Of the many odd characters who lurk in the world of Tower Hamlets politics, few are odder than Stuart Madewell, Lutfur’s candidate for St Katharine’s and Wapping.
(He’s the guy on the Left.)
He used to be in charge of the Shadwell branch of the Labour party but fell out with Michael Keith a few years back. Since then, I’m not sure what he’s been up to.
I once bumped into him in Canary Wharf Waitrose where he was doing his weekly shop; he’s pleasant enough in person but when he hides behind his Twitter egg or Facebook account, it’s as if dark has descended.
So his latest outpourings on Facebook have a dollop of unintended irony about them.
Here:
In January, Mayor Lutfur and the other party leaders signed the Tower Hamlets Local Election Protocol, which had been drawn up by the council, the Met Police and the Electoral Commission.
The protocol was an attempt to restore some dignity to election campaigns and to bring some transparency to the process.
I’ll quote from it:
Reasons for the Protocol
2.1 It is recognised that recent elections in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets have generated a disproportionate number of issues compared to other London Boroughs. On occasion there has been a breakdown in trust between various individuals and organisations involved in the electoral process. The reputation of the Borough has been damaged and public confidence has potentially been affected
Campaign material
8.1 Candidates and campaigners will not cause or allow to be published any material that misrepresents any person or includes slanderous or derogatory statements about another candidate at the election
Para 8.1 is pretty clear isn’t it?
So Peter Golds has today written to Lutfur to ask what he’s going to do about Stuart. Peter asks whether he will be sacked as a Tower Hamlets First candidate. But this might well make the collection compiled by journalist/Mile End resident John Rentoul: QTWAIN (Question to Which the Answer Is No).
Here’s Peter’s letter:
Dear Mr Rahman
Re: Stuart Madewell
Yesterday Stuart Madewell posted on a local blog the following:
- “The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Wapping Chapter) are supporting the edict of the Grand Imperial Wizard Peter Golds.”
I attach a hard copy of his contribution.
You are quoted in a leaflet circulated in St Katharine’s and Wapping ward, a leaflet in which the ward name is spelt incorrectly no fewer than five times, as saying:
- “I’m proud that Stuart and….are part of my Tower Hamlets First Team.”
As the political leader and head of the party in which Stuart Madewell is seeking election are you proud of a candidate that makes statements as offensive and absurd as that made by him?
Surely even Stuart Madewell is aware than on at least two grounds I would be one of the first to be lynched by an organisation, whose hierarchy he seems to know.
This kind of behaviour was supposed to have ceased in this borough, with the unveiling of the “Local Election Protocol” which you have signed. Section 8 states:
8.1 Candidates and campaigners will not cause or allow to be published any material that misrepresents any person or includes slanderous or derogatory statements about another candidate at the election.
Stuart Madewell has done exactly what your Party has said it will not do.
Over the past week UKIP has suspended three candidates in the local elections taking place nationwide for making malign staements.
You have just forty four candidates to manage. Will you be suspending Stuart Madewell as a member of your team?
If not, does this mean that you support his disgusting comments?
As we are in an election period I am afraid that hiding behind “human rights” or taxpayer funded lawyers will not enable you to avoid the actions of your “party.” For once an answer will be required.
The electorate of Tower Hamlets deserve to know whether you will come out and condemn the actions of this person?
Will you?
Trial by Jeory 
Well that’s one letter Luftur will never read or even receive. He’ll deny it was received or even sent…
I really like your optimism!
What’s the betting that Lutfur declines to respond to Peter Gold? Surely Lutfur will, as usual, defend his “human rights”
I think “Love Wapping” has absolutely nailed it. Just circulate the blog post and leave people to make their own minds up as to which candidate should under no circumstances be a Councillor.
Of course the other thing about all of this is it says an awful lot about the quality of the candidates running under Tower Hamlets First. If one of them is allowed to get away with making remarks like that, then it will also tarnish the rest of them. I wonder how the other THF candidates will feel about that?
Plus if Lutfur isn’t careful, he’ll have UKIP taking the moral hight tone on this one – and that would look awfully like an own goal from where I’m sitting
Meeting Stuart in Waitrose speaks volumes.
