“In what can only be interpreted as a sign of George Galloway’s long term commitment to the Respect Party in Rotherham, he has now confirmed as a speaker at Rotherham Respect’s public meeting, in Rotherham, on May 4th.

Rothpol also understands Yvonne Ridley will be a speaker too.” ( rotherhampolitics )

“Long term commitment” seems to me to be the last thing that we the public could be expected to pick up from George Galloway and his faithful follower Yvonne Ridley, of the Respect Party. Commitment to the party perhaps, but where is the commitment to Rotherham ?

Readers will remember that Yvonne Ridley stood as a candidate in the November 2012 election, which filled the place left by disgraced/disgraceful Dennis Macshane. After a fiasco of a Labour party “selection” of their candidate, Sarah Champion was elected.

During the run up to the election the Respect Party opened an office in Rotherham and both George and Yvonne spent time travelling around the area on their campaign bus. 

But as far as maltbyblogger has heard, this was the last we saw of them in our  town (as ever, mb is happy to defer to any information that shows differently). 

They zoomed down to Croyden for their by election and since  then I am only aware that Ridley is tending chickens on a small holding near Jedburgh and blogging about it. Oh, and of course they were in Birmingham on Saturday, spouting hatred against Margaret Thatcher.

According to their website:

“The Respect Party is opposed to war, privatisation and unemployment.
The Respect Party stands for peace, publicly owned services and a decent future for all.

We want a world in which the democratic demands of the people are carried out; a world based on need not profit; a world where solidarity rather than self-interest is the spirit of the age. We want to reach out to all those who share our views, to build a new party for change in the interests of ordinary people.”From http://www.respectparty.org/2010/12/about-respect-party.html

All very well to say what they “want” but how they are going to ensure they are going to make these things happen, is not clear.

Perhaps Galloway and his party should tell us what they would do if they did get in, in Rotherham. And hopefully they would sort things out in Rotherham before going global – which is what many – especially in Bradford, Galloway’s constituency – feel strongly about. 

Let’s hear what he has to say in Rotherham at the public meeting on May 4th, let’s see who the audience are and who becomes followers of the party as a result.