I’m a bit late with this one but it needs documenting nonetheless.
The Tories have at last selected their man (for yes, it is a man: for all the talk about racism in Tower Hamlets, is there also a problem with sexism?) to fight Lutfur Rahman and John Biggs for Tower Hamlets Mayor.
Dr Anwara Ali, the former Labour councillor who defected to the Tories after she was moved from her Bow West seat in 2010, had been a contender but it wasn’t to be. Personally, I think that’s shame. Anwara did get some stick from me many years back when I accused her of being too silent in Denise Jones’s cabinet, but after that she improved greatly. I think she’s articulate and as a GP in Brick Lane, she’s respected and widely liked.
Being a Bengali, she’d also have taken some votes from Lutfur.
On that note, there was a bit a row about who would represent the Conservatives on May 22, with opinion divided between those who thought ‘get Lutfur out at all costs’ was the most important strategy, and those who thought ‘this is an election and we’re Tories, we need to take this seriously and treat it as any other battle’. (And also whisper to people to place John Biggs as their second preference vote.)
The latter camp won out and we therefore have a very serious candidate, who (and I mean no disrespect here at all) almost no one has ever heard of.
So let me introduce you to:
Tower Hamlets Conservatives have selected Chris Wilford as their Mayoral Candidate
Chris lives in Bow resident, and currently works in public policy for a leading international body. Previously, Chris has worked as a recruitment consultant in the financial services, placing candidates from new graduates to global directors. Before this, he worked on education projects for both the British Council and the House of Lords.
After his selection, Chris said “Like so many others from around the world I have made Tower Hamlets my home. This is a great place to live, with its history, diversity, and dynamism. We are privileged to live here as we go about our business amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the world’s great cities.
“Yet there is one shadow that looms large – Mayor Lutfur Rahman. We are all familiar with his expenses, his taxis, and not least his photograph. And I for one tired of the stories of cronyism and waste whilst our borough faces up to some of the most significant challenges in the country in areas such as child poverty and unemployment.
“There are many reasons why I want to be Mayor of this borough. I want to see more transparency; more pothole repairs; cleaner streets; proper and meaningful consultation on development; a National Centre for Islamic Finance; a jobs for growth strategy; more police on our streets; less Mayoral advisors and a lower council tax. Above all, I want to be Mayor because I want to mend our broken local politics and build a better borough.
“I am grateful to local Conservatives for choosing me as their candidates, and will be working hard to win this May.”
Tower Hamlets Conservative Association chairmen Neil King (Poplar and Limehouse) and Matt Smith (Bethnal Green and Bow), who jointly organised the selection process, said “we congratulate Chris Wilford on his selection as our Tower Hamlets Mayoral candidate. Chris came through a strong field to be selected with the overwhelming support of local Conservatives, and will make be an outstanding Mayor of this borough.”
So that was the Tory press release.
This is Chris in his own words:
Chris Wilford
Policy & Public Affairs Manager at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
I started my career at the British Council. I left to complete a part-time MSc at the LSE, working as a recruitment consultant and parliamentary researcher during my studies. Upon completion, I joined the policy team of the professional body for the recruitment industry and have recently moved to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Career Summary:
I started my career at the British Council. I left to complete a part-time MSc at the LSE, working as a recruitment consultant and parliamentary researcher during my studies. Upon completion, I joined the policy team of the professional body for the recruitment industry. I have recently taken up the post of Policy & Public Affairs Manager at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and I wrote my Profile when working at REC.
Academic/Professional Qualifications:
MSc Media and Communications, London School of Economics BA (Hons) Film Studies and American Studies, King’s College London, Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations
How did you get into Public Affairs?
I had worked as a recruitment consultant and as a parliamentary researcher in the House of Lords whilst completing a part-time postgraduate degree at the London School of Economics. With a real understanding of the recruitment industry, as well as a sound understanding of politics and research experience, I was well suited to work in the policy and public affairs function of the largest trade association for the recruitment industry. My experience on the frontline has really helped me in dealing with members and I have really developed my skills in the role.
