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

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.

Tomorrow, Respect's national secretary, a veteran Marxist organiser named John Rees, will be officiating at what is billed as Respect's fourth annual conference, at Westminster University, in Regent Street. More than 200 delegates are expected.

But Mr Galloway, who is Respect's only MP and its best-known figure, will be at a parallel conference in Bishopsgate, launching a new movement called Respect Renewal. His supporters include the film director Ken Loach and the journalists Yvonne Ridley and Victoria Brittain.

An insight into the bitterness of the dispute is contained in an email from Mr Rees and three other party activists complaining that they had been locked out of Respect's head office in Tower Hamlets. Their email was sent to supporters, urging them to send a protest to Mr Galloway and members of his faction, demanding that they be let back in.

"Overnight the locks were changed on the Respect national office," the email complained. "This coup is obviously meant to prevent democratic debate continuing in Respect and to rob the membership of their own organisation."

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.

Mr Galloway was the Labour MP for Glasgow Kelvin until he was expelled from the party in October 2003 for remarks he had made about Tony Blair and George Bush on Arab television. Some people remember him as the balding, middle-aged man who was on Celebrity Big Brother and pretended to be a cat.

The party he launched three years ago was thought to have had about 2,000 members before the current split, in a coalition that included radical Muslims and Trotskyites. Their greatest success was to secure Mr Galloway's election as Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow. They also secured 11 seats on Tower Hamlets council, which made them the official opposition in an old Labour Party heartland.

But the rift has split the group on Tower Hamlets council, with four councillors forming a "Respect (Independent)" group. The East London Advertiser reported that the four were trying to do a deal with the Liberal Democrats so that they could combine to become the new official opposition in Tower Hamlets.

Mr Galloway's backers say that they will now be able to free themselves from the secretive habits of the Trotskyites.

But the left-wing journalist Dave Osler, the author of the blog Dave's Part, who has been a critic of the SWP and Mr Rees, suggested that for all their faults they provided a counter balance to the Islamists who have joined Respect. "The split will strengthen the weight of the Islamists in Respect Renewal, some of whom have links to Jamaat-e-Islami [Pakistan's largest religious party]. I don't think that's going to make the party very hospitable to socialists."

The leading personalities

George Galloway

To outsiders, George Galloway is the Respect Party. His fame, and his status as a Labour MP – expelled over the Iraq war – launched the party. But party rivals say he and his friends are a breakaway from the official faction.

John Rees

Well known to the few who take an interest in the British ultra-left. He is the strong man of the tiny Socialist Workers Party. He is a better organiser than Mr Galloway but a big fish in a very tiny pond.

Ken Loach

The veteran film director admires Galloway as a politician who refused to compromise in his opposition to the Iraq war.

Yvonne Ridley

A former journalist on the Sunday Express, her life changed when she was held prisoner by the Taliban in Afghanistan. She became a Muslim and is now political editor of the Islam Channel.

Victoria Brittain

The former associatedforeign editor of The Guardian is well known for her work on Guantanamo, the Middle East, and Africa.

Oliur Rahman

Leader of the Respect (Independent) group in Tower Hamlets. He was Respect's candidate in Poplar in 2005, but George Galloway has decided that he wants to fight the seat next time.

Abjol Miah

Pro-Galloway leader of Respect in Tower Hamlets, he is Respect's main link with the area'sMuslim community.