New Labour outcast George Galloway was cheered in Brighton last night as he urged people to "hammer a final nail in Tony Blair's coffin".

Mr Galloway, opening a UK-wide speaking tour, remained defiant over the pro-Iraq views, which last week led to his expulsion from the Labour Party.

He rallied Brighton and Hove activists to sabotage George Bush's state visit to the UK later this month and also to vote for his newly-formed Unity Coalition in next year's European elections.

And he rejected overtures from the city's Green Party to join them now he has been thrown out of Labour for urging Iraqi forces to fight back against US and UK forces.

He told a packed Brighthelm Centre in North Road that he would support any country, including US targets Iran and North Korea, against invasion.

Mr Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin, was guest speaker at a public meeting organised by Communist Party newspaper Morning Star, which is arranging similar events across the UK.

He lambasted US President Mr Bush as "this imbecile, this redneck, this halfwit", Mr Blair as "a war criminal" and deputy prime minister John Prescott as "a donkey" for denying firefighters pay rises.

When challenged by a member of the audience, Mr Galloway also claimed in his much-televised meeting with Saddam Hussein he did not extol the Iraqi dictator but the Iraqi people.

He said: "When I said 'you' I was referring not to the dictator but to the Iraqi people, praising their courage, strength and indefatigability.

"We have to be absolutely clear, the Iraqi people have every right to resist foreign occupation of their country - every legal right, every moral right and every political right.

"The main group of terrorists in the country today are the US army."

Mr Galloway urged people to support the newly-formed Unity Coalition, aimed at bringing together anti-war campaigners, left-wingers, environmentalists and asylum seekers ahead of next May's European elections.

Brighton and Hove city councillor Keith Taylor, convenor for the Green Party, told Mr Galloway: "George, if you want to talk to us, we're ready and waiting to talk to you."

Mr Galloway said: "I'd feel better about the Green Party if their national leadership hadn't last week put out a Press release denouncing the Stop The War Coalition as a loony-left Marxist front. They kindly sent me a copy too. This is not a good week to ask me for dialogue with the Green Party."