LONDON: Maverick British politician George Galloway said Wednesday he broke a US trade sanction by smoking a Cuban cigar in Washington where he clashed with senators over charges he received Iraqi oil kickbacks.

Mr Galloway, who gave a spirited defence Tuesday before a US subcommittee investigating the UN oil-for-food scandal, accused US President George W. Bush and Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair of being the real villains.

“I did a bit of sanctions busting in Washington yesterday, I smoked a Havana cigar just like this one,” the 50-year-old Scotsman told a London rally of his left-wing, anti-war, political party Respect.

“I smoked it inside the Capitol building and I even blew the smoke at the White House,” he shouted above thunderous cheers and applause from hundreds of supporters. “And I think we blew them away, didn’t you?”—AFP