What does your current role entail on a day to day basis?
I check my emails and phone messages before engaging members on a variety of issues. This can involve engaging journalists, civil servants and politicians to put across the view of the industry. At the moment, I am: writing a number of consultation responses; running an election for the position of Chair of one of our sector groups; and organising a number of focus groups with the Department of Health on the clinical governance of locum doctors. I am also working with the editor of our magazine on a forthcoming feature on the public sector workforce, one of the areas I am responsible for. Speaking, writing, reading in other words!
Working in a trade association, how do you engage members in public affairs and policy issues?
We engage members in public affairs and policy issues through member events, webinars, polls, focus groups and meetings. We often hit the road and a key part of our job is getting members in front of decision makers. This facilitation of engagement is an increasingly important part of our job.
Which campaign/issue are you most proud to have worked on?
The campaign I am most proud of is our on-going activity on NHS VAT schemes. This is a complex area which cuts across employment and tax legislation. I have been working on this for months and it is an area of deep concern for members. My blogs, letters I have drafted to ministers on behalf of senior REC figures, presentations at conferences, together with countless meetings with members and government figures have really built momentum which culminated in the REC contributing to a major ITV News at 10 investigation. We had literally set the news agenda and senior government ministers are actively engaging with the REC on the issue. We are close to a conclusion and continue to drive activity.
What do you enjoy about working in public affairs?
I enjoy the buzz and, as a news junkie, I relish being paid to keep abreast of current affairs. Working for a membership body, I also engage on strategic issues on behalf of our members. It does feel like the work is really important and it is great to play my part on important issues such as the future of the NHS workforce.
How important is political party involvement to a public affairs career?
It helps. There are plenty of people out there who do not have any involvement but I do think it adds a valuable extra dimension. I was Chairman of a major political society at LSE and I am currently Deputy Chairman of an Association in the East End of London. I was also the parliamentary researcher for a government Peer in the House of Lords. I have an extensive network which has come in really handy for getting the full picture of what is going on out there. It has also helped when we are in tight spots, for instance getting speakers for our events at Party Conferences.
As a former recruitment professional, what advice would you give to job seekers (at any level)?
Get yourself out there. We often hear of personal brands and profiles. These are really important but you shouldn’t be scared of advertising that brand! I would also say use a good recruiter (well, given my background, I would, wouldn’t I?!). The amount of times that I have heard people have been looking for jobs for months and then, after getting in touch with a recruitment consultancy, they secure a role in weeks is ridiculous. They have the networks and the contacts and, if you are not right for one opportunity, they will keep you in mind for another. Finally, do your research – evaluate what you want from your next role, where you want to get to and what you want to learn. Take your time, be measured and make sure you have a plan.
What value does post-graduate study provide to a public affairs career?
For me, it added real value. It allowed me to build on the cultural and historical grasp of political persuasion that I had gained through my first degree, as well as the opportunity to hone my writing and research skills further. I would say that the educational institution matters as well. The contacts I made and the activities I was exposed to at the LSE, one of the world’s leading social science institutions, really helped as I sought to get into public affairs.
What are the challenges for the public affairs industry over the next five years?
I think the industry has to adapt to the challenges of the digital world. How can you shape the agenda across a variety of different platforms all at the same time? In this environment, where everyone has a comment or can position themselves as an expert, and one tweet can destroy months of activity, demonstrating the value you can add and leveraging off line and online networks to achieve results will be vital. Those who can cut through the huge volumes of information out there to provide clear, concise analysis and drive targeted, effective campaigns amidst a diverse mediascape will be the winners.
What’s your prediction for the next General Election result?