Why is it that all Tower Hamlets First supporters appear potentially certifiable? Is the fruit-juice served at their meetings “in date”? The imagery would embarrass the most infantile of Trotskyite Sparts. Perhaps Madewell felt that because of Cllr. Golds Jewish background he couldn’t employ the usual “Nazi” trope. For his information the KKK were spouting anti-Semitic bile while Hitler was still in “Realschule” with the philosopher Wittgenstein. This outburst is of course completely in line with the TH First agenda to smear all their opponents with “racism” at any opportunity. While avoiding at all costs any examination of Mayor Lutfur’s record in office, his financial & legal probity, and vision for a future Tower Hamlets.
Stuart Madewell, the very definition of a………. http://frabz.com/29qb
Excellent. Where did you find this?
@themadmullahofbricklane I was sent the original recently from a Facebook friends page. I tracked down the original on the Frabz.com site by typing the title into Google. It really was so apposite. Such is the power of Social Media and the Interwebs. You can create your own “How Others See Me” meme from a template available on the site.
An excellent post pwi34 although I’m jealous that you have got more thumbs up than me at the moment.
Yes of course Madewell could be the model for Private Eye’s Dave Spart. People who have to refer to what Trotsky said to Lenin whenever, and I have seen Madewell actually do that before answering a question, are always at a disadvantage when dealing with reality.
Talking of Wittgenstein I am surprised that Lutfur isn’t employing the Eye’s favourite firm of solicitors, Crook, Crook, Wittgenstein and Crook.
When you mentioned “vision” in your last sentence I was reminded of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust ” visionary” Karen Chouhan. that Lee Jasper wanted to “honey glaze”. I wonder if they are giving her money still for seeing things that we lesser mortals can’t like how to divert money from the London Development Agency to the 1990 Trust which then, yes you’ve guessed it, disappeared. Does anyone know if she is still running scams/
Talking of scams and disappearing money I was in a meeting of pro John Biggs Bangladeshis over the weekend and the consensus of opinion is that Biggs will do after winning what Boris Johnson didn’t which is” follow the money”. Rahman simply can’t be allowed to steal so much and not be pursued.
I have had the misfortune to have come across Stuart Madewell many times over the years and have found that he is a type that is found across the far left. When I first encountered him in the seventies he was in, I am pretty sure, the International Marxist Group, a particularly flakey bunch lead, if that the right word, by the equally flakey Tariq Ali.
When the IMG fell apart he then joined one after the other the plethora of Trotskyist organisations that continually split, formed, split again and reformed continuing a guerrilla war against each other initially in the pages of their publications which always worker somewhere in the title and of late on the net.
He is typical of the section of the left, now fortunately almost entire eclipsed, that hated Tony Blair and New Labour more than they hated the Tories and the BNP.
They were always unaware of how unimportant they were and were forever issuing grandiose proclamations and manifestos that the people they purported to lead, the working class, totally ignored.
In the early nineties sections of the far left began to accept that the working class had let them down and turned to other sources of troops for the revolution. This was going to be from an alliance of ethnic minorities, gays, transsexuals, the third world and anybody else that the house Marxist philosophers could squeeze in. Some of the stuff that came out in support of these theories is now probably never referred to by the authors so embarrassing is it.
A victim hood was claimed by anyone and everyone and it was enough for somebody to declare themselves oppressed for the far left to declare it a fact and denounce anyone who actually questioned the gobbledygook as racist/homophobic/islamophobic and on and on. It all seems ridiculous now but the reality was that loony left councils not only went along with it all and financed it, people lost their jobs over it.
From the GLA under Livingstone to Liverpool under Deggsy Hatton all the way south of the river to Lambeth and Linda Bonkers Bellos “victims” became the new working class. If an African Caribbean claimed to be suffering from Post Slavery Traumatic Syndrome who was anyone to dispute that?
Black people can’t be racist declared Lee Jasper and Livingstone poured millions of Londoners money into non existent organisations. When Gilligan exposed the massive fraud the left screamed racism and rallied to the defense of the shysters and con people.
Hacks for hire like Dave Hill and Sunny Hundal denounced Gilligan in the same way as as Ted is being now, black people are victims of colonialism and slavery, white people cannot feel their anguish and grief and should simply pay up and apologise.
Jasper brought Livingstone down and when his newtness went so did the cash. The CRE was abolished and the tide of political correctness is now permanently ebbing.
