Trial by Jeory

At the Labour conference in Manchester, the party’s London regional director, Ken Clark, told me that anyone declaring their support for Lutfur Rahman would have their membership terminated.

At the same conference, although Ken Livingstone sailed close to the wind, he chose his words carefully and urged Helal Abbas’s supporters to place Lutfur second on their ballot papers.

Labour peer Lord Nazir Ahmed, who was last year jailed for two weeks dangerous driving, seems to have been a bit more reckless.

As a commenter on this thread last night has pointed out, the former jailbird appeared at a Lutfur campaign meeting last night in Bethnal Green.

Here’s what he said:

“I’m a Labour peer and for a Labour peer to come and support someone like Lutfur Rahman, I know that I could get into trouble, but…I’ve no hesitation in supporting Lutfur Rahman because he is the best candidate.”

After Lord Ahmed was jailed last year, there was some debate as to whether he would be expelled from the Labour party. However, he still believes he is, the House of Lords website still lists him as one, and so does the Lords information office, which just told me: “Lord Ahmed takes the Labour whip.”

I am waiting for the Labour party press office’s position on the matter. However, just as 11 members were expelled last week, I can’t see how Lord Ahmed can also escape.

Over to Ed Miliband…

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Just a brief post on tonight’s chaotic, almost inaudible, strangely pointless hustings event at St Matthias Church in Poplar. (I’ll do a fuller one when I find time tomorrow).

I came away feeling that two of the candidates performed very well in the circumstances, one remained quietly dignified under fire, a fourth did OK and a fifth was pretty much out of his depth (and I have to say, that’s not a bad thing – the atmosphere was at times poisonous).

I’d say that, in terms of content, Lib Dem John Griffiths (who landed blows on everyone) just about edged it from the Conservatives’ Neil King, while Labour’s Helal Abbas, when he could be heard above the heckling from Lutfur Rahman’s young supporters, probably came third. The Greens’ Alan Duffell is, I think, beginning to wonder what political cesspit his party’s landed him in.

As I say, more detail tomorrow

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As the election for Tower Hamlets mayor enters its last nine days, the level of hostility is intensifying. This is being reflected in the quality and quantity of comments submitted to this blog.

I’m more than happy to host a debate, but anything touching on personal insults which are above and beyond the level of healthy, robust and even sometimes fraught political discourse will be removed.

I’m also receiving an increasing number of comments which make specific, unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing and illegality against named individuals. In practically all these cases, pseudonyms such as Richard, James, John, Andrew, Charlotte, Rachel, Alfred and Albert are being used by the commenter. If you want me as a journalist to take you seriously, then contact me directly by email – even anonymously if you prefer – and provide me with direct proof. I can then investigate, should that be necessary.

Thanks

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A reader of this blog was so amused by the thought of Helal Abbas (a man who doesn’t really do passion very well) displaying “aggressive facial expressions” during this morning’s encounter with Lutfur Rahman’s supporters that he has suggested a competition.

So, I’m offering a meal – with me! – at either the Lutfur-backing Clifton restaurant in Brick Lane or its rival, Preem, which is owned by Azmal Hussain, the former chair of Tower Hamlets Respect and now big-time Abbas supporter, for the person who sends me, via the email address in my contact section, a photo of their best “aggressive facial expression”.

The meal will be served on October 31, 10 days into the new mayoralty and, of course, Hallowe’en – so make it really scary.

Here’s the suggester’s entry.

UPDATE at 10.15pm

And Emdad Rahman has believes he has it game, set and match with the following picture, which he says is him when he’s really angry:

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For I don’t don’t know how long, the police have been educating people how best to use the 999 emergency number. Often their time is wasted attending needless incidents that divert attention from genuine emergencies. Politicians, who are the guardians of how public money is spent, have been at the forefront of this education campaign.

So….take an incident which happened outside Stepney Green Tube station this morning. Labour council leader and Tower Hamlets mayoral hopeful Helal Abbas and a few of his supporters met there for a morning of canvassing. And so too did a few of Lutfur Rahman’s team, including Cllrs Alibor Choudhury and Oli Rahman.

