Sunday, November 04, 2007

Respect splits in Tower Hamlets

The Newham Recorder reports:

Respect in Tower Hamlets were in turmoil this week after a revolt by four of their councillors.

Oliur Rahman - the first Respect councillor in the country - and colleagues Lutfa Begum, Cllr Rania Khan and Ahmed Hussain have formed the breakaway Respect (Independent) faction.

They have resigned the Respect Group whip, which means they are not obliged to follow the party line. The rebels say it is no longer possible for them to work constructively with the group.

I presume that the four issued a statement along the following lines:
It is not we who have left Respect, it is Respect that has left us. It is no longer the party we joined: the party of George Galloway and Yvonne Ridley.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This doesn't surprise me.

It was clear at the elections last year that the Resect 'co-alition' was stretched to breaking point.

As the Iraq issue fades their reason for existing does too.

Duncan Borrowman said...

Splitters!
The Independent Respect Faction (IRF) condemns the actions of the Respect (Independent) Faction (RIF). We will continue to fight against the actions of the Faction of Independent Respect (FIR) and the Respect Faction of Independents (RFI) until our brother and sisters cease to be oppressed. We will also continue to fight for the rights to our initials against the Maoists in the Internationale Respect Faction.

HE Elsom said...

Must be something in the water. The WRP, the model for the People's Liberation Army of Palestine etc, used to hang out in Newham and Tower Hamlets (where the authentic proletariat of course are). Vanessa Redgrave once bummed a ciggie off me at a count.