I’m told these are the results for the Weavers by-election in Tower Hamlets:
John Pierce (Labour) 1544
Abjol MIah (Lutfur Respect) 1260
Caroline Kerswell (Conservative) 415
Alan Duffell (Green) 373
Azizur Rahman Khan (Lib Dem) 208
If so, big sigh of relief for Labour, a pretty good performance for the Greens, yet another disaster for the Lib Dems and a very strong showing by Lutfur’s Independents/Respect in what should have been a Labour walkover.
Labour will take heart from this and it maintains their strategic control over the full council. If they’d lost Josh Peck’s leadership of the group would have been questioned far more.
If Ken Livingstone loses tonight, expect to see the likes of Oli Rahman, Shahed Ali and Rania Khan being tempted to rejoin Labour. Labour will want to see this as the beginning of the end for Lutfur. Long, long way to go though…
UPDATE – 1pm
Labour group leader Josh Peck tells me via Twitter: “Oliur and Rania will never rejoin the Labour Group under my leadership – nor will any of the others. I never mourned their loss!” He added later that the sentiment also applies to Shahed Ali, Abdul Asad, Rofique Ahmed. This is where we might see the lines being drawn for a potential challenge to his leadership next week.
Trial by Jeory 
ted you forgot our own ‘Eddie the Eagle’:
Oli ROTHSCHILD Independent 36 votes
Turnout was 44.6 per cent, rather better than Spitalfields’ 31.43 per cent last month.
Congratulations to John Pierce!
That idiot Oli is oily choudhry, idiot changed his name.
It’s an even longer way back for the Lib Dems in Tower Hamlets. It was relatively recently that the Party held all 3 Weavers’ seats. My mood is only slightly lightened by the hilarious photo at the top of this blog – what a bunch.
Should we read this as proof positive that:
1) Labour can win by-elections if they are well organised and make the effort
and/or
2) This makes the last by-election result in Spitalfields look even more suspect.
I merely ask the question…..
Any news on the percentage of postal votes and the number rejected? I’m sure Isabella Freeman was particularly interested in this aspect of the election following her career “suicide” remark earlier this week – and so am I!
Comparing the Weavers by-election result with the local elections in 2010 shows the following;
Labour’s percentage share of the vote rose from 37.6% to 40.3%.
Respect increased their share from 17.9% to 32.8%
Lib dems were the big losers from 25% to 5.4%
Labour gained 2.7% Respect gained 14.9% while the Tories gained 2.5%. The Greens lost 1.5%
It’s disgusting to even mention to include these parasites in the party. It’s a slap in the face of all the hard working loyal labour activists. It’s a Shame labour was cheeted out of victory in spitalfields. Talibum 1 Labour 1. I would like to see Ken win, I could do with fares cut and Ema for my kids reinstated. Ken has done alot for london over the years, I still belive he is the lesser evil. Good luck Ken.
John will make a good Cllr 🙂 job well done all.
I agree
Watch out! Respect increased their share from 17.9% to 32.8%. Next time…
John will make a fantastic Cllr well done all round
I think the result in Weavers was probably less to do with people loving Labour (or John Pierce) and more to do with people fearing and loathing Abjol Miah and the politics of division and confrontation that he and his conceited mob represents.
If Labour re-admit ANYONE who has defected and gone on to do their best to harm the party then they may as well re-admit Lucifer Rahman himself. If they do either then they lose all integrity in my eyes. Good on Josh for making that clear but if he thinks Oliur, Rania, Ribena, Shahed Ali, Abdul Asad and Rofique Ahmed are so beyond the pale (and seeing them in action, they are) then I cannot help wonder why on earth Labour selected them as LP candidates in the first place?
So what are you going to do about Livingstone then? He has put his ego-maniacal self-interest ahead of the Labour Party’s by continuing to support Lutfur. Time again to kick him out from the fragrantly smelling Red Rose party? (But of course you will wait until he loses first).
