Question: what motivates councillors in Tower Hamlets? Is it:
a) striving for the greater good of the area?
b) striving to deliver results for their political party?
c) striving for the greater good of their next re-election?
d) striving for a personal income?
I ask this just a couple of days after former Lib Dem councillor and ceremonial mayor Barry Blandford died at the weekend. He’d been struggling for years with a serious illness and tonight a friend and former colleague of his described him as a “man of honour” who stayed loyal to his principles and who worked hard for all sections of the community. He was a governor of Limehouse’s Stephen Hawking School for kids with learning difficulties and during his time as mayor, I’m told, he raised thousands of pounds for the victims of floods in Bangladesh and made a special visit there to distribute money.
I also ask it on the day that four Labour councillors, no doubt after months of tortuous soul-searching – during which they told themselves daily, ‘We have to sacrifice our political careers for the greater good of the community; no, we really must’ – decided to break Labour’s party whip and work for the camp of Lutfur Rahman and millionaire housing association tenant Shiraj Haque.
I tweeted this morning that five would be joining the Mayor and I suspect that underestimates the eventual number.
So far, the ones to declare their hands are: ex-Michael Keith loyalist Shafiqul Haque (a former extremely ineffectual mayor and planning committee chair); Abdul Asad (who boasts every time I talk to him he’s the borough’s longest serving councillor), Rofique Ahmed (a seemingly nice enough chap, but not one to let a spot of toothache get in the way of picking up an attendance pay-cheque); and Shahed Ali, the most talented of the four and a former deputy leader of George Galloway’s Respect party (his current register of interests still lists him as a Respect member (mind you, it was last updated in 2007, but let’s not let a bit of transparency get in the way of way of work)).
Labour sources also suspect that Weavers councillor Kabir Ahmed could be on his way, while there could too be a surprise in store for Peter Golds’ Tory group. I was told by someone I trust today (and who was there) that on board Lutfur’s minibus to campaign for Jon Ashworth in Leicester South in May was Tory councillor Maium Miah: yes, that’s right, a Tory out campaigning for Labour – how generous. Apparently, Keith Vaz even boasted of an impending Tory defection to Labour during his speech, but that extract failed to make the final edit of the YouTube clip I posted last week. I was told tonight that Maium used to be a member of the Labour party, but signed up to the Tories when he realised he had a better chance of winning a council seat.
Aren’t we blessed in Tower Hamlets to have politicians of such backbone? It’s not yet clear whether the four defectors have been given cabinet jobs, but it’s a safe bet they have. That’ll be an extra £13,000 a year, which will be quite handy to those among the four who don’t have jobs.
There are also other self-serving issues at play here. Both Asad and Shahed are councillors in Whitechapel, the home of the East London Mosque and where the third member is Lutfur loyalist Aminur Khan. Shahed, for a fact, was known to be worried about his chances of being re-elected in 2014 unless he could demonstrate he could work with Lutfur. Shahed is a relatively talented politician – and someone who has political principles – and he’s an asset to Tower Hamlets politics. It would be a shame if he feels that he’s been bullied into switching sides.
If Rofique and Shafiqul are handed cabinet jobs, I can see the eyes of officers rolling towards the top of Canary Wharf now. Neither, like deputy mayor Ohid Ahmed, are the easiest to understand.
On the broader context, Lutfur is now establishing a larger if fairly untalented group behind him. He’s sounding a warning shot to those opposed to his re-entry into Labour that he is aiming to win the council outright in 2014. As things stand, Labour still has the most councillors, but it no longer has enough to veto the Mayor’s annual budget. Labour must now work with the Tories for that, something many suspect is already happening between Josh Peck and Peter Golds.
On a national level, both Tower Hamlets MPs, Rushanara Ali and Jim Fitzpatrick also have concerns. They see the latest muscle-flexing as not by Lutfur, but by the Islamic Forum of Europe. The MPs are worried that they’re in the IFE sights.
Trial by Jeory 
“He’s sounding a warning shot to those opposed to hi re-entry into Labour that he is aiming to win the council outright in 2014″…mmm… hard to think that’s possible given the electoral maths of Tower Hamlets.