It was left to the far left in the shape of Livingstone,Socialist Unity and Left Futures to continue to defend Rahman as the socialist who was standing up to New Labour and defending the people of Tower Hamlets from the massive cuts that Labour was planning to inflict on the borough but in the face of the massive and overwhelming evidence that he is a fraud who is robbing the borough blind and an associate of some of the most reactionary and obscurantist Islamist fundamentalists they too have folded their tents and slunk away in the night.
Stuart is the last man standing and is symptomatic of the collapse of the far left and the political correctness that it spawned. From covering up rape, to the support of murderous dictators under the guise of fighting imperialism to the collapse of Respect the Marxist left in this country has hit a rock bottom that hopefully it will never recover from but good old Stuart soldiers on.
It is unlikely that that Rahman will do anything, he doesn’t need any more bad publicity but there has clearly a case for the police to investigate and refer the matter to the CPS, whether they will or not is another matter.
This isn’t just about Stuart and his big mouth, it’s also about how the most repugnant element of the left in this country has imploded in just a few short years, hopefully never to recover. Over to you Stuart.
Peter Golds may not be a Ku Klux Klan but he does have a dislike for Muslims, it’s so apparent that you only need to see his pathetic face before the Friday prayer at the Town Hall. I don’t think I have heard or seen him complain or write negatively about any other community except the Muslim community.
While I don’t agree with the views of Staurt Madewell, who I believe should be expelled by his party, Peter Golds is definitely on the borderline of being a racists. I have known Peter Golds for over 4 years now, he is a vile and devisive character to say the least. Sadly the other TH politicians are not that better either.
Wouldn’t your remarks have more credibility if you wrote under your own name if making attacks like this?
@ Ted
Lol, what made you think that it’s not my real name?
It would be more appropriate for you to ask this to Peter Golds as he is a regular commentator on this blog using all sorts of names.
I’m pretty certain he’s not. What’s your surname Ash? Not Cake is it?
@ Ted
“Ash Cake” :0
That’s actually quite funny, I may just use that for my surname.
Why are there Friday prayers at the Town Hall. It’s a secular Government building, not a place of worship.
Surely you don’t think religious civil servants should be banned from praying in the lunch break, Graham? They do it at hundreds of secular government buildings up and down the country.
Hmmm you know all this by the look on a mans face? Gosh it must be incredible to be a mind reader! Maybe the look is Mr Golds feeling uncomfortable sitting in a room of anti semites!
Tower Hamlets council chambers are bursting at the seams with anti semites.
@ Charley
And how would you know what Peter Golds is feeling? Were you there or is this you Peter?
Either you are making up the remark about Peter Golds looking pathetic before Friday prayers at the Town Hall or you have actually seen it in which case you must spend time at the town hall. Can you tell us which is the situation? I rather suspect you are a liar.
It would also help your case if you could spell. Tell us more about how you know Peter Golds as you claim to and your evidence for your description of him which I don’t recognise.
It’s clear why you call yourself Mad Mullah, not sure if you are a Mullah but you are definitely mad!
You maybe buddies with PG but I am sure he is capable of responding for himself. We all know PG is a reader of this blog so If I am lying then he should speak for himself and tell us the truth.
Which other names does Peter Golds use?
Several items of interest from the East London Advertiser. ” Biggs is bookies favourite to beat Rahman in mayoral poll” is the headline on page three. “Mathew Shaddick head of politics at Ladbrokes”, yes you did read that correctly, says that the race will be close but that Biggs is ahead 4/7 against 5/4 on Rahman.
It seems that John had a rally at the Cable St memorial attended by, amongst others, several MPs including Tottenham’s David Lammy. His presence is of course a smack in the face for serial con man and head of Operation Black Vote Simon Woolley.
Signing a letter to the Guardian is just the latest in a series of foot in mouth events by Mr Wooley. Previous ones include backing the entry into the UK of rabid Jew hater Louis Farrakhan and declaring his columnist Lee Jasper innocent of disappearing £3.5 million quid of Londoners money.
On the same page is an interesting addition and clarification to the claim that Michael Keith accused John Biggs of racism twenty years ago.
” Race row fizzles out. The latest race row to break out among Tower Hamlets politicians fizzled out after the key witness came to the defence of the alleged offender.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s party, Tower Hamlets First, claimed it had a secret Labour memo from 1995 from the then council leader Michael Keith accusing Labour mayoral candidate Jon Biggs of racism over ” the production of an inflammatory election leaflet”. Cllr Alibor Choudhury said ” John Biggs 20 year record of dubious racially charged remarks is there for anyone to see”.