Red Ken deserves his place in history for standing up to Maggie when all the other lights had gone out… he will always have my thanks for that. He also has secured an indelible place in British history and I believe in time he will be remembered fondly. Ken can now retire to his garden, his young family and his herpetology knowing millions of Londoners are grateful for the service he has done for so many over many years.
Meanwhile the storm clouds over Weaversfields have cleared, a rainbow has appeared, the bells are ringing and the little birds are singing once again in blossom filled trees. Children with candy floss smiles are playing together along pretty streets freshly washed clean of the excrement of Respect by the warm righteous rain of by-elections won. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.
re James F comment: “…people fearing and loathing Abjol Miah and the politics of division and confrontation that he and his conceited mob represents”
How come then that they nearly doubled their % vote (from 17.9% to 32.8%) ?
I would say postal vote fraud again, multiple occupancy over-registration (Mohammed Ali and Ali Mohammed both voting), Respect/Independent thuggery around polling stations (e.g. ‘the fight’) intimidating many older non-Bengali residents into not voting, and general voter apathy amongst non-Bengalis about politics in general. As I said before, while I don’t want to detract from John’s noble victory (which was a tough fight in the current climate) I do think it is fair to say that more people were motivated to vote Labour to stop Abjol Miah than were motivated to vote Labour because they were suddenly enamoured with Tower Hamlets Labour Party.
Congrats to John, who will make an excellent councillor. Not sure this is any sort of victory for Respect, when none of their campaign material promoted Abjol as the respect candidate, and all his supporters of the day were wearing ‘Independent’ rosettes, I could go on, but just read the other posts
Good outcome. One wonders if it puts the Spitalfields result in question even further…?
I am not a local, but I used to work on Adler Street and have spent some time in BG&B. Now looking in at the shenanigans from the other side of London, without having chapter and verse on the twists and turns over time, I can’t help but think that Josh Peck’s line is the only sensible one. If you allow them back into Labour, then it provides only the illusion of strength. They can break off and cause damage at any point. Surely the better strategy in the long term is to isolate and then defeat them politically, ending their careers as Councillors? The Labour Party in TH seems to have been a flag of convenience for some for far too long; It is high time that certain minimum commitments to inclusive, progressive – Labour – politics operated in respect of candidates and Councillors. Only then can the party be sure that it cannot be forced flat on the canvass by mass defections from within.
If a different Labour Party Candidate for Mayor of London had supported the Labour Party in Tower Hamlets – and not Lutfur Rahman – I wonder if we would now be looking at a different Mayor of London – rather than Boris Johnson.
I can think of few people who have gone from attracting fervent support to generating attitudes of “anybody but Ken”.
Reading the papers today it seems very much like Ken lost it for Labour. A lesson in how personality politics can go badly wrong?
I wonder what the implications are for the next Mayoral elections in Tower Hamlets – assuming THLP has rid itself of “flag of convenience/any port in a storm” candidates by then
I am at a loss to understand why a victory for Labour is a good thing! What do we expect from Labour?
I am at a loss to understand what Julian Cheyne Walk is on about. Can you enlighten us Jules?
How about it being “a good thing” – from the Labour perspective – because they’ve actually stopped losing elections they thought they’d win to Independent / Respect candidates?
What couldn’t you make up?
Of course Labour is happy. That’s the whole point of the original comment! It wasn’t about what Labour thinks. Believe it or not other people’s opinions also matter although maybe you think they don’t. That could be a problem!
Ted Jeory is censoring comments. Gilligan doesn’t
I’m allowing comments that aren’t full of four letter personal abuse. You can have those rants in the pub but not here – see the comments policy.
I provide my name and someone who doesn’t provide his then makes nonsense of mine and adds further nonsense by asking what I am on about! The English is simple and explicit and not abusive which it appears is not always the case with the mmobl, whoever he is. The question is quite clear. If mmobl can’t figure it out he either needs to go back to study elementary English or elementary politics. Maybe he has high expectations of Labour, I don’t think many voters do. Unlike the mmobl even Mr Miliband seems to have spotted this. Unfortunately his commenting on it may not actually reassure voters that this will result in any substantial change.