BRITAIN:The British government's chief whip yesterday launched a petition calling on Celebrity Big Brother contestant George Galloway to get back to work.
Hilary Armstrong, Labour MP for northwest Durham, began the petition urging Mr Galloway to "respect his constituents, not his ego" in his Bethnal Green and Bow constituency in east London.
Yesterday the Respect MP was pretending to be a cat, purring and licking imaginary milk from the hands of actress Rula Lenska as he missed a vote in the Commons on the Crossrail project, which affects his voters.
In front of millions of viewers, Galloway (51) asked Lenska: "Now, would you like me to be the cat?" He then crawled on all fours and lapped the imaginary milk from the actress's hands as if drinking cream.
She rubbed the "cream" from his "whiskers" and stroked his head and behind his ears.
After the task Big Brother bosses heard Galloway purr something quietly in Rula's ear that made "her bottom jump and tighten excitedly".
She was heard responding: "Well I'm glad it can still do that for you."
Later, when the group were talking about sex, Galloway claimed: "This is the longest I've ever gone without my mind wandering in that direction."
Lenska reminded him: "You told me not to stand in a certain position the other day because it had 'been a long time'."
Mr Galloway won the Bethnal Green seat overturning a Labour majority in a bitter election battle last year on an anti-war ticket. He believes that being on the show may help him reach a wider audience.
Mr Galloway's spokesman said earlier this week that the constituency office was open as normal.
Meanwhile, John Biggs, a Labour London assembly member, has been holding an alternative surgery for residents in Mr Galloway's absence.
He said: "I think there is a real need for politicians to engage with people but I do not think that being on Big Brother or pretending to be a cat is the best way to achieve it.
"Certainly around the streets of Tower Hamlets people are pissed off about his failure to represent them."
Last night Galloway was up for eviction alongside glamour model Jodie Marsh and singer Peter Burns.