The Beginning of the End for Respect?

Virtually unnoticed in all the electioneering and results of the past few days, there has been a significant defection: Whitechapel’s Respect Councillor, Waiseul Islam, has left the party for Labour. Labour is pleased, as it means their overall majority on Tower Hamlets Council has gone up from one to three. But the wider local community has reason to nod with a certain satisfaction, given what Cllr Islam has said about the party he has ditched: ‘I have been more and more frustrated with Respect, which offers little in the way of policies, direction or service to the community in Tower Hamlets… I reject the idea of dividing the local community for political gain, which is what I believe Respect are effectively doing.’  And as he told the East London Advertiser, ‘Respect is not a party that can deliver, especially when its elected MP [George Galloway] is hardly visible in his constituency, leaving those who voted for him neglected.’

Indeed, many voters in East London who were wooed by Respect’s enthusiastic youth squads and Gorgeous George’s  barnstorming electioneering style now rue the day. Respect hoovered up Muslim votes, in particular, during the 2004 Euro-elections and the 2005 general election in Tower Hamlets and parts of Newham, pushing the Liberal Democrats down into fourth place in the process. But subsequently, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow outraged many of those same Muslims by his antics on Big Brother, and left many other voters feeling let down, as he gave the impression of being interested in furthering his media career. Moreover, the weird coalition between radical Muslims and the Socialist Workers Party (which is what Respect largely was at its outset in East London) could never hold together. So perhaps Cllr Islam’s defection will prove to be the beginning of the end. Watch this space.