Been wondering what Lutfur Rahman’s been up to since becoming Mayor at the end of October? Well, here’s your chance to have a look for yourselves.
I’ve just been sent a response to a Freedom of Information request I lodged with Tower Hamlets council last month. Intrigued by Lutfur’s absence from the important Remembrance Sunday service at Tower Hill on November 14 (and by the refusal of £100,000 a year Takki Sulaiman’s to answer questions about it), I asked the town hall for a copy of all the Mayor’s diary engagements between his election and Christmas.
And what fascinating reading it makes! In fact, Takki seems to be his favourite officer, holding more meetings with him than almost everybody else. When I was at the East London Advertiser, we were always told that the council’s controversial freesheet, East End Life, was free of political independence. Somehow that didn’t ring true. And now that hunch seems to have been right. For every Tuesday now, Lutfur and Takki spend an hour together to “look at the proposed news list for East End Life”. The paper goes to print on Fridays. I’d imagine that the ELA might have something to say about that. I’m sure the council ensures it complies with the Local Government Act on publicity, however. Very sure.
Takki’s also been lending his considerable intellect in other ways, including on November 8 a discussion with Lutfur about how to “brand” the Mayor’s office. I’m sure the hundreds of council staff about to lose their jobs will most grateful about that.
On December 10, his diary has him spending three hours “media training” at 23 Gosfield Street, W1W. That’s the studios of the Sound Company, a voice-over and audio production studios just off Oxford Street. Yes, I shall be asking how much this training cost and, er, why the studios at the struggling Rich Mix studios in Bethnal Green Road weren’t used.
There’s plenty of other material in there as well. His date at Tower Hill on November 14 was marked as “attendance confirmed”, yet he was a no-show. We still don’t know why. As you’d expect from a Mayor, he attends an awful lot of community events, including on November 28 the “Darul Ummah Ceremony” (where, sadly, earlier this month people felt it necessary to hold a debate on whether Islam is compatible with football), and a “Clifton Awards ceremony” at his friend Siraj Haque’s restaurant in Osborn Street on December 14. there have also been plenty of mosques wanting to bend his ear, probably about help improving their often ramshackle facilities.
Others that caught my eye include an entry for December 19, when he had an appointment to visit the Ebrahim Community College in Whitechapel. This is a fee-paying Islamic sixth form college where fees are £2,500 a year. It is run as a charity and its accounts can be seen here. You’ll see that it is in a bit of financial bother and that it currently receives no grants from the council. In its latest accounts, its trustees state:
We are actively seeking funding to sustain our projects and to be able to continue providing subsidised courses to our members.
Its trustees are listed at the Charity Commission as MR M M UDDIN, SHAMS UDDIN and ZAFRAN MALIK. I don’t know any of them.
On the political front, deputy mayor Ohid Ahmed and Alibor Choudhary seem to be his favourite councillors, if his diary is anything to go by, but he also has time for some of his former Labour colleagues as well. On November 15, he had an hour meeting planned with Cllr Abdul Asad, while a week later he met Cllr Shafiqul Haque for an hour. I wonder what was discussed there…
As ever, dear readers, I’d value your own insights, intelligence, evidence and observations. You can read the full unexpurgated diary here.
Or, here are the other pages as jpegs.
Trial by Jeory 
Ted
What have you got against Muslims?
Just be honest and upfront that will be a good start
Well based on this list of commitments I can tell who is running Tower Hamlets and it certainly isn’t Mayor Rahman!
The interesting question is whether or not he realises what the diary of somebody who is actually fulfilling the role of Mayor properly actually looks like.
Why not compare the diary events to a similar period re the list of engagements of the Leader of the Council AND the ceremonial Mayor.
Then maybe compare it to the diary of (say) Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham or Jules Pipe, the Mayor of Hackney – and the hours they put in……
While it’s obviously very important to hear what local people have to say, there’s a question of balance in terms of how he spends his time. It would appear Lutfur hasn’t quite grasped that the role of Mayor is about running the Council.
This is a Council facing £70 million in cuts from the budget. Count the meetings with Chief Officers about what the budget cuts means for specific services…..
The reason there used to be a ceremonial Mayor was so that he or she could attend the various “put in a show” events and let the Leader get on with the important business. It was the equivalent of the events attended by minor Royalty compared to engagements of the Prime Minister.
It usually has to be something really important for the Prime Minister to make the time to turn up. This sort of Diary makes Mayor Rahman look like a complete stooge.
Something Mayor Rahman might like to keep in mind.
I actually feel quite sorry for him. When they said “We’re all in this together,” Lutfur ended up with “I’m all in this together”.
I wonder who the very small number of residents deemed important enough for a meeting with the Mayor – although with the Deputy or most of the Cabinet – are?
