George Galloway: Was my home bugged?

George Galloway today said he feared his home could have been bugged by the police officer who turned out to be “married” to his former secretary.

The Respect MP hit back after suspended secretary Aisha Ali-Khan claimed that he must have known she was married to a detective inspector, Afiz Khan, in the Met’s counter-terrorism branch, SO15, with responsibility for Muslim communities.

Speaking to the Guardian, she said: “Not only have I lost my job and my credibility but I’ve been branded this tart sleeping with random police officers.”

The paper said her Muslim marriage had been “hush hush”.

Mr Galloway said he would not have employed her if he had known of her relationship with the officer because it would have been “too compromising” to his work with Muslim activists.

Asked if he believed the officer could have tampered with things at his home, he said: “That’s what I’m now asking myself and indeed I intend to ask the police. Did this man do anything while he was here, did he plant any listening devices or go though any of my papers? All of these things are now in my mind.

“You don’t have to be Einstein to work it out — an MP who has been involved in all of these causes like me and, hey presto, the head of the Muslim contact unit at SO15 is now inside my house without a warrant, free to roam around.”

Ms Ali-Khan says the MP must have hacked into her email account to see emails that “joked” about voter fraud. However, he said the emails were passed to him by his lawyer. She has made a formal complaint to the Met regarding the hacking claim.

Mr Galloway confirmed that he had allowed her to use his house while setting up his London office. But he rejected a claim that the officer only went into the house to use the loo.

He added: “I didn’t say they slept together in the carnal sense. I said they slept together in this house, which they did — she herself told me that. She didn’t just tell me, she told my wife and my son-in-law.”

He insisted he had no idea of the couple’s relationship, adding: “The suggestion that anybody knew that she was married to a DI in SO15 is utterly fantastical.” Ms Ali-Khan claims her marriage was clearly recorded on papers seen by the MP. Mr Galloway says that her first husband had the same name. Scotland Yard confirmed that it had received a complaint about a computer.