Malevolent British MP George Galloway is joining the cast of UK reality show Big Brother (the “celebrity” version). (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

George Galloway came under fire today for his decision to desert politics for reality television and spend up to three weeks in the Big Brother house instead of looking after his constituents in East London.

The combative MP for Bethnal Green and Bow is the most intriguing of a bizarre cast list for the latest Celebrity Big Brother that also includes Faria Alam, Sven-Goran Erikson’s former lover at the FA, and a blonde wannabe from Essex who is only pretending to be a pop star.

Mr Galloway also appears to be its biggest draw, attracting a whole new audience for the Channel 4 programme. Ratings peaked last night at 7.6 million when the MP made his entrance to the Big Brother house, where he will spend up to 23 days if the viewers like him. According to unofficial overnight figures, the average audience for the opening show was 6.5 million, giving Channel 4 a huge ratings boost.

Crtiticism of Mr Galloway’s participation came from Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, a Labour peer and former Scottish MP, who said: “This means that the people of Bethnal Green and Bow, his constituency, will not be represented properly for all the time he is on the programme. Assuming that he does take his parliamentary salary, which is provided by the taxpayer, he will not be able to look after the needs of his constituents over this period.” …

But Mr Galloway was clearly expecting the criticism and released a statement even after his seclusion in the Big Brother house defending his decision and nakedly appealing for viewers’ votes.

“It’s good for politics. I believe that politicians should use every opportunity to communicate with people,” Mr Galloway said. “I’m a great believer in the democratic process. Big Brother is watched by millions. More young people vote during Big Brother than in the general election. I hope they’ll all be voting for me over the next few weeks.” He added: “If I win, it will be my greatest election victory since, well, since my last one.” …

Last night, he sauntered along the red carpet into the Big Brother house to a chorus of boos from the crowd, before pausing to make a victory sign and shout “Stop the war!”.