Conservative majority (just).
| Quick-Fire Round | |
| Favourite restaurant for a business lunch | Browns Covent Garden |
| LinkedIN or Twitter? | |
| Tweet your career-to-date in 140 characters or less | Policy professional at the trade association for the UK’s £26 billion recruitment industry, former search & selection specialist, LSE alum |
| What’s your Media diet? | Guido (order order), Telegraph, Spectator, Economist, Guardian, BBC |
| Favourite Film | Badlands |
| Guilty pleasure | House of Cards (the original) |
By the way, I also hear UKIP are building a branch in Tower Hamlets ahead of the European elections on May 22 as well. They’re thinking of fielding a few people, which could make it even spicier..
Trial by Jeory 
Really? Blow me – that’s a disappointment. Anwara would, at least, have had some cred as a candidate but this guy …
This is BAD NEWS. Why? Because it will take votes from Biggs, who is our best hope of opposing The Despicable Rahman. I had hoped that the silence from the Tories to date was a sign that they weren’t fielding the candidate, thus bolstering Biggs’s chances. Putting this no-hoper up at this late stage shows how much they care about the borough and how seriously they are taking the election.
Shame on the Tories.
Tim.
They’re putting up this no hoper BECAUSE they care about the borough more than their electoral results in the mayoral poll and do not want to field a candidate who could take too many votes from Biggs. Under party rules they must contest all elections if possible.
GM, your comments on this blog are always readable and you’re usually right. I hope that is the case this time as well. However I’d have thought that, if the Tories really did want to see The Odious Rahman removed they would find some way of not contesting the election.
Tim.
I just want to clarify my previous comment. The candidate has no hope of becoming mayor of Tower Hamlets. He is not a “no hoper” in general. I have met him and he is a good egg.
I wonder what John Biggs makes of Keith Vaz MP’s intervention?
Doesn’t really square with what he’s been telling us about the borough’s crime problem….
Even if the Tories know they can’t win, and even if they want Biggs to be Mayor, you must be living in a fantasy world if you think they weren’t going to put up a candidate. They’re a national political party, one of only three in the country, and they were no more not going to field a candidate than Labour stop putting candidates up in Witney.
They’ll be focussing on the council elections – they know they can’t win borough wide but in certain parts that’s not the case. There’s an election for 51 councillors on at the same time you know!
Will the unknown Chris actually do anything determinately enough to win?
I wonder 😦
He hasn’t a cat in hell’s chance of winning. (See what I did there, Curious Cat?) 🙂
He will, without a doubt, weaken the vote against Rahman and thus improve his chances of The Odious One getting back in. The deceitful, duplicitous, self-promoting, money-grabbing, un-Islamic turd who is currently our mayor will probably be chuckling with delight at this announcement from the Tories as he knows that Mr Wilford’s standing will significantly strengthen the odds of Rahman’s re-election. Golds, and all in the party under him, can’t fail to be aware of this and should be ashamed of putting Wilford up for election.
As I said, shame on the Tories. This is another nail in the Tower Hamlets coffin.
Tim.
The Tories are supposed to be genuine politicians but it appears their arrogant pomposity will split the anti-Mayor vote and let Son of Labour back in to inflict more misery on the long-suffering public. Ted’s favoured woman candidate (the doctor) was a much better and more sensible choice.
Will some kind soul whisper in the Tories collective ear and tell them to b….-off. If they really want to done something constructive to help LBTH, then to leaflet their supporters and tell them – in the best interests of LBTH – to vote for Biggs for mayor
The prognoses is depressing.
Curious Cat
.I think unknown Chris’ efforts might be damaged by the Tories selling-off the private personal medical records of every British NHS patient to the USA where those records are instantly available to the USA government and allowing the police unrestricted access (without warrant and without judicial scrutiny) to everyone’s NHS medical records.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/03/nhs-england-patient-data-google-servers?CMP=twt_gu
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/06/police-backdoor-access-nhs-health-records
Curious Cat
Potholes? As his second priority? Sheesh! And despite living in TH has managed to choose a really boring restaurant as his favourite. These Tories really live on another planet. (Sadly not literally).
What’s going on with the header picture here? “And I will be a laughing stock on Ted Jeory’s Blog if I don’t get this put back”?
