Is there a shift or split within the hitherto solid Bengali Lutfurite vote? I ask this because over the past couple of days I’ve received the following three texts:
1. TOWER HAMLETS COMMUNITY LEADERS ENCOURAGE POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE BOROUGH
The Stake holders and the community activists conference is taking place tomorrow the 3rd June 2015 at 6.30pm in the Amana Centre, 251 Commercial Road, E1 2BT (opposite Watney Market)
Senior Tower Hamlets community leaders have come together to declare their support for mainstream political engagement in the borough ahead of the upcoming by-election for Executive Mayor on 11 June 2015. United Tower Hamlets task force has been set up to undertake and lead a campaign to re-unite the currently fractured community relation which is damaging the reputation and credibility of the British Bangladeshi Community.
The chairman of ‘ YES FOR MAYOR’ and the chair of the community coalition (Shiraj Haque) who backed former Mayor of Tower Hamlets ‘Lutfur Rahman’ is now leading the United Tower Hamlets Campaign.
Shiraj Haque, who spearheaded the ‘Yes For Mayor’ campaign and backed the candidacy of former Mayor Lutfur Rahman, heads a coalition of influential locals, who have been the catalyst for change in the borough, to push for a shift of political focus amongst the community based around existing political ideologies and away from the emergence of new and independent parties.
We invite all concerned to attend and join us in the process of creating history again by saving the community from devastating political turmoil. On behalf of united Tower Hamlets Task Force (Shiraj Haque, Rafique Hyder, Dr Aziz, Aklakur Rahman, Sadik Ali (Shefu), Minhaj Khibriya) and others.
2. Dear Friends and Associates.
I am inviting you to join me for an URGENT discussion and debate about the future of Tower Hamlets;
It’s People (OUR People)
It’s Businesses (OUR Businesses)
It’s Economy (OUR Economy)
It’s Reputation (OUR Reputation)
Our Future – OUR Childrens future in MAINSTREAM BRITISH SOCIETY & UK POLITICS!
The nation is watching to see how we undo the shame and disgrace that has undoubtedly been brought to BRITISH BANGLADESHI’S in Tower Hamlets by a so called few who told us they would place Tower Hamlets First when in reality it was all about putting themselves first!
We are now at the worst position we have ever been since electing ‘Lutfur Rahman’ as Mayor. Let us collectively discuss and decide how to re-UNITE this divided community – OUR Community.
Come and join me at;
6.30pm on Wednesday 3rd June
@ The AMANAH Centre
251 Commercial Road
London E1 2BT
(Opposite Watney Market IDEA Store)
3. “The Lutfur Rahman Verdict, Wahabi-Jamaati Identity Politics in Tower Hamlets and the Triumph of three Bangladeshi Women in UK General Election: Where the British Bangladeshi Diaspora Go from Here”.
Thursday, 4 June 2015. 5:30pm sharp. Venue: Montefiore Centre, Hanbury Street London E1 5HZ.
Keynote paper by: Piya Mayenin, Lawyer and Human Rights Activist.
Speakers include distinguished academics, trade unionists, journalists and social commentators. Thank you.
The first two, in terms of the June 11 election are especially significant because they are the work of Shiraj Haque, otherwise known on this blog over the years as the Brick Lane Curry King, the Boishakhi Mela Maestro, the Housing Association millionaire and self-declared financial backer of Lutfur Rahman in 2010.
I spoke to him tonight and his message is fairly simple: Enough is Enough, and Vote John Biggs.
“The protest vote is not a continual process in politics,” he said. “You do it once and then you reconcile.”
Shiraj Haque (right) in happier times with Lutfur Rahman and Unite boss Len McCluskey
He has promised to work his socks off over the next week to try and ensure Labour takes back the town hall, but he still believes Rabina Khan is favourite – largely because he thinks the Labour campaign has been quiet and poorly organised. He thinks they have been particularly useless at courting the Bengali press.
At tomorrow’s meeting in Watney Market he says he will outline an alternative strategy that will persuade people who voted for Lutfur to switch back to Labour.
Talking to him was fascinating. He said he backed Lutfur in 2010, that it was he who effectively helped him become mayor, that he was angry with the way he had been treated by Labour…but by 2014 he had grown “disillusioned” with him. He said Lutfur started off with the right intentions but he was was then “hijacked by invisible individuals” who had their own agenda. He wouldn’t name them. I asked if he meant the IFE and he said he was referring to individuals, not a group. He said figures within the IFE itself had expressed the same sentiment to him.
He said the formation of Tower Hamlets First had been a “total disaster”.
Anyway, I’ll let Shiraj do the talking, he’s good at that. You can form your own judgments.
