Could support for celebrity MP George Galloway be waning? The Halifax Evening Courier reports:

FEWER than 20 people turned out to see Respect MP George Galloway greet the latest additions to his party.

The Bethnal Green and Bow MP – who hit the headlines after donning a cat suit in Celebrity Big Brother – came to Calderdale to welcome eight Labour Party members who have defected to his party.

But only two new members turned up at Milan’s Hotel Function Suite, Halifax, to meet him and National Secretary John Rees.

Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party when he disagreed with Tony Blair over the war in Iraq, seemed unphased and welcomed an announcement by Sajid Mehmood of Shalimar Street that he intends to stand for the Respect Party in Halifax next May.

Shabir Akhtar, Arshad Mahmood, Tariq Hussain, Majid Nawaz, Mahmood Sultan, Amir Butt and Mohammed Zabair, also switched allegiance.

So where were the other six defectors?