More likely it’s formalising of what has been going on for some time, and a good thing for all concerned. At least who supports who will be more transparent now.
Very sorry to hear of the death of former LibDem Mayor Barry Blandford, he was what a decent Councillor of any Party should be.
Wow, you sound bitter!
Not bitter, Dan, just a bit sad. Just wish people involved in politics here could have some consistency about who they support and why. Don’t you?
The commenter Imran Khan has left the following comment on the previous thread. I think it’s worth a read here as well.
I take umbrage at your use of the word talented in the opening post. Talented by what standard? Compare and contrast these dunda heads with Cllrs in Newham and Hackney. Really now. Why do you feel the need to drag former council leader Michael Keith into this? Why is it necessary to even mention him?
I don’t think Labour group are suffering from any sort of brain drain with these departures, Kabir if he does go might be the exception. Let us hope that the £13,000 represents a golden goodbye. The rats might be leaving the ship but HMS thlabour won’t sink!
MILOSH – If you re-read the post, you’ll see that I used the word in a relative context. I’ve seen Shahed in committee for a few years and compared to most others in TH, he was incisive (although dubiously inconsistent on the question of the former Safeway/Morrisons site in Bow).
I think it’s fairly obvious why I described Shafiqul as a former MK man: his loyalty was somewhat thin.
Politicians self serving and devoid of any priniciples, really?! No one will forget the expenses scandal and how most members of the Houses of Parliament were milking it and still are. Everyone knows that Lutfur was and is a Labourite who ran as an independent only because there were a select few who with the aid of right wing journalists like Andrew Gilligan helped the meek Helal Abbas run a smear campaign against his opponent for his own political ends. Dave Hill of The Guardian does rather a better job of summing up the politics of Tower Hamlets than shrill journalists who forever see islamists under the bed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/davehillblog/2011/feb/11/lutfur-rahman-labour-tower-hamlets
The East London Advertiser reports a much more balanced piece on the actions of the four councillors and the following quote is worth noting “A spokesman said: “Following the mayoral elections in Tower Hamlets last year, the Labour group of councillors on Tower Hamlets agreed that where possible, Labour councillors should work with the directly elected Mayor in the interests of the people of Tower Hamlets, but not to be members of, or advisers to, his cabinet.”
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk:80/news/four_more_labour_councillors_join_rahman_s_administration_1_952551
It is also worth noting that MP Rushnara Ali happily attended as a guest of the IFE controlled East London Mosque celebrating its achievements over the last 100 years….
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/east_london_mosque_celebrates_its_centenary_1_740249
The real scandal here though is as Ted notes the clandestine cooperation between Josh Peck and Peter Golds. This is a massive betrayal of the principles of the Labour party, its grassroots and local democracy.
Adrian
“Everyone knows that Lutfur was and is a Labourite who ran as an independent only because there were a select few who with the aid of right wing journalists like Andrew Gilligan helped the meek Helal Abbas run a smear campaign against his opponent for his own political ends.”
You and a few others seem to have fallen willingly into this revisionist narrative. Have you completely forgotten the disgusting smear campaign against Abbas? Remember those adverts in the London Bangla. They’re here: I think you should remind yourself. I don’t recall Lutfur or his supporters once condemning them. How progressive is that?
That “newspaper” went out on an extra print run, deliberately delivered as a smear. During that campaign, Lutfur’s main backer, Shiraj Haque, boasted continually that he was funding the would-be mayor. Once elected, that “businessman” then turned up at the town hall for council meetings with “supporters” in tow and acted like a prize yob. Not once did Lutfur condemn his behaviour: I wonder why. And remember, this “businessman” is a millionaire who lives in a four-storey housing association home, one that would accommodate a desperate family waiting months and years for such a chance on the borough’s long housing list. I invited Lutfur several times to condemn this, but on all occasions he declined. I wonder why. Again, how progressively Labourite is that?
