Panesar, who was born in Luton and played 50 Tests for England, taking 167 wickets at 34.71, will be on the ballot in Ealing Southall. The constituency has been a Labour Party stronghold under Vivendra Sharma since 2007. Sharma currently holds a majority of over 16,000.

Galloway returned to the House of Commons in March after victory in the Rochdale by-election, following the death of the previous incumbent, Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd. Speaking on Tuesday morning, Galloway confirmed Panesar, 42, will be unveiled as one of his party’s candidates at a press event outside the Houses of Parliament.

Speaking to LBC, Galloway said: “I’ll present 200 of them outside Parliament this afternoon, including – you’ll like this – Monty Panesar, the ace Indian cricketer, former England international cricketer, who will be our candidate in Southall.”

“Monty, of course, was a great left-arm spinner and so we could do with him”.