There was an exchange of pleasantries, then harsh words and then some “aggression”. And then a 999 call. And then police arrived.

Here’s Oli Rahman’s account:

Abbas came and shook my hand and also Alibor’s. There was a third person in our group [Oli names him, but for legal reasons, I’ll refer to him as X] who also wanted to shake his hand. Abbas didn’t want to and said in Bengali, ‘This is your father’s land you are telling me to go away from.’ In Bengali, this is extremely insulting.

There was a big Bengali guy with Abbas and he started shouting at X. The big Bengali guy then came towards X as if to hit him. He was aggressive. Abbas and another person there [Oli also names him, but for legal reasons I won’t] came towards us. They had aggressive facial expressions and body language. The big Bengali guy touched and pushed X. He didn’t fall over. Alibor had to go and restrain him by standing in the middle.

I called the police because I felt intimidated and that if Alibor hadn’t been there, there would’ve been physical violence.

I then asked Oli if he called 999 and he said ‘yes’. I then asked why – given it was broad daylight, it was outside a busy Tube station and in an area covered by CCTV cameras – he just didn’t walk away, as community safety experts advise. He said: “I was genuinely concerned for my safety. Yes, I could have gone to a police station to report it later, but at the time and under the circumstances, I was afraid we were going to get beaten up. I genuinely thought my safety was threatened.”

The Met Police have confirmed the call took place and I am waiting to hear whether there is an ongoing investigation.

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In this post last week, I mentioned receiving a depressing email. It came from a member of the Conservative party whom I met in Birmingham. She’s from Tower Hamlets and her name is Subrina Hussain. She told me of the racial harassment she had endured after refusing to vote for Labour. She said a Bengali man called her a “coconut” for her decision. For those unfamiliar with this derogatory term, it means “black on the outside, white on the inside”.

Subrina named her accuser, but for the moment, I won’t do so. Here’s her account.

R called me and left a voice message on my mobile on Saturday the 2nd of October at 11:41 am so I have returned his call as soon as I received his message around early afternoon.

First he asked me to vote for Labour Party and when I said I would not vote for Labour Party as I support and am a member of the Conservative Party so I would be voting for them, he said no one is going to see my ballot paper so I should vote for Labour Party and give him my ballot paper as I am registered on postal vote. But I said sorry I can not cheat with any one and I want to vote for Tory Party as I like their policies. He then started calling me a coconut because he thinks I should not use a Muslim name and support Conservative Party. He said being a Muslim and of Bangladeshi origin I should not support Tory party and he was accusing Tory Party as they do not care about Muslims or Bangladeshis and they hate us because he thinks Tory Party is white people’s party which is totally a wrong information.

He also said that England is white people’s country and white people see us as second class Citizens and can get rid of us any time they want but I disagreed and said no this is not true. The British government treats everyone the same so does the Conservative Party and if you haven’t done anything wrong, you would not get punished only because you are Bangladeshi origin or you are a Muslim.

I told him being Bangladeshi origin or being a Muslim does not make any difference for any one, Britain is my country, I belong here, I love my country as much as a white person can love, I will do anything to protect my country, I would not tolerate any bad comments about my country and I never bring my religion into Politics. He then started swearing at me, and the Conservative Party, he called me a puppet and used many dirty words any one can ever use so I cut the phone off.

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Lutfur Rahman promised me a statement on what has been happening and he’s now kept his word. His team has just sent me a leaflet that they’re delivering across the borough.

I’ve copied it below.

8 October 2010

Dear Resident,

Four weeks ago, Labour Party members in Tower Hamlets overwhelmingly voted for me to be their candidate

to be the Borough’s first directly-elected Mayor. I won by a majority of almost 200 first preferences votes than

the candidate in second place, in the 5th and final round the votes stood at Lutfur Rahman 433, John Biggs 251

and Helal Abbas at 157 and the Local and Regional parties both expressed confidence that the election had

been fair and democratic.

