George Galloway today vowed to lead protesters as close as he possibly can to the “desperados” gathering in Gleneagles for the G8 summit next month.

The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said the right of activists to demonstrate outside the five star hotel where world leaders will meet on Wednesday July 6 was “non-negotiable”.

The left-wing firebrand said he wished Gleneagles was still in public ownership as it used to be, adding: “Because then we might have more chance of getting a word in the ears of this group of dangerous men, desperados, who are gathering in the hotel in Gleneagles and we intend to get as close to them as we possibly can.”

Perth and Kinross Council has refused a proposed march by protest group G8 Alternative in nearby Auchterarder on July 6, but said a planned rally in the town’s park would be allowed if organisers paid a £20,000 (€30,200) insurance bond.

Speaking at a G8 Alternative press conference in Glasgow, Mr Galloway said: “We’re marching to Gleneagles. That’s non-negotiable. We have a right to march on the streets of our own country against the presence in our own country of dangerous foreign and domestic leaders.

“That’s our right, we will exercise it, we won’t pay for it, we won’t take out insurance against ourselves, we won’t be denied.”

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