Have you been hacked, Ted?
Tim.
Nah, was getting bored of the old one. That’s a grab from that Downfall parody on Lutfur
A compromising pic of His Excellency would be good 🙂
Are they doubling him up as a Cllr candidate? If so where?
You mean JOHN BIGGS doubling up as both GLA member and Mayor.
Confident John’s gonna win then Shahed! Thanks for your support!
He ran in Stepney in 2010 – coming well behind Labour and Respect. He’s a very bright and interesting young man who should have a good political future but I think he’s been sold a hospital pass on this one.
Very much so. I think the tories are really scared they’ll get squeezed by Labour because they are in government and also UKIP. It’s telling that they didn’t run a ‘Big hitter’, it would have required that they come out of their ward seat and travel around the borough which none of them on the island or wapping can afford to do.
PS I like the header pic ; )
John Biggs currently earns nearly £55,000 as a GLA member. His term runs out in May 2016, more than two years to go. He has said he will also keep this GLA job even if he is elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets, hherefore drawing two seperate salaries for two seperate jobs!
Boh jobs in my opinion are more than full-time jobs. Do you feel it is right that John Biggs should take two full-time salaries for doing two part-time jobs? If he is serious and confident in winning, why does he not resign his job as GLA member so that someone else can concentrate on fighting for London whilst he is out campaigning to become Tower Hamlets Mayor? I had to resign from my job as a council employee before I could stand as a councillor candidate. I could not have that choice to resign only if I won, I had to resign with no guarantee of winning. That demonstrates confidence and committment in my vocabulary.
Shahed Ali makes 2 good points.
(1) Both a GLA member and an executive mayor of an ILB (Inner London Borough) are definitely full-time jobs. Biggs is wrong. His apparent lust for 2 lots of dosh does looks greedy and suggests, in my opinion, he is more interested in the dosh than in the people’s welfare.
Inevitably some may question Biggs’ motive to contest the TH Mayorship and his suitability for the job. No wonder LBTH is in such a disorganised shambles 😦
(2) I think all local authority candidates should cease to be an employee of that local authority if they WIN the election and then immediately before they sign the acceptance of office. The present system, like so much of English daily life, is a stupid and unfair nonsense.
Curious Cat.
Both responses confuse the roles of local authority officers and local authority candidates (and GLA candidates).
Local authority officers and employees work under the same rules as civil servants: they have to be doing their job politically impartially as public servants. Standing as a candidate for any party for election obviously is the total opposite of this which is why they have to resign if they wish to stand for election. They cannot continue to do (or be seen to do) their work impartially during the election period if they are simultaneously campaigning to be elected. It has nothing to do with confidence or commitment.
(Cllr Ali: I sincerely hope you knew this already or else I would have strong concerns about your work as a council employee and your expectations of council staff as a councillor.)
A GLA member is already a political role so there is no need for them to resign in order to fight an election anywhere else.
I do think that if John wins he should resign from the GLA because of the commitment needed for both roles. But there’s no requirement for him to leave before he wins.
Eastendersscriptwriterscouldn’tmakeitup quotes the theory whilst ignoring the everyday reality of English local government.
What a joke ! Local authority staff being . Public masters is more like it.
Local authority staff can be members of political parties except for a few in so-called politically restricted posts. However if you look into the background of many local authority bigwigs you’ll see their Labour activism.
is a devalued title give to virtually anyone in local government even the toilet cleaner. Research assistants for political groups of councillors are mistakenly called Political Officers. Politics has never ever been a lawful function of local government.
Many staff in local government are sub-standard. That is a principal reason for the endemic corruption, repeated failures and scandalous wasting of public funds. No wonder the public don’t always get a good service.
If a local authority employee, or worker, wants to contest a local election they ought to be able to take a short holiday to enable them to campaign. That is fair. Making them resign from their paid employment, prior to an election, is unfair.
Curious Cat.
I bet John Biggs pays his tax on his earnings.
