A London mayor campaign poster for George Galloway is claiming he is 'Britain's Finest Black Leader'

An event poster by George Galloway's London mayoral campaign has described the Respect Party politician as "Britain's Finest Black Leader".

The poster attributed the description to prominent black newspaper The Voice - a claim which the newspaper has distanced itself from.

Mr Galloway's official campaign team posted the picture on its Twitter account ahead of a public meeting in Brent on Monday night:

This statement originated from a 2012 opinion piece entitled "Why Galloway Is Britain’s Finest Black Politician" by contributor, Nels Abbey.

The column was written in response to Mr Galloway publicly defending Diane Abbott for a series of tweets, including the comment: "White people love playing 'divide and rule'."

The Voice's editor, George Ruddock, told i100.co.uk that opinions of columnists do not necessarily represent the views of the newspaper, which are instead made by the paper's editorial team.

Mr Ruddock added that Abbey's comment was made in the context of that particular issue.

Mr Galloway told i100.co.uk:

I don't know whether to laugh or cry that this close to Christmas you're actually calling me on that point.

If someone quotes something that's in the Independent, it's in the Independent and therefore is perfectly legitimate to say 'quote/unquote the Independent'.

HT @Kramanash

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