Respect off conference agenda as George Galloway's party splits in two

Source: Independent

George Galloway's Respect Party has split in two. The rift will be made formal this weekend, when two rival Respect conferences are held at the same time, in different parts of London.

Afterwards there is likely to be a prolonged dispute about which faction is actually the real Respect Party. The party's website suggests that Mr Galloway and his allies are the breakaway group who have deserted the true party.

But Mr Galloway and friends have control of the building in Tower Hamlets which has served as Respect's national headquarters. This is because they went in one night and changed all the locks, forcing their rival faction to set up what they claim is the party's official headquarters in the front room of a private house.

One close observer said that Mr Galloway and Mr Rees, who are both domineering figures, "can't stand the sight of each other". As well as being Respect's national secretary, Mr Rees is in effect boss of the neo-Trotskyite Socialist Worker Party, and a leading light in the Stop the War Coalition, which has organised most of the big demonstrations against the Iraq war. Members of the SWP have been encouraged to join Respect, but several have been expelled from the SWP for siding with Mr Galloway.

Read more: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3143277.ece

In the U.S., there is the American Reform party, a split from Ross Perot's Reform party.

as "Life of Brian" depicted quite clearly.

i.e the very people at the heart of this bust-up.

Back when I was involved with the anti-Iraq war movement it was a source of some amusement to read the varous factions papers as often they would spend more time bashing the SWP then Bush & Blair. Amusing that is if you don't share their views. I'd hate to be a marxist trying to bash that lots heads together to actually get something done.

And with regards to RESPECT, it was an alliance of the far left with the Islamic faction of the Stop the War Coalition and to be perfectly honest it was a miracle that it actually lasted as long as it did.