This piece comes from the Respect supporters’ blog. It is an account of events in Respect at national level over the last weekend that resulted in a split in Respect-The Unity Coalition with the SWP deciding to pull out. It comes from a reliable source which Neil is not able to divulge at this delicate stage.
As everyone is aware, there is a massive split at the top of Respect.
Essentially, the National Council of Respect is pretty much split down the middle with 17 SWP members plus Elaine Graham-Leigh (and Councillor Olliur Rahman, presumably no longer a NC member given that he has split from the Respect councillors group in Tower Hamlets) on one side, and with 19 non-SWP members on the other. A number of NC members are not committing themselves to either side. About four or five NC members never attend NC meetings.
In a letter dated 17 October Linda Smith, National Chair of Respect, called a meeting of the National Council to take place on Sunday 28 October. John Rees initially refused to send out the letter. He eventually relented but continued to argue that the meeting was unconstitutional. An orchestrated response from SWP members of the NC made it clear that they opposed the calling of the NC.
The other side was convinced that the appropriate forum for resolving the dispute, covering many issues but especially the constitutional validity of the conference delegations.
When John Rees learned that the non-SWP members of the National Council were preparing a document that would be critical of the SWP (Respect at the Crossroads) he indicated to one of the National Council signatories that, “if this is where we are at then the SWP might just call it a day”.
A friend of both sides of the dispute who had indicated his willingness to facilitate discussions between the two sides was contacted to organise a meeting.
A meeting was held between representatives of the two sides on Thursday 25 October. At that meeting there was agreement from both sides that there had to be a separation between the two sides. At the end of the meeting the only things to be decided were the terms and the timing of the divorce. The most important issue to be decided was the question of the name. The SWP position at the meeting was that they could walk away without the name as long as the other side didn’t get the name either.
The SWP made it clear that they did not want the NC to go ahead. The other side made it clear that the conference could not go ahead as presently constituted as the delegations from Tower Hamlets and the students, accounting for about a third of the delegates would be disputed.
Following the first meeting the non-SWP side agreed to compromise on the issue of the NC and agreed to call it off. A letter was sent out by Linda Smith to all NC members explaining that she was calling it off because a number of members had complained about inadequate notice.
The two sides then met again on Sunday morning 28 October. At this meeting it was once again agreed that a divorce was inevitable but the name and other details still needed to be sorted out.
At the same time, the SWP is continuing with its attempt to get as many of its members delegated to conference as possible.
The SWP leadership is apparently telling its members that it has no intention of leaving Respect – whilst negotiating the terms of separation!
John Rees, the Respect National Secretary, has today spoken publicly at a press conference called by four former Tower Hamlets Respect councillors who resigned the Respect whip last Thursday. They claim to have formed a new party called Respect (Independent). He spoke in support of the four and raised the prospect of Respect (Independent) candidates standing against Respect in Tower Hamlets. This clearly demonstrates the intention of the SWP to split its members from Respect”.
Liam redux 
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