Respect about to split again......

The career of George Galloway never fails to both bemuse and horrify at the same time.

This is a man who praised Saddam Hussein as indefatigable, thinks nothing of supporting the brutal Assad regime in Syria, courts the Islamists in Bangladesh and yet remains in the mind of many as the man in the leotard who pretended to be a cat for Rula Lenska on Big Brother whilst still an MP.

After leaving the Labour Party he teamed up with the Socialist Workers Party to found Respect, became its' first MP and established a base with 12 Councillors in the heavily Muslim constituency of Tower Hamlets. Then it all went wrong. Galloway fell out with John Rees and Lindsay German of the SWP who then split, most of his local Councillors started defecting to the Labour Party and if I recall correctly one even ended up as Tory.

Today there are just 2 Respect Councillors left left in Tower Hamlets with a small and dying local organisation.

George himself the tried to get elected in Newham (and failed), then set his sights on a Scottish seat (and sunk without trace) until he found another Muslim community to be used on his behalf in Bradford.

Then came his ill considered remarks about "sexual etiquette" in relation to the Julian Assange case.

Off went major supporters like Kate Hudson (CND) and Salma Yaqoob.

Now even that is under threat.

The Guardian reports that Gorgeous George has managed to fall out with his 5 local  Councillors over his possible intentions to stand for the Mayor of London:

George Galloway should step down as MP for Bradford West if he is serious about running for mayor of London, councillors from his own Respect party have said.

The councillors, who were elected to Bradford council last May following Galloway's historic by election win in March that year, say they may quit Respect and work as independents after hearing in the media that the 58-year-old's ambitions apparently lie in the capital, rather than West Yorkshire.

How did George respond to his critics? The Guardian tells us that:

Galloway's response on Tuesday to the criticism was to suspend two councillors for disloyalty and accuse all five of "conspiring to seize executive power".

Democracy in action, Galloway style. He refers to disagreement as "factionalism:

"Two of your sources for this latest attack... are already in the process of disciplinary action for factional disloyalty. They are jumping from your low bridge before they are pushed. It is a documented fact that for months now all five councillors have been conspiring to seize executive power in the Bradford party, so their motivation is more than a little suspect," he wrote."

So now we know.

Nothing to do with the fact that they are fed up with being just being foot soldiers for Galloway, who they say hardly spends any time in the city that elected him. For the record he doesn't spend much time in Parliament either. He has one of the lowest attendance figures of any MP of any party.

Now he wants to be Mayor of London as his mate Ken Livingstone is out of the way.

No thanks pal. You're not wanted here either!