“We need to get back to mainstream politics again. Individual aspirations should not be jeapordised by party officials. It was unjust of the Labour party to engineer a different result [in the 2010 election process].
“We wanted him to get back to the Labour party and that was our original intention. I regret that that did not happen. However, he did carry out some of our agenda although I wasn’t happy with his policies on social housing. I wanted 100 per cent social housing but he couldn’t do that. I also wanted more opportunities for small and medium sized entrepreneurs to flourish…so that people could move off benefits and and earn money and not become a burden on society.
“You and others always talk about me living in a housing association property but I always wanted to be in Tower Hamlets, I wanted to remain here.
“I wasn’t happy that Lutfur wanted to continue as an independent mayor. The formation of Tower Hamlets First as a party was atonal disaster and I warned him about that. However, I remained silent during the last election campaign because I didn’t want to jeopardise his individual prospects. Apart from attending one or two meetings, I was broadly invisible in that election.
“I strongly believe we need to develop the cultural part of our society and that would keep people away from extreme ideas. Musical entertainment is a way of making people engage and that part of community cohesion has been badly neglected.
“I wanted Lutfur to work more on Brick Lane’s history. Birmingham and Manchester have marketed their curry aspects well but we failed. Brick Lane is a tourist icon but we we failed to capitalise on that.
“Instead there was a hijacking by other people. I had provided a lifeline to him as a mayoral option but within a short period of time he ran away from the core team who worked hard to get him elected. It was an invisible team who hijacked him. I won’t name them. It is individuals. Even people within the IFE were concerned about who he was working with and working for.
“But the Labour party must realise that its activities prior to the election was not very pleasant and they should learn from that for the future. We want colour and background to be irrelevant.
“I held a press conference today. I wanted to say to my community that the protest vote is not a continual process in politics. You do it once and then you try to reconcile. You extend the hand, or they do, or you do it together. The Labour party should not be running away from its own supporters. You should not let the minority win.
“Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend. That’s the lesson of history. Let’s build again.
“At the last election, many people who voted usually vote for the Lib Dems, the Conservative party or Labour voted for Lutfur. I would ask people to vote this time for the best option and that is to elect a Labour mayor.
“John Biggs is the candidate. He’s a nice guy, I get on well with him. He has a sense of humour, a dry sense of humour and that’s sometimes difficult for people to understand, but he’s a nice man and we can work together.
“I’ve been approached by Labour councillors before but I wasn’t sure they were ready to win. They need to work hard. I see the Rabina Khan campaign is working hard, they are very visible, they are more geared up than John Biggs’ campaign.
“A large section of the community thinks she will win but I think if Labour puts up a hard campaign now, it can win. But I can’t see who is running the campaign. It’s looking very difficult. If I feel tomorrow the Labour party doesn’t have a good strategy, I shall offer a new strategy. The Bengali media is very poorly managed by Labour. I will get people who voted for Lutfur to vote for John Biggs.”
Sound sensible. Or is he hedging his bets? He still runs the Mela, of course…
And I’ll add this as a postscript…at the count at the Troxy last year, he told me he’d had enough of the mayoral system that he was instrumental in delivering. He said it had caused division and that he wanted a return to a leader and cabinet system. So on that score he is consistent.
Trial by Jeory 
If you trust this man, you need your head tested. Leopards to not change their spots.
Like the rest of this bunch (THF supporters etc) he will change allegiances to suit his own means and objectives at the drop of a hat.
Fluid morals and standards, and definitely not one to trust.
I share your skepticism and remember how this man behaved at every council meeting during my last term, urging on the appalling behaviour of Lutfurs followers and throwing sexist and homphobic comments at Labour and Tory councillors alike. John should keep a very clear distance from him
I disagree, he is offering a deal and it should be taken seriously. If there is a chance to get out a dissident point of view into local Bengali media it should not be underestimated. John did get to where he is without making deals like these anyway.
Apologies for the typos above
I meant to add, do you get the impression that this tossed is hedging his bets? Either way, this slime all wants to ensure his bridges remain intact.
Please don’t treat us as stupid as your supporters!
My thoughts exactly. Needs his mela funding either way.
Maybe LBTH needs a “truth & reconciliation” body to oversee an amnesty for people like Haque to come forward and tell all – starting with where did the grant money really go.
Hear, hear !
Absolutely old man. Spot on.
Rabina is still a favourite because the community still believes she will keep the gravy train coming their way. There might be some people out there who have different motivations- rather unbelievably defending the disgraced Mayor is seen by some as ‘progressive’ and ‘leftist’ in some circles- but from my chat to a converted Lutfur supporter (who knows him from school and used to describe him as ‘an idiot’) it is clear that the supporters want the grants, the free school meals and educational awards to keep coming and do not care there is no money to pay for them.
