm spinner and so we could do with him”.