Respect Party

{{UKpolitics}}
'''Respect''' was an [[socialism|(un)democratic socialist]] political party (which supported the conservative, authoritarian [[Iran]]ian regime) active in [[England]] and [[Wales]] from 2004 to 2016. Its name stands for Respect, Equality, Socialism, [[Pacifism|Peace]], [[Environmentalism]], Community and <strike>Twattishness</strike> <strike>[[Theocracy]]</strike> <strike>[[Terrorism]]</strike> <strike>[[Dictatorship|Tyrannophilia]]</strike> [[Trade union|Trade Unionism]].

The key force behind the party was [[George Galloway]], a former [[Labour Party|Labour]] MP and fervent anti-war activist, who, following a highly publicised campaign to become Respect MP for Bethnal Green, [[London]] (unseating Labour heavyweight Oona King with a 26% swing), promptly abandoned his desperately poor constituency to impersonate a cat on ''Celebrity Big Brother''.

It was essentially a coalition of conservative [[Islam]] and fragments of the old British left, which is by any standard a fairly odd coalition, although it did reflect Galloway's rejection of trendy new-leftish [[identity politics]] ideas like [[Feminism|women's rights]].

==Members==
Respect was known to attract nutters. A prime example is Carole Swords, the party's Tower Hamlets chair. This woman courted controversy by yelling "Go back to bloody [[Russia]]" at a pro-[[Israel]] activist,<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20111124141211/http://blog.thecst.org.uk/?p=2771</ref> and followed this up a month later by assaulting an elderly [[Judaism|Jewish]] man.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120130062955/http://hurryupharry.org/2011/08/24/press-release-respect-party-tower-hamlets-chair-arrested-after-attacking-elderly-jewish-man</ref>

Another is Naz Kahn, who became the Women's Officer of the party in October 2012. Less than a month prior, she had posted the following message on a Facebook page operated by Respect's National Secretary:

{{quotebox|It’s such a shame that the history teachers in our school never taught us this but they are the first to start brainwashing us and our children into thinking the bad guy was [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]. What have the Jews done good in this world??}}

A spokesman for Galloway claims that Kahn has repudiated these sentiments.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20121028022120/http://hurryupharry.org/2012/10/26/respect-wont-dismiss-nazi-loving-womens-officer-naz-kahn/</ref>

Yet another ''interesting'' Respect member is Catherine Higgins, who was chosen to contest a Manchester Central by-election in November 2012 and got 1.9% of the vote.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20121119044200/http://hurryupharry.org/2012/11/16/respects-catherine-higgins-loses-in-manchester-central</ref> Higgins' "likes" on Facebook include pages relating to [[Bashar al-Assad]], [[Press TV]], [[9/11 conspiracy theories]], opposition to [[chemtrails]], and [[HAARP]], [[UFO]]s, [[David Icke]] and, sitting rather oddly amongst the moonbattery, [[Ron Paul]] and [[Alex Jones]].<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20121102002558/http://hurryupharry.org/2012/10/30/catherine-higgins-respect-picks-another-winner</ref>

==Demise==
In the [[2015 United Kingdom general election]], Respect fielded just four candidates, who won 
no
 9,989 votes collectively.

Despite being basically a megaphone for George Galloway, the party still needed some internal structure and leadership, but by 2013 nobody could identify who was officially in charge.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/global/the-northerner/2013/oct/28/georgegalloway-respect-party Who is the leader of the Respect party these days?]</ref>

It campaigned in favour of [[Brexit]] in 2016.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303080320/http://www.respectparty.org/2016/02/22/respect-to-campaign-to-leave-the-european-union/ Respect party Website], 22 February 2016</ref> Galloway stood in the 2016 London Mayoral election, coming 7th with 37,007 first-preference votes (1.4%).<ref>{{wpa|2016 London mayoral election}}</ref> In June 2016, Galloway was forced to apologise in court and pay damages after losing a libel suit brought by his former assistant Aisha Ali-Khan.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/20/george-galloway-damages-assistant-aisha-ali-khan-dirty-tricks-claims George Galloway pays damages to former aide over dirty tricks claims]. ''[[The Guardian]]'', 20 June 2016</ref> The party officially de-registered shortly afterwards, when Galloway decided he liked [[Jeremy Corbyn]] and would probably rejoin Labour.<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-galloway-respect-party-deregisters-labour-jeremy-corbyn-member-a7202191.html George Galloway's Respect Party deregisters, prompting speculation politician may rejoin Labour], The Independent, 21 August 2016</ref>

==References==
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