There’s something odd about this Thursday’s by-election in the Tower Hamlets ward of Weavers.
According to the list of candidates on the council’s website here, Abjol Miah describes himself as the Respect candidate. This, of course, is unsurprising since Abjol is a leading figure in Respect and was that party’s group leader on the council until 2010.
However, take a look at his election campaign leaflet:
Lots of Labour red, lots of Lutfur Rahman…but not one mention of the word ‘Respect’. Is this a warning to the voters of Bradford West? The George Galloway and Respect brand may have been victorious there but in Tower Hamlets, which witnessed their ups and downs for five fascinating years, their names seem toxic.
A senior Labour figure in Tower Hamlets had this to say about the lack of Respect in Abjol’s leaflet:
Very clever, he’s not said he’s anything else or that he’s an independent, so I think he’s within the law – but not entirely sure. Interesting that they see it as a toxic brand now.
There’s another way of looking at it, though: that the Lutfur brand is so strong that it would be madness not to capitalise on it. That would be worrying for Labour. But it shows you just how close Lutfur and Respect are now.
However, Lutfur could also find himself in trouble over another leaflet doing the rounds in Weavers. Here it is:
It is a letter from Our Dear Leader to the residents of Jesus Green in Weavers. Invoking the Cameronesque tone of “I share your concerns”, he tells them that he’s looking into supposed traffic problems in the area – and then thanks Abjol Miah for bringing it to his attention.
If this letter is not an actual abuse of purdah and election rules, then it is very close to being one.
Tory group leader Peter Golds has written the following complaint to council chief executive Aman Dalvi and his legal head Isabella Freeman (who seems to becoming Britain’s most well known ostrich when it comes to electoral malpractice):
Dear Isabella and AmanI attach a copy of a leaflet circulating in Jesus Green, Weavers ward, where there is a by election on Thursday.You will note that the leaflet is supposedly a message from the Executive Mayor.It states “I have instructed officers to investigate this problem, with the intention of installing speed bumps”
- There is no agreed budget for such a proposal
- There has been no consultation on such a proposal
- There is no indication where this would be in council priorities
Furthermore the leaflet (which has no imprint) supports Abjol Miah, a candidate in the election on Thursday.This leaflet implies that council priorities have been adjusted to give support to a candidate in an election, less than a week before polling.As a matter of interest residents are bemused as there is no indication that there is a need for traffic calming on a road that is often difficult to drive through due to parked vehicles.Why have council priorities been adjusted for naked political and electoral purposes?Many thanks(Cllr) Peter Golds
The council holds budgets for prioritising highway safety. Views of local residents would quite properly be taken into account in deciding which measures to implement where safety issues are identified. The Mayor can direct how budgets should be used to address residents’ concerns, particularly where an intervention is required to promote safety. If speed bumps are required then the appropriate consultation processes would of course follow. Finally, as the letter was not published using council resources there has been no breach of pre-election rules.
- Who did fund that letter (it has no imprint)?
- Does it constitute election campaign material? (Almost certainly yes.)
- And will the Returning Officer investigate this? (Almost certainly no.)
Trial by Jeory 
More of the same over on Gilligan’s blog. Does anyone know anything about Rahman’s claim on his own blog that he was an adviser on urbanisation and regeneration to both Livingstone and Johnson? If this is a lie has he committed and offence or is it all just par for the course with him as he has told so many lies anyway.
His blog is actually fairly misleading but when you click through the headline, you see that the claim is actually that of architect Richard Rogers.
What z shame, Abjol has been bitched out. I thought he was loyal to the principals of respect. He has sold out to self serving cronies with their personal agendas. All going to fall apart soon. What a shame, I quite liked him.
I love living in Tower Hamlets. I hate and detest Borough politics. However, I don’t foresee any change in the near future. Ted’s right, the Luftur brand is very strong right now. It’s soooooo depressing for residents.
Shouldn’t that be Syhleti manoosh? Respect was always a thing that was destined to fall apart and had no principals. Unless you are talking about the ones of Grouch Marx. ” I am a man of principals, and if you don’t like the ones I’ve got, I have others “.
There has as yet been no real attempt to look at in detail what happened with Respect as both sides of the split are lying about what happened. For the SWP, and it split them down the middle, George Galloway moved to the right and indulged in communalist local politics.
They said they had become disillusioned with the packing of meetings and people turning up with hundreds of membership forms all filled out in the same hand. Bit rich coming from them as this was exactly what they had been doing in every organisation the were associated with for years.
Basically they were out foxed by the Bangladeshi village mafias which have centuries of experience in those arts. The words of Blackadder spring to mind in this respect, no pun intended. ” He is more cunning than a cunning fox who has just been appointed professor of cunning at Oxford University”.
Once Respect was established as a product or brand name Galloway and the Bangladeshi power brokers had no need for the left anymore and they were ditched.
What then happened was classic deshi wheeling and dealing with defections and re-defections left right and centre. Once again no pun intended. The left stood and watched in amazement as a game of musical chairs was played out.
Keep an eye on Bradford as we are going to have a similar scenario played out there but in a different language.
I like the way I spell Sylhetymanosh. You take this shitty politrixs too seriously. No one makes a big difference to joe public. Joe public is too busy making ends meet. These clrs all look after their own cronies, does not matter what party they are. I’ve seen it all my life. I’d sell my vote to highest bidder. At least I got something. Vote for nothing You get Nothing.
Looks like another upset tomorrow!
By trying to kill off Ken local Labour have made it extremely difficult for themselves.
Would you trust a party who are pulling all sorts of strokes to stop one of their own from winning – even promoting Boris?
Also heard THLP will concentrate its efforts in Weavers and abandon the rest of the borough. It seems getting the vote out for Ken is less important than giving the mayor a bloody nose!
Here is the most interesting news, Cllr (Independent) Ohid Ahmed, Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets, has been twice campaigning for Ken Livinstone in South Hall with Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, Labour NEC Member. Photo’s can be supplied. But, I don’t think he (Ohid) will denied that.
Can some Labour Member explain, how come someone who has brought the party into disrepute by fighting against party (at the mayoral election) has been entertained and given platform by the same party’s NEC Member? This is yet another example of Keith Vaz and Ken Livinstone are instrumental playing divisive politics for Tower Hamlets Labour Party.
Yet another attempt by Lutfur to circumvent the Local Government Act rules on purdah during elections. Look at the pieces he* has published on his own website against Boris Johnson and in support of Ken Livingstone during the London elections – again, since the blog is apparently his personal one he is allowed to do this.
I think the Act needs to be updated.
*I have to presume that it is Lutfur who has published the material on his blog although the style of the material suggests that he has allowed his blog to be taken over by Ken’s campaign manager wholesale.
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[…] campaign techniques. Issuing dirtect mail on very local issues, but in one case, covered here by Ted Jeory’s excellent blog they seem to be breaking all manner of rules. Also the direct mail came from Mayor Rahman, not […]