Labour would do well to point out that there is a massive hole in the Borough’s budget and whoever wins the elections will simply have to stop the nice giveaways sooner than later, worthy as they may be.
If Rabina wins, the Commissioners will never leave. Which would be a win-win for her- she would blame all her failures on ‘the bureaucrats from Westminster’ and take credit for their good work. And we know how she loves taking credit for other people’s work- didn’t she single-handedly turned all local schools into the top educational establishments?
Another problem is apathy and disillusionment amongst the local population- living in Tower Hamlets simply takes a lot out of you. I do not think there is going to be a great turnout at these elections. Which means the usual blocks of ‘postal votes’, whether freely cast or otherwise, will count for even more.
I think Rabina knows what she is doing not attending hustings- she does not have much to gain. And having to answer questions from the pesky electorate could breach her ‘Human Rights’ – she’s learnt from the master after all (if you did not get the joke read http://fw.to/2lPK1Ka)
To be honest if I could move out of this rotten borough I would- the excitement of ‘you couldn’t make it up’ local politics simply wears off and gets tiring after a while.
If anyone knows of any way to get the local people out to vote please do so now!
You are right that Rabina has little to gain by attending these hustings. Her main supporters are already convinced, I’d be very surprised if their postal votes weren’t completed and posted already……
I do think it deplorable that she has used her daughters illness as an excuse for not attending the Rainbow Hamlets hustings, when she was tweeted canvassing by her moronic counterpart Mahbub Alam. When will this fool realise that not all publicity is positive?
Please Rabina, prove us wrong…show us that no lie is worth telling to propel you and your rotten party to power? Let’s hope that this comes back to bite you….
I did hear a rumour that you wee warned attending hustings aimed at the local gay community would be frowned upon by your core supporters and voters.
Tsk tsk tsk. As per my previous posts, the truth has a way of finding its way. You are a puppet, and I have little doubt a complete homophobe, despite your slimy sucking up to to the gay community over the years.
Let’s hope that any of them fooled by your patter have wized up to you now!
Interesting that one of Rabina’s biggest mouth-pieces has been gay Gary Reddin who claims to speak for the entire gay community on her election leaflet by saying that she has helped the community ‘to no end.’
Gary Reddin is clearly a nut job. Or like Un-Madewell and Miah, has had his ego stroked sufficiently by THF to believe that he’s something special. Grow up you fools!
Gary, be proud, such stupidity is rarely published. Even if it is in Rabina’s election flyer and ode to the devil.
Don’t forget, you are dealing with soon to be convicted criminals, and someone who would lie about her own daughter’s medical condition to get out of dealing with ‘your people’. Also, look at how well they guided, then treating poor little Hitler worshipping Miah after he played Sooty to their Mathew Corbet for so long, (that’s a puppetry reference by the way).
‘to no end.’
No is negative, so means Not at all
CC.
Unhealthy, for the entire community, when just one person seeks to organise the victory of a not very good (locally) political party.
Educate the masses and let them vote freely !
CC.
It seems she couldn’t attend the hustings because she was helping Inspector Knacker with some enquiries.
Inshallah!
I am really depressed by Teds latest Blog. Who is voicing the opinions of the indigenous People in this Borough, who were born & breed here. I in the last 20 years I have seen this Borough tear it’s self to pieces. It must Stop now. We must all learn to live in harmony with one & other, for our future.
If the people who lived here for 20+ years want to represent themselves as a party then they need to get organised and find a representative.
People who reside in the borough legitimately are entitled to a vote whether they have been here one month or 20+ years. There is no special entitlement for those who have been here 20+ years (which BTW includes me).
I absolutely agree with you that we all need to learn to live in harmony.
My personal view is that this is best done by a leader who is NOT trying to represent the interests of any one part of the community more than another.
I suggest you read the election addresses of all the candidates delivered to your door and decide which of the candidates is focused on
1) building an engaged and unified community and
2) creating a new start by righting the wrongs in terms of the conduct of the last administration.
If any one thinks Labour is the answer they are off their crust. Under Labour the same old corrupt practices will continue, they’ll just be covered up, so that will be all right then…
Yep.
Tower Hamlets definitely needs a COMPREHENSIVE clean-out and clean-up. But it is NOT going to happen this year.
Labour is an unfit to govern political party. Wherever it operates there is sleaze, corruption, nastiness and an almost un-caringness for normal people. Labour’s egos are so big, the door frames may need enlarging.
Anyone reading the negative comments about Labour, made in the Tower Hamlets and Birmingham election petition hearings,
http://law.slough.info/law08/law08p08.php
knows Labour are simply not good enough.
Dave Roberts gives everyone two choices:
You can not have proper democracy if the only real choice is crap or less crap than the other crap. I’m running-out of clothes pegs and considering buying a gas mask :-0
Curious Cat.
