Bradford MP George Galloway last night said he had placed matters in the hands of his solicitor after a national magazine reported that he had converted to Islam in a ceremony at a London hotel more than a decade ago.

The article was published yesterday in the New Statesman magazine after Mr Galloway was interviewed by Jemima Khan, the former wife of Imran Khan, the former international cricketer turned politician, who is now also the Chancellor of Bradford University.

She started the article: “George Galloway, MP for Bradford West, is a Muslim.

“He converted more than ten years ago in a ceremony at a hotel in Kilburn, north-west London, attended by members of the Muslim Association of Great Britain.

“Those close to him know this. The rest of the world, including his Muslim constituents, does not."

Following its publication, Mr Galloway, who won the Bradford West seat for the Respect Party in March, demanded a retraction, tweeted that it was a “total stitch-up” and issued a statement denying that the conversion ceremony took place.

He said: “I told her it was fallacious when she put it to me. I have never attended any such ceremony in Kilburn, Karachi or Kathmandu. It is simply and categorically untrue.”

Mr Galloway married his fourth wife in a Muslim marriage ceremony four weeks ago. In the report Miss Khan states a Muslim woman was not permitted to marry a non-Muslim man under Islamic law.

Mr Galloway’s statement continued: “Apart from the deliberate falsehoods in the article, it is littered with schoolgirl howlers which would earn banishment from a first-year journalism class.

“For instance, she misspells the name of my ‘glossy haired’ secretary, who is not my special assistant. Snidely, she claims I have a slow and over-enunciated delivery – even then she failed to pick up the facts.

“Absurdly, she says that’s because I have a Glasgow accent which would require subtitles for those for whom English isn’t a first language.

“Putting aside the regional and racial slurs, I’m from Dundee.”

In response, the magazine said it was notable Mr Galloway did not deny being a Muslim convert, adding “he did not deny it when it was put to him at the time of the interview, which is on tape.

“Contrary to his press release, nor did he deny the ceremony took place when it was put to him during the interview. This is also on tape.

“Furthermore, he failed to clarify how, by his own admission, he had a ‘nikah’ (a Muslim marriage ceremony), despite the fact a non-Muslim man cannot marry a Muslim woman under Islamic law. As for calling his ‘secretary’ his ‘special adviser’, this is how she asked to be described in an e-mail to Jemima Khan.”

Mr Galloway declined to speak to Telegraph & Argus about the issue yesterday.

But last night he issued a further statement which stated: “The further allegations from the New Statesman in response to my rebuttal moves the issue into the area of defamation.

“Jemima Khan asked me on tape about this phantom ceremony in Kilburn and I told her it was a lie and whoever told her it was a liar. No trace of this exchange appears in the New Statesman piece, which is predicated upon it. Now that they are denying my denial it places the matter in the hands of my solicitor.”