Mr Keith rejected the claim and defended Mr Biggs. He said: ” To dredge up out of context comments that were made almost 20 years ago to smear someone’s character scrapes the gutter. I’ve known John Biggs for decades and, while we have had our differences at times, there is no doubt in my mind that he works for the benefit of the whole community in Tower Hamlets”.
Cllr Choudhury was unable to provide the memo or leaflet”.
This is an interesting one as Alibor isn’t clever enough to have done a black ops on his own. Where did the the idea come from, has the allegation been taken up by the Bangladeshi media? If the latter is the case solicitors letters are in order.
Talking of solicitors Adam Barnett reports on page 5 of the same paper that the council spent £37 000 of Tower Hamlets taxpayers money hiring specialist lawyers to examine the evidence of the BBC Panorama documentary. Listen to this. ” There was no in-house legal experience or capacity to deal with issues of journalistic standards and editorial compliance so experienced legal firms were approached to pitch for the work, and Taylor Wessing were selected”.
I have been sent an email about more money being wasted on curry tasting in Brick Lane but I’ll have breakfast and get back to you all.
‘…on page 3’ – I hope you are not making this up!
The latest scam seems to be called a Taste of Brick Lane which was supposed to attract visitors to the restaurants by having that well known has been curry chef Ainsley Harriot cook up some traditional Indian dishes at a huge salary. The whole scam has cost in excess of £47 000 and, as far as I know, passed largely unnoticed.
I have been sent a link to an FoI request to Tower Hamlets but unfortunately when I try and post the link it doesn’t work. I see however that one of the many recipients is Ted so I have no doubt that it will appear here very soon.
In passing what actually happened to the EMA that Lutfur was trumpeting, did it actually occur?
The words and actions of Peter ‘Goulish’ Golds appear to be coming from the mouth of a new phenomenon called the ‘Gay Mafia’: he’s always attacking Muslims and other minorities on every aspect of their lives. We live in a free society Golds – wake up !!! In effect Golds just ends up reasserting his own deep felt prejudices. He is sick to the core.
Given that Mr Golds has been the subject of anti semitic and homophobic abuse both inside and outside the council chamber and has not resorted to the attacks that you have invented means that you are of course a liar. Can you give us an instance of when he has attacked Muslims?
Pop over to the Love Wapping facebook page, Madewell is a regular contributor, and the post reported above, went on, and on, and on
https://www.facebook.com/LoveWapping?fref=nf
Has anyone recorded the Council chambers when ‘Goulish’ Golds pulls a face at prayer times? Maybe then send it to an expert face reader to get an idea of what he’s really feeling.
What does goulish mean? You trying to say he’s Hungarian?
What are you talking about? There are no prayers at the start of council meetings.
It’s an urban thing. You might want to replace it with ‘Ghoulish’ or even ‘Ghoulash’ if soup-stirring is your thing.
It is all very interesting but let us not waste too much time on this eccentric but irrelevant individual.
What is the news from the field?
Any evidence already of Chodhurys-Miahs-Rahmans-Alis-Khans-Ahmeds pre-election multiplication on electoral register? How is Reza doing – would he be able to put a few cracks in Rahman’s monolith? Any last minute ship jumpers apart from Rania?
Any revitalisation of Biggs’s campaign? It has been quite weak and uninspiring to say the least. Does he really want to go for it or is he just going through the motions?
I have been doing a bit of leg work targeting mostly young European flat sharers and it seems like there is some enthusiasm regarding this election with people genuinely wanting to vote Rahman off – but – would it be enough to balance Bangladeshi ballot miracles?
Spend some time in the pubs in your ward Peter, if indeed it is you, and you would know that there is a great deal of anger at Rahman. The Nelson and The Ship were full of Lutfur haters last Sunday and expressed it even though the football was on.
I hope that Ted doesn’t mind if I swerve the subject?
Can we look into our crystal balls and predict what would happen, IF, and I mean IF, Lutfur stays as mayor and several of his Tower Hamlets First prospective councillor candidates win, what will be the future for Tower Hamlets? (Please don’t mention lemmings!)
This scenario doesn’t bear thinking about John. Because ten we are dependent on the accountants and old bill both of whom may decide that it’s too political and back off. We will then have an elected dictator who will believe he is bullet proof and really start to loot the treasury.
