Former England cricketer Monty Panesar has no idea what he’s getting himself into in standing to be an MP for George Galloway’s party, says Jack Mendel
George Galloway’s recruitment of Monty Panesar as an election candidate shows he’s willing to exploit not only ethnic tensions for votes – but vulnerable individuals too.
As a cricket obsessive who grew up watching England in the mid-2000s, Monty Panesar’s early career was synonymous with exuberant celebrations and fun.
But there was always a slightly brittle side to Panesar.
He was clearly lacking in certain areas – and I’m not just talking about his inability to catch or bat.
After a number of years of success, he entered a period of difficulty on and off the field.
On the pitch, his numbers tailed off and he was criticised for being one-dimensional. The late great Shane Warne famously said Monty didn’t play 30 Tests, but the same Test 30 times.
And off the pitch, he went through an extremely difficult divorce, and spoke openly about his mental health difficulties, anxiety and depression.
His problems peaked in an infamous incident in 2013 when he was forced into an apology for urinating on a bouncer in Brighton.
As his career fizzled out he attempted to forge a new life as a media personality.
Frankly it’s been a disaster.
His post-cricket career has been marked by humiliating appearances on TV, most notably a highly-embarrassing and inept display on Mastermind where he said, among other things, that birds fly over the sky.
In his search for post-cricket media stardom, he’s used Twitter and Instagram to opine on politics in a rather infantile fashion, including backing the disastrous campaign of Zac Goldsmith in 2016.
Panesar is a rather hopeless character, going from one failed venture to another – but he has up until this point been relatively harmless.
This week former Labour, Respect and current ‘Workers Party’ MP George Galloway announced he had recruited Panesar to stand in Southall.
It’s no coincidence that Monty is Sikh and of Indian heritage, and it’s a part of London with a large population of that ethnic group.
That is George Galloway all over, cynically campaigning on race and ethnic lines, appealing to and exploiting people’s basest prejudices and stirring up inter-communal tensions.
Monty Panesar is not your typical Workers Party candidate. He isn’t a far-left, pro-Palestine, firebrand. When asked which policies he supports during interviews in Westminster yesterday, he spoke in the broadest possible terms about supporting ‘working people’.
He also said he wanted to scrap ULEZ, embark on an illegal migrant crackdown and enforce tougher border control, have a referendum on net zero and said he “doesn’t understand” Nato or Gaza and leaves that to George. Good to know.
This morning on Times Radio, he was talking about getting out of Nato to stop illegal immigration, while writing in the Telegraph yesterday that he might want to be the Prime Minister one day.
It’s like listening to a child talk about what they want to do when they grow up, and frankly, George Galloway should know better than using a naive man like Monty Panesar in this way.
He doesn’t have a clue what he’s getting himself into, and politics can be very brutal and unforgiving.
Each ridiculous interview he gives will lead to more mockery and a compounding of his caricature as a failure.
The fact of the matter is, he is getting into bed with some incredibly bad faith actors like George Galloway and former Labour MP Chris WIlliamson, who don’t share his world view.
All Panesar really wants is to do some good, have a purpose and find a new home after a career of playing cricket.
In truth, I feel sorry for him, and hope he backs out of this ridiculous populist stunt from George Galloway before it’s too late.
Jack Mendel is assistant digital editor at City A.M.