Avowedly socialist and opposed to capitalism, Respect called for the nationalisation of much of the UK economy, increased funding to public services, and further measures to tackle poverty and discrimination.

Due to its links with MAB, several commentators claimed that Islamism was a component of its ideology and regarded it as part of a wider alliance between socialists and Islamists within Western Europe.

Respect's voting base was primarily among the British Muslim communities in East London, Birmingham and Bradford, where it built upon opposition to the Iraq War and disenchantment among leftist voters with the governing Labour Party.

The political scientists Matthew Goodwin and Robert Ford characterised Respect as a "broad coalition of left-wing interests" which had arisen in opposition to the New Labour government and the UK's involvement in the invasion of Iraq.

[14] The party was largely hostile to Western capitalism and neoliberalism, and interpreted many world events through the prism of anti-imperialism,[15] calling for an end to what it characterised as imperialist wars like that in Iraq.

"[17][20] The rejection of Israel's right to exist and the characterisation of it as a garrison of American imperialism in the Middle East had been espoused by the SWP even prior to the establishment of Respect.

[18] Galloway met with Hamas leader Khaled Mashal In September 2006, and that November the party's national-secretary John Rees attended the Beirut International Conference organised by Hezbollah.

[24] The Stop the War Coalition (StWC) had been established in September 2001, with a central role being played by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), which was then the largest radical left group in the UK.

[24] Galloway later revealed that, about a year before the UK and US launched the Iraq War, he had broached the subject of leaving Labour and establishing a new party with his friends Seumas Milne and Andrew Murray.

[25] He then announced that he would stand against Labour in the 2004 European Parliament elections, and that he would "seek to unify the red, green, anti-war, Muslim and other social constituencies radicalised by the war, in a referendum on Tony Blair".

[25] They had been part of a discussion surrounding the unification of a broad range of anti-war forces that were to the left of Labour, a successor to the Socialist Alliance electoral list that had contested the 2001 general election.

[30][31] The Greens stated that they had selected their candidates for the 2004 European Parliamentary elections by postal ballot months previously and that they were also sceptical of the SWP's influence over Respect.

[39] Respect's first election victory was in the council by-election for the St Dunstan's and Stepney Green ward of Tower Hamlets, where its candidate, Oliur Rahman, secured 31% of the vote.

[38] Galloway sought to unseat the sitting Labour MP, Oona King, and the ensuing campaign for the seat has been cited as "one of the most acrimonious in recent history".

[48] In July 2007, Galloway was suspended from the House of Commons for 18 days after the standards and privileges commit accused him of a lack of transparency in the financing of is charity, the Mariam Appeal.

[24] By this point its primary unifying issue, anger at Labour over the Iraq War, had become less salient,[69] with the political scientist Stephen Driver suggesting that for this reason Respect "struggled to be anything more than a one-trick pony".

[86] Galloway successfully contested Bradford West in a by-election held on 29 March 2012, following the resignation of Labour MP Marsha Singh due to ill health.

[89] Meanwhile, one of Galloway's supporting speakers at a rally on the Sunday before the byelection was Abjol Miah, once group leader of the Respect councillors in Tower Hamlets, who is also active in the IFE.

[96] Kate Hudson had originally been selected for the Manchester Central by-election, but stood down in early September following Galloway's comments on rape,[97] and left the party in October.

)[105] After no retraction of the assertions made against them had been forthcoming,[106] the five councillors entirely severed their connections with Respect towards the end of October and then intended to sit as independents for the remainder of their term of office.

[112] The remaining councillor of the five who resigned in August 2013, Mohammad Shabbir, announced he was joining the Labour group on the council in mid-April 2015 with immediate effect rather than rejoining Respect with his former colleagues.

[124][125] Since its formation, Respect has presented itself as being "genuinely left" and has sought to appeal to leftist voters dissatisfied with the Labour Party's shift to the centre under the leadership of Blair and Gordon Brown.

[132] It attracted some controversy for allegedly being tied to the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), a group based at the East London Mosque in Tower Hamlets.

Far-left criticisms of the party included that it was engaging in political opportunism, that it invited the petty bourgeoisie into the socialist workers' movement, and that it focused on the narrow sectarian interests of British Muslims rather than the socio-economic issues of the working-class and in doing so neglected feminism and LGBT rights.

[28] According to Guardian journalist Dave Hill, Respect was "a case study in the British far left's enduring gift for self-parodic, self-destructive splits".

[141] In a 2006 interview with PinkNews, Galloway praised New Labour's record on improving gay rights, and says of his absence from one vote that "there was never any doubt about the passage of the civil partnerships [bill], I wholly support it".

A resolution was passed calling for the end to all discrimination against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people and that this policy would be stated in all of its manifestos and principal election materials.

"[148] However, in October 2009, Yosef pledged his formal support to Tatchell's 2010 general election parliamentary candidacy, calling for the left to "embrace a mutual personal and political commitment towards equality and human rights".

[150][151] In 2011 Carole Swords, of Bow, the chairwoman of the Respect Party in Tower Hamlets, was convicted of a public order offence after an altercation with a Jewish counter-protester, Harvey Garfield, at a protest inside a Covent Garden Tesco Metro supermarket.

[157] Galloway's support for Hizbollah and Hamas, his refusal to debate with Israeli Jews, and his declaration of Bradford as being an "Israeli-free zone" are among the issues which have led to the attitudes of the politician being thought suspect.