It’s interesting that the only non Bengali residents the Mayor seems to have met are Jenny Fisher and Kathy McTasney – who were both expelled from the Labour Party for backing his independent campaign. Sounds like they are getting a privileged opportunity to promote their causes – valuable though they may be.
It seems extraordinary but there are no 1-2-1 meetings with Kevan Collins, although plenty with the Head of Communications!!
Dear interestin,
You make a very serious (and anonymous) allegation about me in the public domain. It is wrong and I therefore need to correct you.
First, I have not been expelled from the Labour Party for backing Lutfur Rahman’s independent campaign.
Second, I was part of an Island Homes residents delegation to the Council meeting in December at which every Councillor present voted for a resolution in support of our campaign against the actions of One Housing Group, which has taken over our housing association to the detriment of our residents. During the debate the Mayor offered to meet One Housing Group to press the Council’s resolution. I have since met him twice: once for ten minutes to see if I could arrange a meeting; and on a second occasion I met him, together with the relevant officer, for 45 minutes. I reported the fact that I had arranged these meetings to fellow resident organisation officers, and I reported the outcomes to them too. There was no question of any privilege over any other resident: the meeting arose out of the Council meeting and because I asked for it on behalf of our campaign.
Last December was the third time we residents have had the support of the Council. After previous Council resolutions, other residents and I met the (then Labour) Cabinet Member for Housing. I may have met the Cabinet member again this time too, but the mayor was covering her portfolio as she was on maternity leave.
The Conservative Isle of Dogs Councillors have also consistently supported IH residents. Other resident representatives and I have met Cllr Snowden, on behalf of the six local councillors, since the Council meeting to discuss how to take the campaign forward (I don’t know if he put the meeting in his diary).
The Four Estates campaign is supported by and represents residents of all political parties and none, who come from a variety of racial and religious backgrounds, living in over 2,000 properties. I, and other resident representatives, will continue to meet anyone who can help our campaign – the importance of which outweighs party political affiliation, racial origin and religious belief.
Kindly stand corrected and withdraw your allegation against me and, by association, the residents’ campaign.
Jenny Fisher
Re the Remembrance Day celebrations: I wonder whether Lutfur was similarly unable to get to the Lord Mayor of London’s inaugural events which are in the diary as confirmed for the days before Remembrance Sunday?
Re Taki: I note that there seem to be no entries for the regular meetings after 30th November. I don’t know whether Eastend Life stopped for Xmas – it would be interesting to know if the meetings have resumed.
Re YCMIU’s comments about the number of budget meetings – there are a few early 1-2-1 meetings with Kevan Collins (although these seem to have died a death from November) and a number of weekly meetings of the Mayor’s Advisory Budget panel (also referred to as MAB). Which suggests that some updates and discussions are happening although whether it would be enough remains to be seen.
It would be interesting to compare with, say, Jules Pipe’s diary.
Sorry – I take that back about Taki – have just noticed a meeting on 14th December to discuss the newspaper content
Also interesting that he’s meeting with ASDA’s “Head of Property” – those that bode well for all those Labour Councillors lobbying against Tesco Extra’s and the like on behalf of small business?
What’s the earliest that he has ANY meeting. Does this guy ever do anything before 1100 at the earliest?
Real working Mayors often start their day with breakfast meetings – and an 8am start is not at all uncommon.
That’s of course when you’re meeting with important people with lots of other responsibilities and commitments and very busy diaries……..
Meetings with the IFE are recorded in his diary then
Or not
I’m not sure that speculating on how early his day starts is entirely fair. Yes, many senior figures (not just in local government) will start with breakfast meetings. But others may choose to allocate the first period of the day to other business such as catching up with news summaries, any outstanding correspondence, briefings on outstanding issues etc. And that would not necessarily be in the diary.
Of course paperwork sessions are included!
Diaries of senior figures MUST include time blocked out for paperwork as well as appointments. If they didn’t they’d never get any of it done because of the very many demands on their time. Otherwise their Secretary thinks the time is available for meetings – and makes appointments accordingly!
There are quite a few entries which identify time blocked out in this way – but later in the day.
Or maybe the secretary knows that Lutfur uses pre-11:00am to do paperwork and knows not to book anything in?
Just because it’s how you like to do things, doesn’t mean it’s how they should be done.
It’s got absolutely nothing to do with how I like to do things!
I’m merely relaying – from personal experience of what it’s like trying to identify space in diaries – what is standard practice for people operating at a very senior level. None of whom would EVER have the luxury of two hours set aside every morning for paperwork.
Have you ever tried getting an appointment in the diary of a very important senior figure in government – and had to negotiate and turn metaphorical backflips for their PA in order find a space? Back to back meetings with other people who also have very extraordinarily crowded diaries is par for the course.