Lutfur is now in the process of doing what he did a couple of years ago: using our money to hand out sinecures to buy political support. At the same time, staff are losing their jobs. Now, how progressive is that?
Dave Hill is certainly no credible source, he is a confirmed supporter of Livingstone and is probably motivated by jealousy of journalists like Gilligan who are successful by their own efforts. Hill’s claims to be a journalist are a blog and articles in CiF which the unkind have attributed to the fact that he is married to a senior Guardian executive and not to any inate abilities of his own.
The other two links give a totally diferent account to what, I assume, Adrian wants us to believe. Quite why he has made reference to them I don’t know. What Adrian and others do, I believe, is to start from the point of view that there is a right wing conspiracy involving the Labour Party, The Telegraph and god knows who else to smear Lutfur Rahman for reasons that have never been made clear.
Perhaps Adrian would be good enough to explain this vast conspiracy? Could we have chapter and verse, the characters involved but particularly the reason or reasons behind it all because as a consistent watcher of this sorry saga I am at a loss to understand what the point of this conspiracy is? Or is because conspiracy theorists simply need the conspiracy and nothing more?
If I remember correctly during the election someone left a comment on this site that refered to Helal Abbas and his “shadowy neocon handlers..”
You don’t know Imran, because THEY don’t want you to know.
There was smearing on both sides, unfortunately one side stooped much, much lower and was rewarded with victory.
Interesting how you reproduced on here the nutty conspiracy-theorist response but not my original, equally content-heavy post. Ted, this is no excuse for investigative journalism; it’s a one-sided, whitewash hatchet-job form of churnalism.
Am not sure which ‘content-heavy post’ you’re talking about.
Breaking news!!! The only Bengali conservative councillor will be coming out within next few days to join Lutfur’s camp. Let’s see if Peter Gould is prevented by anything from kicking him out!
Also I am told that a senior representative (MP) of Ed Milliband is visiting Lutfur this Thursday to finalise agreements of them coming back into Labour Party. I would like to see the faces of Josh and co when that happens. Will be looking forward to the full council meeting!
Interesting: perhaps you can expand on this? Labour leadership know nothing about it. In fact, I’m told moves are afoot at that level to expel the defecting four.
I am assuming that in your first comment that you were being sarcastic with the upper case they. All reminiscent of the excellent Jon Ronson book ” Them” about conspiracy theorists. I don’t really think that you should place any credence in your memories, correct or not, about postings on this site or anywhere else about references to anyone. One of the things about conspiracy theories and anonymous postings is that they rely on sources which cannot be checked.
This is a feature of the conspirators and harks back to secret world government theories that have been around for centuries usually involving, in any order and any combination, Jews, Freemasons, The Illuminati, The Jesuits and not forgetting David Icke and the secret world government comprising various types of snakes that live below the surface of the earth!
Perhaps it’s my profession but I all always prefer to stick with the evidence as opposed to supposition and rumour . I followed the events in Tower Hamlets closely and can recall no instances of Helal Abbas Uddin smearing the Lutfur camp or the man himself. If you have any evidence of this I would be glad to look at it and possible you could post it here.
Rahman’s main financial backer has made no secret of the fact that he paid for the special edition of London Bangla which slandered the Labour candidate. This is not in dispute, it is not a matter for discussion. All of the Bengali language TV channels ran programmes openly attacking Abbas Uddin as a wife beater and an apostate, I have seen them.
A member of Lutfur Rahman’s family had herself and two other people registered as Labour members in a flat in Hanbury St E1 which was rented out to a single Bangladeshi. The pro Lutfur argument seems to be that, well yes he did cheat and there were fake Labour Party members and names on the voters roll but he would have won anyway. Not good enough I’m afraid, corruption is corruption.
In any event the bulk of votes for Rahman both as Labour candidate and in the Mayoral election were bought through village and business power brokers. Exactly the same things goes on in other Asian communities and used to in several non Asian communities around the world at various times in history.
The Irish American vote in Boston, New York and other East Coast cities was controlled by what was essentially an Irish trades union Catholic mafia which faithfully delivered the vote to the Democrats for generations. It is no good saying that because someone else did it it is right. Two wrongs never make a right as you should know.