The difference being, Shahed, that when you resigned your council post, it would have triggered a straightforward recrutiment process.
If John resigned his GLA seat, it would trigger a byelection across three London Boroughs and the City of London that would cost about a million quid, result in all the schools that are used for polling stations being closed for an additional day and take thousands of council staff away from frontline duties for a day. Is that what you and Lutfur want? As if you’re not wasting enough public money already!
Shame on you.
There’s a weird position that people take on politicians having second jobs. Should councillors be full time? What about MPs? Most people think MPs should be full time and shouldn’t have second jobs, but what about when they become a minister? I’m sure the good people of Witney are quite pleased that they have the Prime Minister as their local MP! John is highly capable and has the ability to do both jobs and it’s a good thing – his experience and contacts and respect across the whole of London will be a benefit to the people of Tower Hamlets when he becomes Mayor, and will help us move on from the parochial insularity that your administration suffers from.
What price ???
It would assist the readership if Graham Taylor knew just a little more about what happens on the European mainland, just 22 miles ou circa 35 km de l’Angleterre.
In some other EU member states any MP joining the government looses his or her seat as a MP. In those countries they think it is too much of a difficult achievement to hold the government to account when one is also a member of that same government.
MPs should be full-time MPs. There is an argument for fewer voluntary councillors and the introduction of half-time or full-time PAID councillors in local government.
Can’t understand why someone resigning is worth £1 million yet his annual salary is £55,000.
GLA+1 = 55000
GLA-1 = 1000000
How the Mayor’s un-opposed election campaign doing ?
Curious Cat
Well he’s already lost the election. POTHOLES! Seriously – this is his second priority?
I’m very much inclined to think he’s not going to do any serious damage to the turnout for Biggs if this is the best he can do.
He also seriously needs to attend one of the Conservative primers on how to present himself as a candidate because he’s not cutting the mustard so far. After the election of course! 😉
UKIP running a candidate would really throw a serious spanner in the works – for both Rahman and Biggs. They’re fighting over the pitiful numbers of people people who vote at the moment. UKIP could get people turning out to vote who have given up voting completely.
Now there’s a prospect to cogitate about – a UKIP candidate stealing it from both of them…….
Some of the Asians, meaning from the Indian sub-continent, seem to be more racist than the indigenous whites, but would they vote for an Immigrants Out and Isolationist party ?
UKIP would want to stop the flood of families, relatives and friends from the Indian sub-continent coming to overcrowded Britain. If this was explained in election leaflets UKIP wouldn’t get some votes.
Tory useless
Labour likes dosh and little time if any to spend on TH problems
UKIP doubtful
The Mayor looks certain …………
Another disaster looms over the LBTH
Curious Cat.
Their strongest candidate would have been that shining light in the east; Gloria Thienel. But they didn’t want a candidate who would take too many votes from John Biggs because the overriding aim for everyone (except the bacteria that actually thrive in the mire) is that Rahman must go.
There is little to recommend this candidate. He is a typical Tory career politician. Doesn’t come from the borough and hasn’t worked in the borough. He has no chance.
UKIP has declared their candidate and has selected Nicholas McQueen to stand as Mayoral candidate. See here:
http://towerhamlets-ukip.org/2014/02/26/ukip-mayoral-candidate-announced/
Er?
How do I get to Tower Hamsters from Tory Central Office? Is that somewhere near Battersea?
Ta very much.
Your Tory Candidate
—————————-
Like many others I had speculated that the Tories wouldn’t stand a candidate because of their desire to get rid of Raman and his kleptocracy, but clearly the tacit endorsement of the Labour candidate, which is what it would have been, was probably a bridge too far for those with say in Tory Central Office.
As I have blogged here and in other places while the Tories locally and centrally are opposed to Rahman and all his works he and Tower Hamlets isn’t their problem, it’s Milliband’s. Rant and rave they will, but at the end of the day the borough is the only part of the inner London doughnut that isn’t Labour and Rahman and most of his councillors are former Labour members.
