ePolitix.com profiles the key constituencies in the general election.

Oona King's 10,057 majority in Bethnal Green and Bow should be impregnable in an election where Labour is expected to win.

But the East London constituency is shaping up to be by far the dirtiest battle of the 2005 campaign.

King, a parliamentary aide to trade secretary Patricia Hewitt, was first elected in 1997 and immediately attracted attention as only the second black woman MP.

An original "Blair babe", she has remained loyal to the Labour leadership including, controversially, backing the war in Iraq.

King has taken a particular interest in international issues such as genocide and supported strong action against Saddam Hussein.

However her decision is threatening to come back to haunt her, with the anti-war Respect party focussing its efforts on removing her from parliament.

The party has put up its figurehead George Galloway against her.

Galloway - who represented the now defunct Glasgow Kelvin constituency as an independent after his expulsion from Labour - has been an outspoken critic of the government's alliance with America.

Respect

Having been kicked out of Labour, he helped establish Respect and stood as its lead candidate in the European elections in London last year.

Although he failed to win election then, the party did do well in parts of the Capital with large Muslim populations including Bethnal Green and Bow.

Despite winning a libel victory against the Daily Telegraph last year over suggestions he received payments from Saddam , Galloway is still associated with his relationship with the former Iraqi dictator.

The seat is now the scene of a bare-knuckle fight for victory, even if King is keen to avoid it becoming a referendum on Iraq.

It could even end up in the courts itself, with Respect threatening to sue over charges made by King that its activists are anti-Semitic.

Galloway has lowered the tone of debate himself, claiming that King has "voted to kill a lot of women in the last few years... many of them had much darker skins than her".

Labour will devote significant resources to the seat, even if only to keep Galloway out of Westminster.

And King could be helped by the fact that both the Conservatives - second last time - and the Liberal Democrats have selected Asian candidates in Shahagir Faruk Bakth and Syed Nurul Islam Dulu respectively, potentially splitting the opposition vote.

The anti-war Green Party could also do so further, having decided to fight the seat with candidate John Foster.