C.C. It’s a bit much to accuse Labour of corruption given what’s just been kicked out at Tower Hamlets. As you’re not a resident of TH you’re obviously out of touch.
=> Jay Kay,
I wrote:
Words can have a clinical preciseness – obviously for a purpose 😉
Kindly refresh everyone’s memory and tell the world exactly what goodness has Labour brought to Tower Hamlets in the past 10 years. Naturally Labour does NOT need to be in power, nationally or locally, to do good 🙂
Thanks,
Curious Cat
CC: You are dreaming if you think someone other than John Biggs or Rabina will win the election.It’s all about which of those two you vote for. Votes for anyone else might as well go in the pink bag for Veolia to not collect
You’ve clearly identified the problem.
For very many voters it is not exactly an appealing choice 😦
I’ve been saying this for years but they will go in, take enough votes for Rabina to win and then disappear with another addition to their CV.
Isn’t it reasonable to ask to what extent non-Rabina,non-Labour supporters will be bothered to go out and vote in an election that most if not all will know has been triggered because of the Lutfur controversy.
There are no other elections on that day. Labour supporters will be motivated, and no doubt Tory ones as well. I think a fair chunk of Tory second preferences last year went to Biggs. Can’t see why that would change.
How motivated will Ukip supporters be? I doubt they will be.
So it all depends on how solid the Lab vote is. I think the split vote argument is not so strong this time.
That said, I’m rubbish at predicting elections…although I did call the general election right!
Ted has summarised de facto Tower Hamlets reality. The prognosis is dismal 😦
Sorry to say only a few people have destroyed the unity of the tower hamlets Bengali community these are the ones who first divide the community and then they try to unite the community, everybody should understand and know who these culprits are, everybody was a labour supporter for decades now Labour Party has different sects in tower hamlets, what I would say is stick to any mainstream party and put your fight and arguments, don’t go and listen to the dividers of mainstream party,s.
It looks like someone else is so inspired by Lutfur Rahman and Tower Hamlets First that they are going to do the packing of voters lists on a London wide basis.
http://www.obv.org.uk is always good for a laugh but something more sinister has crept in in the last few days. There is an article by Lee Jasper dated Monday last entitled ” Time for a Black Mayor in London ” where he sets out a strategy for packing the membership of the London Labour Party to ensure that a black, and only a black, candidate is selected.
I’m not a lawyer but it seems to me that the strategy laid out is exactly the same as the one that Rahman and co used to pack the Labour membership lists in Tower Hamlets. Read this. Read the whole article, it’s vile anti white racism but it’s this paragraph in particular that is concerning.
” The London Labour Party membership currently stands at around 38,000 people. That means the mass involvement of the general public can dramatically influence this contest. The stone cold reality is this: we can significantly influence the outcome of these Mayoral elections. We need only one of London’s large Mosques or churches to jointly sign up anything up to 10,000 members and we can ensure that a black candidate emerges as Labour candidate. That’s a prize surely worth having”.
Isn’t this what Rahman did and has been sacked as Mayor of Tower Hamlets for? I will be emailing the three people at the head of this post to ask them to disassociate themselves from this statement and Operation Black Vote. If the article is deleted I have a copy. What do people think?
Wait and see.
About what Mohammad?
If its going to rain on Friday evening 🙂
One thing I do agree with Curry Raja is the complete invisibility of Biggs’ campaign. A friend of mine who lives in the Victoria Park Area emailed the team and left details. He was duly contacted and said that he would take responsibility for leafleting the area bounded by Grove Rd, Old Ford Rd, St Stephen’s Rd and The Roman.
He explained that he knew people in that area, families that had been there for generations and could do introduction where Biggs could talk to people in there homes and local pubs. He never heard another thing and is as pissed off as I imagine many similar people are.
Why exactly would the Labour Party want to use people who do not belong to the local Labour Party to help them campaign? How would they KNOW that you would do as you say? Look what happened to the way they were comprehensively stitched up last time……….
In fact one probably has to ask whether they ought to be using many of those who do belong since it is patently apparent that the campaigning last time involved so-called Labour Party supporters campaigning for local Labour Councillors – and then Rahman for Mayor.
I find it interesting that so many people are coming into the borough from Labour parties elsewhere to help Biggs campaign. It’s very probably a sensible move!
For the record I’ve not seen sight nor sound of his campaign either!
The recent election court judgement made clear that the winner could be unseated if your friend did anything unsavoury, whether or not Mr Biggs authorized it. Perhaps the Labour team are being very careful on these grounds?
Should have been their and introductions of course. Yours pedantically.