We have a situation not dissimilar to the one the Tories inherited when the won the GLC from Labour in 1977. If anyone hasn’t seen the excellent series ” The Secret History of Our Streets” and in particular the last episode about Arnold Circus and The Boundary Estate then they should try to find it on You Tube.
The situation the Tories under Horace Cutler faced isn’t too far removed from the attitude of the party now to the shambles that is government in Tower Hamlets. They inherited from Labour a massive squatting movement across London estimated at thirty thousand but probably more like fifty. In Tower Hamlets they also faced some two thousand Bangladeshi squatters organised in the Bengali Housing Action Group who were demanding to be rehoused in safe areas where they wouldn’t be at risk of racial attacks.
The bulk of squatters were in council owned property in the inner boroughs which were Labour controlled and it was the chaotic housing policies of those Labour councils, which had engaged in a protracted guerilla war with the squatters, that the Tories now addressed in a radical way. The simply legalised the squatters, gave them rent books and collected rent.
As far as the Bangladeshis were concerned if they all wanted to live in Spitalfields fine, no Tory votes there and they were even allowed to pick and choose which estates they were rehoused on. The Tories could then point to how they had solved a problem entirely of Labour’s making and that dynamism would, two years later, propel them into national government.
Eric Pickles could of course have moved against Rahman’s regime and in particular its own in house version of Pravda some time ago. There are no shortage of situations where auditors and the police could have been brought in but what’s the point? He has let the charade drag on because it is an indictment of Labour’s lack of control of its internal party mechanism which allowed Livingstone to get away with endorsing Lutfur Rahman against the party’s own candidate, among other things
Just as almost four decades ago the Tories were able to clear up one of the biggest occupations of state property in the world, generate income and use it to bash Labour as bad administrators of public property Cameron, insofar as he is aware of what’s happening between Algate pump and the river Lea, can see no advantage in sorting out the mess.
It is the one borough in the inner ring that isn’t Labour and it’s where the party was founded. Milliband hasn’t, as far as I know, even issued a statement on the whole mess let alone visited Tower Hamlets. It’s about time that he and some of the other Labour heavyweights made some appearances. There should be a whole series of highly publicised walkabouts through the Lutfur strongholds, plenty of meeting and greeting and denunciations of Raman.
He should speak out to and for the majority of white voters who simply didn’t bother to turn out to vote last time as they felt, and many still do, disenfranchised. He should openly state that a Tory vote is a wasted one and the main job is to get rid of Rahman. I have lots more campaign suggestions but I hope this post will have started a discussion.
Mr Mullah’s well written and interesting posting is eloquently presented.
However this loyal Labourite expels hot air. He concludes with
but what is the point in more discussions about the same dismal topic – the pending victory of the mayor ?
Election day is less then 3 months away and its increasingly obvious none of the opposition can genuinely inspire the non-Son of Labour voters. There is once remaining choice – go out and leaflet the borough exposing all the scandals. Effectively wake-up the public. To distribute leaflets you don’t need to belong to a political party or intend to contest the election.
If one’s home is on-fire sensible people don’t hold endless discussions ………..
Curious Cat
With Tories, UKIP, Labour and Green Party unable to unite against Rahman, it seem like the only hope is with this Panorama programme – and even this is under the condition they put Bengali subtitles…
As a Conservative I would like provide my personal observations;
1. As a political party we have rules and a formal selection process which culminated in a selection meeting of party members who voted to select Chris after he gave a good presentation and gave very good answers to our questions. Remember Lutfur does not like answering open questions so picking a candidate who can answer questions well is a plus.
2. Being a Mayoral candidate is a huge investment of time and energy, Lutfur and John are professional politicians and have the the time, all of our potential candidates work so it is asking a lot of people to make that level of investment.
3. The final selection included two male and one female candidate, so we had an opportunity to select a woman but Chris won in the first round of voting by a group of party members that was representative of the borough.
