A LABOUR back bencher said yesterday he was consulting his lawyers after Hollywood star John Malkovich allegedly said he would like to shoot him.
Malkovich - star of films including Dangerous Liaisons and the Killing Fields - is reported to have said that George Galloway, Glasgow Kelvin MP, was one of the two people he would most like to kill.
The MP expressed astonishment that the actor should have such animosity against him.
The unexpected attack came as Malkovich, who is in the UK filming Johnny English with Rowan Atkinson and Natalie Imbruglia, addressed students at the Cambridge Union debating society on Wednesday. He was asked by one student who he would most like to fight to the death, and replied: "I'd rather just shoot them," before naming Mr Galloway and Robert Fisk, Independent Middle East correspondent, Julian Blake, union spokesman, said.
"He had been speaking to the union president before the event, and he mentioned that he read the British press and had been following George Galloway's comments," said Mr Blake.
The actor did not spell out exactly what had sparked his anger, saying only that Mr Galloway did not tell the truth.
The MP said he assumed his outspoken criticism of American policy in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq was behind the outburst. Mr Galloway said: "In the current climate of terrorism and violence and so on, if it was a joke it is not very funny and if it wasn't a joke, he will be hearing from my lawyers. We can have a high noon at the Old Bailey."
On a lighter note he added: "It's not every day that a Hollywood star offers death in the afternoon to a British MP."
HERALD (GLASGOW, SCOTLAND)