Anyone who is under the misconception that politics is a fair gentleman’s game is sadly short of the grey matter. The need for brokering deals even with the devil is what main stream politicians do and that means Biggs. The ability to sell your soul, tell untruths and make empty promises is par for the course I’m afraid gullible people out there.
Shame.
That is NOT the politics I like.
is the best politics ‘cos politics is the Art of the Possible and that means working with others for the common good.
CC.
curious cat the truth of the political systems working practices none of us like.
Serving the public and working together is the objective all want, but with tower hamlets example this does not happen even between elected members of the same political party.
You only have to scan the known disputes of infighting and factionalism by labours elected councillors in tower hamlets to see that. What is sad about this the London labour party and labours national executive seem unable and unwilling to change this, all to the dis-benefit of the community.
Dear Shadow,
If we dislike it, and we evidently do dislike it, then we should strive to change it.
You wrote ….
What is sad about this the London labour party and labours national executive seem unable and unwilling to change this, all to the dis-benefit of the community.
I encountered the same Labour resilience, or outright dismissive refusal, to act responsibly when I and other discovered a person who was a Labour county councillor, a Labour borough councillor and a Labour parish councillor, was creating false minutes of parish meetings and paying parish funds to his daughter using her maiden name. It was criminal fraud yet the public, including me at the time, were so naïve we did not know what do to.
The local Labour mafia (corrupt as humanly possible) and the Labour run borough council and their Labour chief executive just kept ignoring public protests. The police, often in slimy Labour’s pockets, ignore the frauds too.
Then the councillor died of a heart attack, so none of us took any action.
That was my introduction to the disgusting state of English local government. Labour are not a genuine party caring for the workers, the poor, the disabled, the needy. Labour is a party of bigoted self-centred arrogants who want power at any cost and who have no concept of proper public-spirited service. Think the Tories and Lib Dims are not as fundamentally bad as Labour.
Your description of London and National Labour Party failures does not surprise me. Decency and a strong desire to tackle all wrongs is an unusually concept in Labour – possessed only by a few.
Yours sincerely,
Curious Cat.
The Socialist Rapists Party is supporting Rabina.www.socialistworker.org.uk.
Why hasn’t the mainstream press been talking about Rabina Khan’s links to extremists?
Her husband cllr Aminur Khan is a member of the IFE. An organisation that should be banned. They wish to see the creation of a caliphate and the implimentation of sharia.
They are a bunch of very dangerous nutters!
The IFE is funded by the Council.
Which council, Rihyad? There is, as afar as I know, no evidence that Rahman funded the IFE. I understand that what happened was that a group would be given a grant on the grounds that a percentage was kicked back to Rahman through an intermediary. He may himself have actually received funding, corruptly, from Mosques and Madrasshers.
Then you need to look harder although it’s not too difficult to find evidence that the lying and corrupt Rahman gave away millions of pounds of grants to IFE front organistaions.
But, Jay Kay, there is a legal and very distinct difference between giving funds directly to IFE and giving funds to other legally recognised entities which may, or may not, have links to IFE.
CC.
Indeed there is, but as I said these were IFE front organisations.
You are now saying ” front organisations”. I don’t have a problem with that but what you should realise is that Rahman apologists will leap on the discrepancy to say that we don’t know what we talking about, it’s all Islamophobic smears and in fact the auditors and the Met have investigated and found nothing.
Anyway.
This from today’s Evening Standard.
” Met investigates ‘ abuses ‘ in re-run of Rahman election” .
The re-run of the Tower Hamlets mayoral election has been plunged into controversy after it emerged that that police are investigating possibler campaign irregularities.
Officers are probing the campaign of councillor Rabina Khan, the candidate of disgraced former mayor Lutfur Rahman, after election leaflets featuring her were reportedly distributed tucked inside a Tower Hamlets Homes information document. Ms Khan denies any wrongdoing.
Pictures have emerged of a man seemingly acting for the council’s arm’s length housing body appearing to put the leaflets through doors on the Green Bank estate in Wapping.
Blogger Mark Baynes says he filmed the man in action, and also spoke to a resident at a block of flats in Limehouse who alleged that Ms Khan’s canvassing team lied to gain access to the building to distribute election leaflets.
Three men allegedly told security at Silver Wharf that they were “working for Tower Hamlets in a normal political capacity ” and should be allowed in. Police have confirmed that officers from the Special Enquiry Team are investigating allegations of wrongdoing concerning the distribution of leaflets on the Greenbank estate and in the Limehouse Cut area which could be a possible breach of election law. A force spokesman said ” No arrest have been made “.
Ms Khan, who is cabinet member for for housing and development on Tower Hamlets council, claimed she was being framed. She said of the man filmed by Mr Baynes: ” We don’t know who this person is and it is nothing to do with us”. She added that she had no idea how the man had managed to get hold of the election leaflets to distribute, and said her team had also contacted the police over the issue.