4. We did not think candidates for council seats would have the time to also be effective mayoral candidates and vice versa (we differ from UKIP on this). It is why none of the existing Tory councillors were mayoral candidates.
5. We think the more activity & interest we can generate the higher the turnout will be, which will be the most effective tactic in defeating Lutfur. Not having a Conservative candidate I believe would have reduced turnout.
6. I personally will be giving John my second preference vote in the Mayoral selection and have told people that openly.
7. Potholes are a visible and physical manifestation of our many problems, they are a good example because whenever you travel around the borough on a bike, in a car or on a bus you can literally feel them.
8. 50% of Londoners do not come originally from London and I strongly believe that you can be passionate about a local community without having been born there.
I think you will find potholes in most London boroughs. They result from collapsing sewers, too much rain leading to standing water/deterioration of the road surface and not enough money for road repairs.
However the point I was making was that any politician seriously suggesting this was the second priority for meeting challenges in Tower Hamlets obviously lacked a proper grasp of the true nature of the difficulties and issues associated with this borough.
So if potholes are a problem you’ll find in virtually every London Borough, try thinking of some of the problems that make Tower Hamlets different!
I’m an expert on council potholes. Really am.
The reason why it costs so much repairing council potholes is usually the has been privatised – something both Labour and Tories are good at – and the resulting commercial contract rewards inefficient cowboys, whoops sorry I mean contractors.
If councils did potholes using modern methods the costs would fall dramatically and the repair delays would almost vanish. Leave a pothole unrepaired means eventually it will get worse and cost more according to the badly (or incompetently) negotiated contract.
I wonder what the Conservative gentleman now considers to be the 3 most important issues in the wonderful LBTH ?
1. A payrise for the hard-working Mayor ?
2. A new car for the Mayor, but only after the election ?
3. Payrises for the Mayor’s helpers, his loyal support staff ?
I supposed the next move is to nominate the Mayor for a CBE for unspecified services to local government ?
Curious Cat.
Andrew Wood
4) We did not think candidates for council seats would have the time to also be effective mayoral candidates and vice versa (we differ from UKIP on this). It is why none of the existing Tory councillors were mayoral candidates.
Good answer but I don’t believe a word of it. Sitting Tory Cllrs and candidates in target wards did not want to put themselves up for a position they knew they would loose which would require them to leave marginal council seats. Had they taken a step back and thought about it they might have realised that as a Mayoral candidate they’d A) be in the media lots B) have more literature than other candidates and more name recognition as a consequence.
Your response doesn’t stack up. Tim Archer ran for MP and council at the same time, no problem. He polled nearly 1000 votes more than his colleagues in the council election because he was also running to be MP in Poplar and Limehouse.
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/701-750/721_election_results/2010_council_election_result/blackwall__cubitt_town.aspx
Had you run Chris in a Tory marginal he would have done extremely well.
Archer also promised an amnesty to illegal immigrants, against his own parties policy which cost him white support and got him nowhere nearer winning the seat
Dear Eric,
Where is that pint you promised me in Brentwood ?
By the way, your civil servants forgot to write right.
It shud b
Unpopular confused mid-term government run by an ex-spin doctor plus UKIP inevitably means the Tory votes will fail to impress anyone – not even themselves.
Yours etc.
Curious Cat
HarveyMilkJnr
I am the candidate for the new Canary Wharf Ward together with Ahmed Hussain. You raise some fair points but I disagree. I do not expect to see much media coverage for the mayoral election beyond a little in the Wharf and East London Advertiser (I am only including English language media in this comment) and most voters won’t read or register that it applies to them so the main effort has to be at a ward level.
Tim gaining more votes then other Tory candidates I do not think you can ascribe just to his being the parliamentary candidate. He had first stood for election in BCT in 2002 so by 2010 he had fantastic local recognition (as I personally observed in that year). You can see other parties also having quite large differences between candidates in other wards and Zara Davis in another ward polled more votes then Tim despite being a first time candidate.
