Maverick British member of parliament George Galloway has agreed to testify before the US Congress next week, after being named by a US senate investigative committee as having received lucrative oil allocations from Saddam Hussein.

In a statement released on Thursday by the left-wing Respect party that he represents, Mr Galloway said he welcomed the opportunity “so far denied” to testify before the Senate committee in Washington which has accused him of receiving $20 million of oil from the Saddam Hussein regime.