Then, on 20th September, Labour’s NEC received a complaint against me from one of my beaten opponents –

Cllr Helal Abbas. I was not notified of this complaint, let alone allowed to refute it, and the NEC did not

investigate the matter before deciding to remove me as Labour’s candidate. The NEC imposed Cllr Abbas as the

candidate, despite the fact he came a distant third in the election.

NEC member Christine Shawcroft gives an account of this show trial on her website at

http://www.christineshawcroft.co.uk/nec

Among Cllr Abbas’s allegations is his belief that I have been “brainwashed by fundamentalists” as well as

unsupported allegations that I ‘bought” members. Cllr Bill Turner, who ran Cllr Shiria Khatun’s unsuccessful

campaign to be the candidate has made similar allegations.

Let me be absolutely clear. I am not an Islamist, Islamic Supremacist, Fundamentalist or Entryist and

I have never paid for the subscription of another Labour member nor encouraged anyone else to do so.

Let me also be clear that no actual evidence of wrongdoing has been put forward and there has been

no open investigation into any of the allegations made against me.

Neither Cllr Abbas, nor Cllr Turner is impartial. Cllr Abbas has run against me three times – twice to be Leader,

once to be PPC and once to be Mayor. Cllr Turner managed the campaign of another unsuccessful candidate

and twice failed to make my cabinet selection.

The idea that a duly elected candidate can be removed on a whim and replaced by their accuser belongs in an

Orwellian nightmare – it does not belong in Labour party politics. If Ed Balls had made a complaint about Ed

Miliband, would the NEC have torn up the election result and made Ed Balls Leader? No, it would not.

In such circumstances, I’m afraid that my confidence in the NEC’s decision-making is shattered. I have appealed

to Ed Miliband asking him to commission an independent investigation into the way Labour’s Mayoral

selection has been conducted as well as the allegations against me.

However, I feel that the imposition of Cllr Abbas in my place is such an insult to natural justice that I have no

option but to stand as an Independent candidate in this election. My manifesto is exactly the same as the one I

drew up in partnership with local members as Labour’s candidate.

Eight Labour councillors in Limehouse, Poplar, Shadwell, Spitalfields, Stepney and Whitechapel have backed

me. A number of local Party officers and many ordinary members are supporting me too. I know that you want

to be loyal to the Labour Party and especially our new Leader and I’m not asking you to tear up your

membership card. But if Labour stands for anything it is FAIRNESS.

And I ask you – is there any fairness in the way I have been treated? If your answer to that question

is no, then please vote for me as your first preference on 21st October.

Cllr Lutfur Rahman

PS remember, your vote is between you and the ballot box!

CLLR. LUTFUR RAHMAN

Published and promoted by Gulam Robbani on behalf of Lutfur Rahman C/O 160 Old Montague Street, London E1 5NA

Printed by Printing Hub, Unit 5, Stonefield Way, South Ruislip, London HA4 0JS.

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In this post yesterday, I raised the possibility that a number of satellite TV channels serving the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets were breaching the Representation of the People Act with potentially unbalanced reporting of the mayoral election.

Cllr Peter Golds, Tower Hamlets’ Tory group leader, has now made an official complaint to broadcasting regulator Ofcom. He is demanding an urgent investigation because he believes the outcome of the election could be affected.

Here’s his letter:

October 8 2010

Ed Richards

Chief Executive

Ofcom

2a Southwark Bridge Road

London

SE1 9HA

Dear Mr Richards

Re: Electoral concerns regarding BanglaTV and Channel S

On October 21^st voters in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets will be electing an executive Mayor. This is a high profile position that has created considerable excitement within the Bangladeshi community who make up some 33.4% of the population according to estimates published in our borough guide.

The Labour party selection process was somewhat controversial and as a result there is an official Labour candidate, Cllr Helal Abbas and an Independent candidate, Cllr Lutfur Rahman, who had been selected as Labour candidate but was deselected by the national executive of the party.

Bangla TV and Channel S are extremely important to Bangladeshi residents and their penetration to this community is extremely high.

Both are expending considerable time on the election and regularly schedule programmes which are, long, unbalanced and are extremely partial.