Tower Hamlets Homes said it had not authorised the distribution of its newsletter with any other materials, and said the man pictured was not a member of its staff. A spokesman said it was ” investigating this matter urgently “.
The mayoral election was ordered by a judge in the High Court who threw incumbent mayor Rahman out of office after finding him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices, and also finding corruption and illegality surrounding the election of his supporters to the council.
Ms Khan is from Rahman’s Tower Hamlets First part, which is no longer recognised by the Electoral Commission, so she is standing as an independent. She is one of 17 of the party’s councillors who face calls to resign following the High Court judgement.
As they were not named on the petition brought before the judge, he had no power to remove them. But former secretary of state for communities and local government Eric Pickles said if they did not quit then criminal prosecution should be “actively considered”.
A spokesman for The Met said it ” takes allegations of electoral fraud or malpractice very seriously ” , adding : ” this is very complex legislation, we continue to work closely with the CPS. Any allegations made to the police will be investigated”.
Police have confirmed that officers from the Special Enquiry Team are investigating allegations of wrongdoing concerning the distribution of leaflets on the Greenbank estate and in the Limehouse Cut area which could be a possible breach of election law.
Would like to know precisely what law was contravened.
I think we all would but my view is that, once again, stupidity has brought them all down. It is simply not possible to run a central London borough like a third world country and that’s all there is to it. Rahman took the piss and you can only do that so far.
What he was also up against was that the kind of PC protection that ethnic minority hustlers and crooks have traditionally enjoyed has long since evaporated. First the abolition of the CRE and now maybe, just maybe, Rahman and a few others on their way to prison.
Erick Pickles, former Secretary of State for Local Government, seems to be very loose in making comments right and left about as many as 17 democratically elected Councillors.
He can do it remorselessly because he himself is unelected and, therefore, does not feel any need or obligation to behave in a dignified manner.
If this man is so free to castigate elected representatives of a Local Government right and left having no cap on his lips, what was the compelling reason or justification of sacking Enoch Powell by the then Conservative Leader, Edward Heath from the position of Shadow Cabinet as a penalty for his untoward remarks on immigration ?
David Cameron’s vision of democracy seems to have no resemblance with that of Edward Heath and the Conservative Party that he happened to have led at the time .
The level of degeneration seems to have gone down to an alarming proportion .
You are wrong. The Councillors of the lying and corrupt Rahman were not democratically elected. They came into office through corrupt and illegal practices.
Oliur Rahman was never elected as Deupty Mayor but acted as Mayor,, albeit briefly. Neither he, nor any of the other corruptly elected Councillors had the decency to apologise for what Rahman did and the damage he caused. Rabina was never elected Cabinet Member for Housing but it hasn’t stopped her lying about what she says she’s achieved either.
I can’t think what on earth goes you the impression that Sir Eric Pickles is not elected?
He’s an elected Member of Parliament who was the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government until May 2015.
He is still the Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar.
The point about the 17 THF Councillors is that Mawrey made it clear in his Election Court Judgement (I suggest you read it) that they would all have been removed from their office as Councillor of this borough if they had been named in the original petition due to the corrupt nature of the practices of those leading and managing the election process on behalf of the Tower Hamlets First party.
The only reason this hasn’t happened is because they were not named.
I couldn’t care less what Rahman’s apologists say. When money is given by a council employee who is found to have links with the IFE, to ‘Community Oragnisations’ with links to the IFE that have the same staff, directors and trustees, then it’s clear when the money is going.
The perception is that Labour/Conservative /Lib Dem together have formed undeclared alliance whereby their voters would cast their second choice votes in favour of John Biggs to ensure his victory and preventing Rabina Khan from winning and becoming the Mayor of TH.
What kind of electoral alliance is it ?
If this is not racism , what else could it be ? What signal do we give by this kind of unholy alliance ?
The spirit of democracy is hardly served by this kind of alliance which is devoid of principles which must remain the hallmark of a society based on tolerance and mutual respect.
Main stream politics does not mean monopoly and muscle power to which we all have to surrender. Democracy must remain the Government of the people, by the people and for the people. The Image of the Institution of Judiciary must not be allowed to be tarnished to satisfy the whims and caprices of the Major Political Parties.
Dear Mr Ahmed,
(1) So you have no proof and are that the combined opposition want their supporters to use their second vote for Labour’s Biggs ?
(2) There is no law banning what you call . Only a supporter of Rabina would object.
(3) How on earth is a desire to prevent the election of a follower of discredited Rahman remotely ?