Hi Ted, could you please explain why there was a need to provide a link to the Ebrahim Community College’s accounts and also highlight who the trustees are – when you didn’t mention who owns or controls the Sound Company?
Unless there are accusation of wrongdoing, I don’t see why there is the need for this one sided emphasis on the minutiae of ‘Muslim’ organisations.
I’m sure you remember how the Right-Wing press referred to the ‘Muslim Peer’ when Lord Ahmed was charged with dangerous driving. He was a Labour Peer, and being a Muslim had no bearing on his actions or the case. So why use it? Well, it panders to a certain audience.
I agree totally with your point about the description for Lord Ahmed in that case.
I’m also sure you’re more than able to differentiate between a West End company that provides a service and a struggling charity in Tower Hamlets that might be in need of the Mayor’s help to raise funds. MPs and ministers are scrutinised like this every day. It amazes me how many times people think that questions shouldn’t be asked of a powerful new mayor.
This is the best illustration of the real problems with Lutfur. He isn’t very interested in running the council, so when people come along and want stuff from him he’s quite happy to give it if they help him with his life long desire to look important, by giving him a platform to make a speech or working for him in an election.
The Labour Party didn’t shortlist him because he had nothing to say in answer to their questions about running local government. He rarely meets any corporate directors despite having no cabinet members for half the portfolios because he’s quite happy for the officers to get on with it.
He published his own budget proposals and then subsequently called on himself to make cuts in East End Life- he appears not to have read his own proposals before publishing them, because he really isn’t interested in running the council at all.
Ted created his blog in May 2010. It was created to attack any Muslim progression. Ted would have never been so critical if Joshua Peck or Racheal Saunders were Mayor. That is plain racist and islamophobic. Have you covered the fact that Lutfur met Christian leaders during Christmas as covered in EEL? Or is that not worth noting??
So the Mayor met with some folks with different sky pixie delusions. Lutfur is the Mayor he gets the scrutiny, get over it. It is not anti-muslim it is telling truth to power.
@Joe
I’m over it mate don’t worry
I’m making a point people like you are only critical of a certain community and people of certain background. That’s a fact. Get over it? Ted is obsessed with Lutfur and so are some people. If it was a White, non Muslim person Ted or you would not have been so critical.
Emerald, go down to Bancroft Road archives and read what I used to write about Michael Keith and Denise Jones when they were council leaders. To name but two. Isn’t it you who is obsessed with people’s skin colour?
Errm Ted no, I’m not. I’m brown skin.
I’m not the journalist who is so keen to write about Tower Hamlets. You have a duty to be impartial, fair and balanced. You never seem to find anything positive about Lutfur, even when others recognise it. So brown skin people like me
(sorry for disjointed post)
So brown skin people like me can only come to one conclusion.
ps I wasn’t expecting someone of your standards to be defensive Ted. But to take a fair criticism
I don’t think Ted’s in the business of providing the Mayor with a personal PR service either – Takki has that one covered! 😉
Why do people always think that journalists are attacking individuals because of some distinguishing characteristic (eg related to ethinicity or religion or sexual persuasion) as opposed to the fact that the criticism might actually relate to the fact that the individual in question simply isn’t doing a very good job or their standards of behaviour fall far short of what is expected of somebody holding oublic office.
If you get elected you get held to account – it goes with the territory – get used to it! This is going to go on for as long as Rahman is Mayor.
Any Mayor – of whatever colour or creed – who was not doing a good job would get similar scrutiny. It’s all about accountability.
Well I have no problem with accountability and transparency I think they are healthy part of democracy.
My point is Ted has been attacking Lutfur disproportionately. Even when he was not in power. Ted’s blog started in May 2010 I can’t remember many posts attacking Abbas or anyone else for that matter. Even though Lutfur was not in power.
Secondly, Ted and Gilligan seem to write simultaneously or around same time- on the same topic. So a normal person like me of brown skin feel it’s a right wing agenda to undermine anyone who wants to progress. There are more topics in Tower Hamlets than just Lutfur! If it is just Lutfur Ted wants to focus on he should rename his blog to ‘Lutfur on Trial’
Did your Mother never tell you that life is not fair?
Go ask Gordon Brown what it felt like to be attaked by the Press
Go ask Tony Blair what it felt like to be attacked by the Press
Go ask David Cameron what it feels like to be attacked by the press
Go ask Nick Clegg what it feels like to be attacked by the press.
Go ask President Obama what it feels like to be attacked by the Press?
Do I need to go on or have you got the point yet?
Yes my mother did tell me life is unfair. Especially about racists like you. Who is talking about Gordon brown and Tony Blair! I am talking about idiots like you who attempt to be ‘balanced’ and ‘fair’ yet are hell bent on targeting one individual because he is different from you. Did your mother not grow you up in values of fairness and openness
I’m talking about politicians. The comments being made are about politicians.