As a purely personal observation I would not want to stand as a council and Mayoral candidate at the same time, the workload would be extreme. We also have new ward boundaries, a Conservative prime minister, new opponents i.e. THF & UKIP so it makes sense this year to be cautious in what we try to achieve.
I agree that Chris will do extremely well 🙂
[…] « Meet the Tory candidate to take on Lutfur Rahman and John Biggs in Tower Hamlets […]
What background does this man have in the East End?
Our candidate Nick will certainly poll higher than Chris.
Are shops and pub landlords asking him for posters to put up on their premises? Are newspaper vendors offering to hand out his leaflets? Are people coming up to him on the street to pledge their support even before the official announcement was made? Is he sponsoring a football club?
Our challenge is to get the unregistered voters to register, that is the big unknown.
Mark Webber
Branch Secretary, Tower Hamlets UKIP
& ward candidate for Canary Wharf
Campaign blog: http://mwebberukip.wordpress.com
Branch website: http://www.towerhamlets-ukip.org
Now those are points which should have all the established parties / politicians quaking in their boots.
I’ve just followed the link and read the bios of some of the candidates http://towerhamlets-ukip.org/candidate-bios/ I’ve no idea whether they’d make good Councillors but some of them at least appear to know how to run a business.
Like the man said – it all depends on whether they get the unregistered voters registered in time.
Is there a Canary Wharf Ward?
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets currently has 17 electoral wards or divisions, each having 3 councillors, making a total of 51 members.
The new boundary changes will present 20 wards, having either 1, 2 or 3 councillors per ward, making a total of 45 members.
One of the new wards will be named Canary Wharf.
Curious Cat
So what happened to Millwall and Blackwall? We now have Island Gardens and Canary Wharf. Is there another ward on the Island?
The third ward is Blackwall & Cubitt Town. Best way to explain it is to look at this map
https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk/node/683/la=235
In effect the two previous wards with six councillors have become three wards with seven councillors, reflecting the population increase.
Given the scale of development going on we expect by the 2018 elections that the island will be split up again as Wood Wharf alone will be a ward by itself
Thanks for the map.
I’ll be voting UKIP next year but this May I have to bite the bullet and vote for Biggs even though I loathe labour. Rahman is everything that was expected from racist, bigoted policies blindly followed by Biggs’ past cronies. I said their racist policies would lead to the Nazis taking over and oh how they screamed RACISM! Then lo and behold the Collingwood residents voted the three Bangladeshis and the first labour victim of racism descended, 2 labour and 1 liberal voted in by the colour of skin and labour policies of pandering to bigots created the platform for it all to occur. After years of continual head up the arse blindness up popped the great inciter of hatred, Galloway, who pandered and played like a fiddle to the Muslim extremist bigots and his Respect party got twelve bigots elected. Of course as anyone this side of care in the community knew, they would never get a white candidate elected, it took a while but eventually the looney left numpties comprehended they were just useful idiots in the party of the Nazis. Didn’t they just advertise themselves as the party for Muslims, this being a so called democratic party that segregated men and women at meetings, a party where members demanded women should not be on the platform, a party whose leader was photographed shaking hands with homophobic bigots, the authors of rampant homophobic literature that had to be destroyed. That was Respect and the scumbag Galloway. I ponder where the Respect councillors ended up. No prizes for correct postcards saying sitting next to Rahman.. Biggs is responsible for most of this debacle, he was instrumental in giving the oxygen of publicity and funding for such odious people to gain a stage to promulgate their views and idiotic ideals in the borough. Now the real victims are being encouraged to vote Biggs in to power with absolutely nothing to gain from such voting, nothing from reprobate Rahman who only funded racism and sectarianism. Backing Biggs will gain me bugger all but it’s simply less of an evil. Sad that Tower Hamlets has turned in to such a cesspit, the only winner will be Rahman or Biggs. The only saving grace may be that Biggs has less of a family to give all lucrative contracts to. GOD HELP US ALL!