On Friday 1 October I represented the Conservative candidate at a hustings programme. It started “around” 7.30pm and continued until almost 10pm. Questions came from a presenter, telephone lines and a small audience of about ten people (all but two male) who represented “the community”. I gather parties had been invited to bring two people along, but I was not informed of this. There are five candidates in the election but there was no sign of the Green party and no reference to their candidate.

The Independent and Liberal Democrat candidates were present and local councillors represented the Labour and Conservative candidates.

The first forty five minutes of the interview was taken up with comments about the Labour party selection process.  Questions were then  invited and there were repeated attacks on the Labour candidate from telephone calls and the “community” concerning a business closure in 1992. Policy discussion kept returning to this.

In a break I commented that this contravened the 1983 Representation of the Peoples  Act and Ofcom regulation, but this unbalanced process continued.

On Saturday Channel S covered the launch of the Labour candidate. I attach coverage from the blog of a local journalist who included a six minute extract from this coverage. The Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat candidates are ignored and there are again unfounded and malicious allegations against the Labour candidate.

These stations are extremely influential. They are the main conduit of information for a substantial proportion of the electorate, yet their coverage is unfair, unbalanced and biased. None of the regular channels would dare produce such programmes.

My concern is that this unbalanced coverage will influence the election and I am requesting that urgent action be taken to prevent this.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Peter Golds

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Sadly, given the abject lack of interest by the local mainstream television channels such as the BBC, much of the election campaign for Tower Hamlets mayor is being conducted on the influential satellite TV stations that serve the borough’s large Bangladeshi community.

These channels, such as Bangla TV and Channel S, are regulated by Ofcom and are subject to the Representation of the People Act 1983, which lays down rules about impartiality and balance of air-time during elections.

The question of whether they comply is a matter for Ofcom, but what is equally interesting is the actual content. The below YouTube clip was broadcast by Bangla TV on October 2 and contains a series of well known faces from Tower Hamlets politics and beyond speaking at Helal Abbas’s launch event. The voice-over is in Bangla, as are some of the speeches, but there’s also quite a bit of English.

You’ll see Jim Fitzpatrick in full podium-bashing form, Rushanara Ali, Frank Dobson, and Abbas himself. You’ll also see Lutfur Rahman say a few words (“Those who say I’m a puppet should look at themselves”).

And you’ll also see Lutfur’s main backer, the millionaire social housing tenant Shiraj Haque, give his assessment of Abbas.

“Helal Abbas is completely unfit for many reasons. I can’t trust my responsibility, my finances, £1.3billion of assets of Tower Hamlets in the hands of somebody who can’t even manage his own affairs.”

This is a reference to the bankruptcy of Abbas’s restaurant/ sari shop business in Brick Lane some 20 years ago. Abbas is then seen explaining the matter:

“Unfortunately, like many businesses in this country, they open, they close, they’re successful, they’re unsuccessful. This has no relevance whatsoever to do with me running the council.”

Isn’t it a touch ironic that a man who displays moral bankruptcy by depriving those more needy than him from living in a large family-sized housing association home in Bethnal Green complains about ancient historic financial bankruptcy in others?

By the way, none of the other candidates, Neil King of the Tories, John Griffiths of the Lib Dems and the Greens’ Alan Duffell, make an appearance in the report.

Here’s the video.

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Below are the known hustings for the mayoral contest.

Judging by the event on Sunday, October 17, it now seems that our new mayor will even have power over foreign policy. Always said this was an important election….

• Tuesday, October 12 – St Matthias Church, Woodstock Terrace, Poplar, at 7pm – chaired by Malcolm Starbrook, group editor of the East London Advertiser and other titles
• Friday, October 15 –  Bangla TV – Friday Plus show
• Sunday, October 17 – Oxford House at 3pm. Jointly organised by the following local groups: Tower Hamlets & Jenin Friendship Association, United East End, Viva Palestina and Tower Hamlets Stop The War
• Monday, October 18 – Spitalfields Small Business Association – business hustings at 7-15 Greatorex Street (6.30pm)

UPDATE: Operation Black Vote are advertising a hustings on Monday, Oct 18, as well – for 7.30pm at St Margaret’s Hall in Bethnal Green

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