The massive political and financial corruption taking place in Tower Hamlets at the moment is something that generations of reformers and socialists fought for to eradicate. We have essentially returned to the status quo pre the 1832 Reform Act where ” rotten boroughs ” were bought and sold. We have returned, at least in terms of Tower Hamlets, to a situation were democracy is for sale.
As I have said before I know Lutfur and he not the sharpest knife in the drawer but doesn’t need to be. Whatever his gaffes and scandals money and the Mosque will keep him where he is. The wider picture is however the more important. What is Livingstone going to do in terms of accepting Lutfur’s endorsement and support in his campaign to be re-elected Mayor?
I predict a close election with the Muslim vote possibly being crucial. Livingstone is on the horns of a dilemma. He needs the Muslim, or Bangladeshi vote, delivered but there is a price to be paid in that he will have to be seen to be endorsing Lutfur Rahman and the Mosque and that is going to go down like a Led Zeppelin with the larger electorate. Furthermore, it is wrong to assume that all ethnic minorities vote as such and in a block as Livingstone found out to his cost last time.
Much of the established Indian, Pakistani and Sikh communities are extremely conservative and have voted Conservative for years. They tend to be in the professions and business are are many of the more recently arrived communities from Africa and Eastern Europe. I see all of this as a partner in an inner city practise in London.
What has also been most noticable about Livingstone’s campaign is that it isn’t. The man is invisible. He is going to need to be more active but I know that in the Labour Party in Newham he is having a problem getting people out to canvass and I hear that the same situation prevails in Hackney. It might be that we will see him speaking on IFE platforms very shortly, should be interesting.
Imran, yes, I was being sarcastic – thinking very much of Ronson his coverage of people who believe in Illuminati, the freemasons, the alien lizards etc – terrifying to think that you or anyone else reading this would think I was being serious and promoting this idea rather than ridiculing it. I’ll be more careful in future! I could dig through the archives and find this post but perhaps this would only encourage people along those lines. Subsequent posters took the piss out of it at any rate.
Worryingly, critics of the IFE from various backgrounds ARE often accused of being ‘neocons’ or ‘zionists’ or controlled by them. As we know a lot of conspiracy theorism leads people ultimately to the conclusion that the Jews are behind most of the world’s troubles – and I don’t think you have to look very hard to find that view in Tower Hamlets.
On your other points, I withdraw my accusation of smears from the Labour camp. I think there were some very poor decisions but smear is too strong. There was nothing to compare to the despicable London Bangla edition or the ‘bad Muslim’ insinuations that came from Lutfur.
But unfortunately the machine politics you describe are not only a feature of the Lutfur camp.
The 4 Councillors have been sent their charges by the Labour whip and have 14 days to withdraw their stance and fall in line. Or they will be officially excluded from the labour whip.
These guys are total oppurtunists, if you meet the first 3, other than Shahed, you can forget about understanding them in english, but You cant even understand their Bengali. [CONTENT REMOVED FOR LEGAL REASONS.]
Oliur Rahman’s Facebook update:
“Mayor has appointed new Cabinet Members to his Cabinet:
Councillor Rofique Ahmed – Cabinet Member for Regeneration
Councillor Shahed Ali – Cabinet Member for Environment
Councillor Abdul Asad – Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing Councillor Shafiqul Haque – Cabinet Member for Jobs and Skills”
A very sad day for the people of Tower Hamlets. I am extremely disappointed that the Chair of Bethnal Green & Bow Labour Party was pivotal in his campaign to hand over the rightful asset of our borough and the millions spent on Bethnal Green Technology College one step further to becoming an Academy. How can residents of another borough be given the right to vote to transfer assets that belong to our residents?
This will no doubt split the Labour party much further than it has already been torn apart.
Yes Graham Taylor has handed himself this asset. Tower Hamlets Labour Party members are giving away assets in the borough’s school estate – to themselves. Kerching! for Graham Taylor as one of the future directors of the company running Bethnal Green Technology College.