(4) I am reasonably certain that everyone in Pakistan and in Bangladesh would laugh at you if you raised the same issue there. Perhaps you should devote some of your time to reading and studying the Tower Hamlets election petition judgement which a kind soul has put on the Internet at http://law.slough.info/law46/law46.php – it will take you probably 3 to 4 hours to read and understand. Then perhaps you can rephrase your ‘concerns’ if they continue to exist.
(5) The spirit of democracy is certainly not served by anyone divorced from the realities of dirty politics in Tower Hamlets. Vote buying is, in my opinion, nothing like real democracy.
(6) Real English people, which includes everyone born in England regardless of their skin colour, have a general sense of fairness and decency. I am sure most of us can not understand your strange uttering
Who do you think you are trying to fool ????? Its not proper English and it does not make sense.
(7) It is no good trying to impress semi-literate residents of England. We demand democracy and we will support the best candidate (from the declared candidates list) regardless of skin colour and family background. Biggs is certainly not brilliant but does the public really want to vote for someone who appears to be a con-woman, a supporter of the discredited Rahman ?
(8) Perhaps you should learn about public service and the ideal of democracy. Its a lot different from that practised in the Indian sub-continent. English politicians are not supposed to accept (or even demand) bribes, favours and commissions et cetera.
(9) What is your personal relationship with Rabina ?
Yours sincerely,
Curious Cat.
Shamsuddin Ahmed
2 hrs ·
Shamsuddin Ahmed
51 mins · Edited ·
Richard Mawrey’s Verdict on Lutfur Rahman.
In his 200 page judgment he says that he was appointed in July, 2014 and hearing commenced in February, 2015.
During the interim period he was carrying out investigations on election fraud.
Two key points emerging from this.
First, who appointed him. If the appointer belongs to a political party, how do we ensure that the appointment itself was not politically biased because the cardinal principle is that justice must be done and must be seen to be done.
A fundamental principle of English Law.
Second, how can he become a jury and judge of his own investigations. Is this not a flagrant violation of the fundamental principle of English Law .The report of the investigations must be verified by a neutral person.
The person involved in investigations and making report on such investigations must be liable to be presented in the Court for cross examination before this can form a basis or ground for any judgement.
Also this is not an immigration case to try on the Balance of Probability Law.
In this case, the presumption must be that the accused person is innocent unless proven guilty.
And the onus is on the petitioners to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the alleged offence did , in fact, take place.
The admissibility of the 1983 Act ought to be debated in the course of the hearing before any judge can lawfully apply it in any case. This is important to avoid the charges of arbitrariness in the application of any Act and to ensure the delivery of fair justice.
Also the intention of the law makers must be taken into consideration in assessing the applicability of a particular Act in a specific situation .
The 1983 Act was passed to deal with a specific situation in Northern Ireland at the time. It was not intended as a Law for the whole country. The same as anti Semitic Law to protect the followers of the Jewish Religion . It does not cover other religions. Similarly , the 1983 Act was passed to deal with the preachings of a specific orthodox Christian Religion. It could not be intended to cover the preachings or role of the Muslim Religion. So, the Judge could not have any legal authority to arbitrarily drag the 1983 Act to undo a democratically held Mayoral Election in Tower Hamlets well outside the frontiers of Ireland. This law was intended to deal with an Irish situation involving the preachers of a branch of the Christian Religion.
The most crucial point is to look for any established precedent to preserve the image and trust worthiness of the British Justice System. Is there any set precedent in the British Legal history of 4 people taking legal action to unseat an elected Mayor or MP ? Especially when atleast 4 principal witnesses have a vested interests in the outcome of the Court Action.
3 of them are standing as candidates for Mayor. The 4th witness had personal grievances against the Mayor because his Shop was demolished for being built unlawfully without necessary planning permission. Also he admits in the hearing that he happens to be a multi million pounds Tax Dodger from Sweden.
The Returning Officer concerned who had declared Lutfur Rahman as duly elected Mayor of the LB of Tower Hamlets on the election night was totally by passed in the Court Hearing which cannot be deemed to be a due process of Law in the functioning of the Judiciary , because the verdict , virtually, amounts to over ruling the decision of the Returning Officer.
Third, the matter remains sub- Judice until the Judicial review is completed.
How can you authorise a fresh election until the judicial process is completed and the matter still remaining Sub- Judice?
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CC. I understand your desire to deconstruct the utter jibberish of Shamsiddin Ahmed and to prove him wrong but you are both wasting your time and giving sustenance to his fantasies.
People who are utterly finished and who are exposed as crooks, shysters and frauds will always question the legitimacy of others. They mostly inhabit fantasy worlds of their own making and become increasingly desperate and paranoid. There are several cases that could be considered.