Politicians are always a target for comment irrespective of the colour of the skin. – that’s the whole point – one which you are deliberately trying to ignore.
I regard your accusation of racism as grossly insulting and will in future ignore all comments made by you.
Emerald, please read my comments policy and temper your language. Also try to consider that when you hurl around the word ‘racist’ without any foundation, you contribute to undermining of its true meaning and importance. As I’ve said before, holding politicians to account is part of the democratic process. Lutfur is the TH Mayor, a new and extremely powerful role. He, I know, welcomes scrutiny: he’s told me so. By definition, the mayor is one individual and that’s why he appears so frequently on this blog. And that will continue to be the case.
If this blog had been going during Michael Keith’s leadership, he and the various deals he made with many community groups would have come under similar scrutiny. If you want evidence for that, go visit the archives at Bancroft.
Well unless your Ted himself I don’t know why you were responding?? My comments were aimed at the blogger Ted- are you Ted? If not you shouldn’t respond
Thank you Ted. Will take that on board
[CONTENT REMOVED FOR LEGAL REASONS. NOTE: IF YOU HAVE EVIDENCE THEN SEND IT TO ME TO ASSESS.]
I agree with Emerald ,The name of the blog should be;
‘Lutfur on Trial’.
I seriously doubt that Mr Jeory is really interested in holding East end politicians accountable….and not just Lufur Rahman.If you look at the statistics of his posts its 80% is about Lutfur Rahman directly or affairs related to him , even before he was elected as Mayor. There are only one or two posts about Rushanara Ali MP and I can’t see any post at all about Jim Fitzpatrick MP. Instead of directing us to Bancroft Library (which was saved by Mr Rahman), to find out -why doesn’t he tell us if he had even dedicated even 50% of his articles on Denise Jones or Mr Keith ?
Interestingly he started this year by writing something positive about Tower Hamlets , under Lutfur Rahman, ‘Tower Hamlets council starts to get a grip’( 1st Jan 2011), sadly he never mentioned the name Lutfur Rahman for once in that article.
I admire Teds generosity towards the people of Eastend, he is paying money to get this informations. (If I’m not mistaking I think you need to pay to request freedom of information.) If it’s not his money than certainly there are other generous people who are guiding him to serve us. Keep it up Mr Jeory!
Er… it’s free! So yes you are ‘mistaking’!
The Council is obliged to provide up to 18 hours of effort to locate, collate and supply the information free of charge. There is an option to charge above 18 hours but the Council’s policy is to ask for the request to be refined down to within that limit.I’m guessing that this request was well within the 18 hour limit.
Haque, FOI requests are free and very easy via the council website, and with the coming restructuring aka massive cuts thee will be lots more FOI stuff coming out. Mr Rahman has executive authority with that comes scrutiny and accountability. With the ELA moved to Ilford and woefully under resourced I’m very grateful for the bloggers like TEd.
Let’s have a vote
All those who agree we should ask Ted Jeory to change the name of his blog to ‘Lutfur on Trial’ say aye and reply back
Nay (unless we’re following the Thatcherite example of taking silence to mean consent).
He’s the mayor! He also has tried to take the moral highground over his election issues. Of course he’s going to be subject to scrutiny.
Also Emerald can you please explain what in the above post you take exception to? I’ve read it several times through and all I can see is Ted providing the facts of the information presented to him.
Are you able to site anything actually wrong with what he written above the fact that you don’t like Rahman being the subject?
It’s quite ironic that Mr. Jeory is keeping the very Communications Chief in a job by all these media enquiries he generates. Also I wonder how efficient it is for officers being constantly distracted from their day jobs by answering foi requests made by Mr. Jeory. Maybe someoene can put in an foi request requesting information on how much officer time has been spent by the authority replying to Ted Jeory foi requests, and how much in monetary terms it quantifies to…I suspect its far more than the £500 the mayor spent on his iphone.
I see the “Portray Ted as an unjust Tormentor” campaign continues……
I think maybe a little bit of context might help to give you a bit of perspective.
If you want to see how many individuals around the borough make FOI requests of the borough every day – all of which have to be answered – take a look at the feed which lists all the FOI requests made and their official responses.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/tower_hamlets_borough_council
The reality is that anybody with a legitimate interest is allowed to ask questions of the council
Are you suggesting that Ted – or any of us – should not be allowed to take advantage of the scope of the legislation which allows this?
Or maybe you are just not familiar with all the various ways in which the electorate can hold those elected to account? After all, FOI is just one of the ways in which questions can be asked.
BTW – there are proposals in train to extend the scope of the FOI Act! Should be interesting……..
Finding out how corrupt is, is worth the money it takes to expose
Tower Shamlets council that is
Ted
Highly selective and unfair. Iv followed your guidelines but it seems mention any name other than Lutfur and it gets deleted!