At least Kabir Ahmed had the decency to distance himself from the Tower Hamlets Labour Party while they are busy helping themselves to LBTH schools.
Shahed Ali is right to highlight this – I don’t like Lutfur but he has taken the right stance on the BGTC issue. What a disgrace for Labour.
Labour to Conservative; Respect to Independent; Labour to Independent; Respect to Labour.
In this country we have a coalition government, and here, in Tower Hamlets (TH), we have councillors changing parties almost as frequently as the recent weather.
Are our councillors self-serving individuals with no loyalty? Well of course they are. The few who aren’t will fall away to the sidelines. In TH, the political lines are not as strong as the historical/ community links that gave the majority of councillors their votes.
We now have an independent Mayor in TH and if any Labour councillor wants to work with him, it seems that they they will have to rip up their party membership. Not that they would hesitate, as most of them don’t care what party they’re standing for/representing anyway.
It’s a shame that the Labour party botched up with a weak leader (Helal) last year, and even more of a shame that they refuse to work with the Mayor.
I have to agree that Lutfur winning as an I dependant can be largely blamed on Labour not having the guts to follow procedure and place the official second choice who was an English man, rather than stick with third choice Abbas, who is sooooo lacking in charisma, no wonder many voters who were on the fence, went away from him.
His only stance was that he was against Lutfur and that was about it. The ‘sexed up dodgy dossier’ he handed in was riddled with language similar that to a school boy telling on his ex best friend, with some unsubstantiated claims.
He had no substance, but the labour party wanted to try and secure the safe Bengali vote, who Lutfur would have won with voter irregularities or not, IFE or not, East London Mosque or not, because many of the Muslim voters did not like how a popular Mosque was being vilified, which turned Lutfur into some sort of hero warrior for the people.
Some sections of the press need to take the blame for incompetent Lutfur being charge and in turn, recruiting even more inept cllrs to important roles.
But I suppose it gives them more to write about so they are in a win win situation for the likes of Gills and Ted.
Ria, Its not a shame that the Labour party are refusing to work with the Mayor, in fact they are you muppet, and its even with greater pride that they are standing up to the Mayor. the community should be proud of the Labour group,and its previous leader Helal Abbas. at least we know that a few wont sell their communities for personal gain.
Standing up to the Mayor? Why are they standing up to him? I thought you said they were working with him? The actions of the Labour group over the past two years do not warrant any respect. They’ve been shoddy, dishonest, and self-serving. And Helal? The less said about him the better.
It is a pity that more of those posting here don’t actually do a litle studying of local government and the law that regulates it.
The Labour group on Tower Hamlets have not refused to work with this Mayor any more than any opposition group locally or nationally do not when they are in opposition. What is happening is that a number of councillors elected as Labour have, since the Mayoral elections last October, left the Labour whip and have taken paid cabinet positions with Lutfur Rahman.
In doing so they have broken Labour Party rules and have been expelled in the same way that if a current member of the Labour Party in Parliament accepted a cabinet job with the government they would be expelled.
For Labour councillors to do their jobs in the sense that they hold surgeries, raise matters of concern to their constituents and perform other functions does not mean that they are cooperating with the Mayor.
To describe Helal Abbas Uddin as a weak leader because he didn’t run smear campigns against Lutfur Rahman or pay bribes to get votes makes a mockery of the whole electoral process and implies that Machiavelli was a role model and that all students of local government should never be without their edition oof ” The Prince”.
Imran, while you’re in the library, sorry, I meant Idea Store, studying local government and the law that regulates it, please pick up a popular book – it’s called “Get Real and Open Your Eyes”.
The only difference between Helal and Lutfur is that one is the Mayor and the other isn’t. And some would argue that Lutfur has a set of balls.
In English please! Ria, whilst born here, and I have no idea of your origins, I grew up with Hindi/Urdu and a few other things as well. One of the things that I was told was, that to be taken seriously, it was necessary to have good English.
As a lawyer it also was impressed on me that being able to string together an argument is not that bad an idea, and one that I now pass on to you!