Part of me wants to say “Poor old Stuart Madewell, we all know he isn’t quite sixteen annas to the rupee, but then how long can we keep making excuses for, and ignoring the actions of, these vicious thugs throwing out ludicrous assertions of racism against anyone who dares to question the rotten way they govern the borough and splash the cash on their mates?
Not many people know there are sixteen annas to the rupee.
Cannot believe this IDIOT Stewart Madewell is still about. He is a a complete NUTTER.
I think there should be a league of thumbs up and down on each of Ted’s posts. I think I’m in front at the moment for the ups.
Does anybody detect a new tone to the articles in the East London Advertiser – highlighting the amount of money spent on different Rahman initiatives?
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/tower_hamlets_spent_47k_on_brick_lane_curry_awards_with_ainsley_harriott_1_3581664
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/politics/tower_hamlets_spent_37k_on_lawyers_over_panorama_on_lutfur_rahman_1_3578755
plus
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/election_campaign_starts_in_tower_hamlets_with_new_rules_to_prevent_fraud_1_3578516
ELA bites East End Lies in the …..posterior?
Plus an interesting photo story of Rahman meeting the community – not a lot of evidence of the diversity of the population of Tower Hamlets in these photos though. Obviously the Mayor needs to try harder – and get out more……
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/pictures_mayor_lutfur_rahman_campaigning_in_stepney_1_3543291?storyId=1.3543292.1397151188
Have a look at Dave Hill’s blog. He has finally interviewed John Biggs who is pulling his punches. Hill still censors comments so if you try don’t be surprised if it doesn’t appear.
In fact now we have two interviews
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2014/may/02/tower-hamlets-labour-mayoral-candidate-john-biggs-interview
and
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2014/may/03/lutfur-rahman-interview-tower-hamlets-election-campaign
I’m waiting for Ted to highlight them before launching into a detailed comparison and analysis of what the two have to say for themselves. I’m very sure I won’t be alone!
However the Lutfur interview is a good read for anybody who wants to know what sort of questions he’s being asked as part of the PriceWaterhouseCooopers probe. He’s leaking all over the place – particularly when he responds to questions which haven’t been asked…..
Without any shadow of doubt Dave Hill is on the take from Lutfur Rahman. At the beginning of the interview Rahman claims to have built 4000 homes which is a lie and Hill lets him get away with the lie. Enough said. Hill is, as he has been described, a poodle.
Yeah, they’re all on the take, Hill, the police, the Electoral Commission, Operation Blackvote…
Anyway, it’s not a lie. All Labour councils subject to stock transfer include the affordable homes built by RSLs in the number of homes they announce they’ve delivered, surely you know that?
John Biggs’ campaign have claimed the mayor had ‘no role’ in delivering the RSL builds – and it’s that that is untrue.
The way it works is the developer goes to the council and says, we want to build X amount of private housing, the council says ‘we’ll recommend to the planning committee that it’s approved ONLY if you include X amount of social housing’. They negotiate, come to an agreement, and the recommendation goes to the committee.
The committee can still reject, but they rarely do because the developer can then go to the Mayor of London or the Secretary of State – who will accept a lower portion of social build.
This process was brought in by both Labour and Conservative governments – you can’t blame Lutfur Rahman for it!
But Lutfur doesn’t control the planning committee, nor so far as I’m aware, has he changed the planning policy in this area. So how can he take any credit at all?
Did you read what I wrote?
‘The way it works is the developer goes to the council and says, we want to build X amount of private housing, the council says ‘we’ll recommend to the planning committee that it’s approved ONLY if you include X amount of social housing’. They negotiate, come to an agreement, and the recommendation goes to the committee.
The committee can still reject, but they rarely do because the developer can then go to the Mayor of London or the Secretary of State – who will accept a lower portion of social build.’
He runs the council – which has planning policies and makes recommendations to the planning committee.
Oldford – you don’t understand how councils work.
e.g. in TH, planning officers make recommendations based upon both the planning policies (which are a general overview) that may have been recommended by the Mayor, but which needed to be agreed by the Councillors as well as on the policies decided by government.
Specific planning decisions are not made by the Mayor but are either a delegated decision made by officers, or go to decision to a committee of cllrs (what it is, but may not be called a ‘committee’).
[…] so is unrealistic. He, as the leader, presided over some outrageous behaviour that was public (The KKK and Blackshirts comments by TH First candidates to name but two) and much more in private. Emotions […]