Respect's Yaqoob Quits After Galloway Rape Row

Salma Yaqoob has resigned as leader of the Respect party after what she describes as a "breakdown of trust and collaborative working".

It comes just three weeks after she criticised the party's only MP, George Galloway, over controversial comments he made about rape.

He had suggested that even if allegations made in Sweden against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange were true, he was guilty of no more than "really bad manners" and "bad sexual etiquette".

In a statement posted on the Respect website , Ms Yaqoob said she had decided to step down after an "extremely difficult few weeks for everyone in the party".

"I feel necessary relations of trust and collaborative working have unfortunately broken down," she wrote.

"I have no wish to prolong those difficulties, and indeed hope that they may now be drawn to a close."

She wished the party the best and said the policies it had fought for needed to be "voiced as loud as ever in opposition to a political establishment that remains out of touch with working people".

In the wake of Mr Galloway's remarks , she had posted a statement saying: "Let me be clear, as a politician and as a woman. Rape occurs when a woman has not consented to sex.

"George Galloway’s comments on what constitutes rape are deeply disappointing and wrong."

Mr Galloway was dismissed from his job as a columnist for Scottish political magazine Holyrood for refusing to apologise for his remarks.

Respect national secretary Chris Chilvers said: "While we are obviously very sorry that Salma has decided to leave Respect, we would like to thank her for the great contribution she has made to Respect over the last decade.

"We look forward to working with Salma in the future in pursuit of our shared values and objectives."