Maverick British MP George Galloway has come under fire after reportedly claiming that a rape allegation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had no basis because having sex with a woman when she is asleep is not rape.

Mr Galloway's comments were made in a weekly online video broadcast presented by the MP for Bradford West in northern England.

According to a report in The Guardian, Mr Galloway addresses himself to the allegations of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion made by two women - known as woman A and woman B - whom Mr Assange met in Stockholm in August 2010.

"Even taken at its worst, if the allegations made by these two women were true, 100 per cent true, and even if a camera in the room captured them, they don't constitute rape," Mr Galloway reportedly said. "At least not rape as anyone with any sense can possibly recognise it. And somebody has to say this.