Trial by Jeory

Nominations for Tower Hamlets mayor have closed.

There are five candidates:

Helal Abbas  – Labour

Neil King – Conservatives

John Griffiths – Lib Dems

Lutfur Rahman – Independent

Alan Duffell – Greens

Respect are not fielding anyone and will be backing Lutfur.

A statement given to the East London Advertiser by Respect reads:

“Having chosen to deselect Cllr Rahman, even more bizarrely, the NEC then chose not to offer the candidacy to the second place candidate, London Assembly member John Biggs, but rather to Cllr Helal Abbas Uddin who received less than one third of the popular vote received by Cllr Rahman and less than one sixth of the total votes cast by Tower Hamlets Labour Party members. Cllr Abbas has no credibility therefore to be Labour’s candidate either with the Tower Hamlets Labour Party membership or with the wider electorate.

“Cllr Rahman on the other hand has a fine track record as leader of the council and has declared that he wishes to lead the fight against the appalling Con-Dem cuts on the basis of a broad coalition involving the trade unions and community groups across the borough. We strongly believe he can win the mayoralty on this basis and we will do all we can to help bring about his victory.”