Respect Party

The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen councillors in local government.

The Respect Party was established in London by Salma Yaqoob and George Monbiot in 2004. Arising in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it grew out of the Stop the War Coalition and from the start revolved largely around opposition to the United Kingdom's role in the Iraq War. Uniting a range of leftist and anti-war groups, it was unofficially allied to the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a far-left, Marxist group. In 2005, Respect's candidate George Galloway was elected MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and the party came second in three other constituencies. Respect made further gains in the 2006 and 2007 local elections, at which point its support peaked. In 2007, a schism emerged in the party between SWP supporters and the Respect Renewal group led by Galloway and Yaqoob; the former group left the party to form the Left List. Over the coming years, Respect gradually lost its council seats and it deregistered with the Electoral Commission in 2016.

Avowedly socialist and opposed to capitalism, Respect called for the nationalisation of much of the UK economy, increased funding to public services, and further measures to tackle poverty and discrimination. It was Eurosceptic and promoted an anti-imperialist worldview. It was also anti-Zionist, opposing the existence of Israel and endorsing the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Due to its links with MAB, several commentators claimed that Islamism was a component of its ideology and regarded it as part of a wider alliance between socialists and Islamists within Western Europe. Respect's voting base was primarily among the British Muslim communities in East London, Birmingham and Bradford, where it built upon opposition to the Iraq War and disenchantment among leftist voters with the governing Labour Party.