The first is the left both Liberal and loony which have come out of the whole Lutfur Rahman affair utterly discreditied. The Guardian, in the shape of Ken Livingstone arse licker in chief Dave Hill, over several years proposed a conspiracy of New Labour against Rahman because he was a traditional socialist fighting ” austerity “, building thousands of “affordable” health centres, schools etc etc. Oh, and Islamophobia of course, mustn’t forget that.
It was all lies and Hill, who is a fantasist and is only allowed to write for the Guardian because his wife is a senior executive, has now lost whatever credibility he had which isn’t saying much. Predictably he is now trying to forget the whole thing and doesn’t refer to his glowing testimonials of Rahman.
Then we have the loony left in the shape of the SWP otherwise known as the Socialist Rapists Party. They and the increasingly unstable Glyn Robbins of TUSC and The Peoples Assembly Against Something Or Other And We’ll Let You Know As Soon As We Find Out are still involved in the most incredible self delusion.
Robbins, currently on a freebee to America, is on record as saying of Judge Mawry that ” we will take your judgement and ram it down your throat”. He is also of the opinion that Tower Hamlets is outraged by the decision and that there is a massive backlash taking place against it. The guy is totally loony tunes.
Other Lutfur defenders like OBV are increasingly losing whatever plot they had. Not content with packing the London Labour Membership to ensure a black candidate, it now seems the devastation in Haiti is all down to the West getting their own back for a slave revolt at the beginning of the nineteenth century!
One of the things that I have found about extremists of whatever leaning, and I don’t think the terms left and right are applicable any more, is that much of their membership consists of very deranged individuals. Take Stewart Madewell for example. As far away as possible please!
This is all good fun of course but we still need to Biggs elected on the 11th even though he hasn’t actually done much to deserve it.
Dear Dear Mr Ahmed,
(1) You asked
Obviously I have superior advantage over you because I’ve read and studied the whole of the judgement. Regrettably you never accepted my good advice that you read the judgement. If you did, you would have noticed that on
http://law.slough.info/law46/law46p003.php your answer is at paragraphs 10 and 11.
(2) I assume, correctly I suspect, that Richard Mawrey was not appointed by a political party opposed to Tower Hamlets First and its clique.
I do hope I am not revelling a secret when I advise you that the appointment was actually made by two so-called “on duty” judges at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, WC2. Those scaly-wags who appointed Richard Mawrey were:-
Mr Justice Supperstone and Mr Justice Spencer in an High Court Order dated 31 July 2014.
(3) Alas you do not appear to understand the English system. Once again your laziness and.or unwillingness to read the entire judgement places you at a considerable disadvantage, meaning in every-day English .
(a) During the hearing of the Election Petition, the ‘judge’ was not actually a but was appointed as an Election Commissioner whose task was to examine all the evidence, including witnesses, and determine what laws, if any, had been broken by the Respondents (whom others may call ‘defendants’).
(b) Mr Mawrey very clearly explained the laws in significant detail, as if he was a schoolmaster at Eton, to ensure that before his judgement mentioned the actually happenings everyone knew, much better than before, what the law was. Mr Mawrey appeared to be fair in his examination of the evidence, rejecting some of the Election Petition claims and accepting others.
(c) The Election Petition matter is technically known as which many know as so-called “civil, non-criminal law”. No one goes to jail or gets fined if found guilty in the Election Petition’s judgement.
(d) If the police get interested in the results of the Election Petition judgement, then the police working with the Crown Prosecution Service’s specialist “election offences” team will begin an investigation likely to take up to about a year before the CPS declares there is a criminal case against some of the people mentioned in the Election Petition or there is not. In the meantime the police may question people, arrest people, raid homes and offices seeking evidence and physically remove evidence for further examination or for “safe keeping”. This is part of “Public Law” which the public call “criminal law”.
(4) I do hope my efforts to assist your understanding of this matter will sufficiently illuminate your less than comprehensive knowledge. Contrary to customs you may be familiar with, we in England, do not go out and shoot people, kidnap people or even bomb people if we disagree with an election result. Instead a very old, and badly in need of revision, election petition law is used.
Yours sincerely,
Curious Cat
(not a lawyer)
=>
The Guardian, in the shape of Ken Livingstone arse licker in chief Dave Hill, over several years proposed a conspiracy of New Labour against Rahman because he was a traditional socialist fighting ” austerity “, building thousands of “affordable” health centres, schools etc etc. Oh, and Islamophobia of course, mustn’t forget that.
It is exactly the sort of dirty-tricks Labour employs. Labour is not a nice political party. It can be viciously nasty towards its opponents. Labour are certainly not blemish-free angels !
CC.
It’s not racism, it’s a vote to keep crooks, liars and hypocrites out of power.
Personally, I tend to vote on actions and personal experience, race has bugger all to do with it.
How many times will these tossers scream the race card? It’s getting s little tedious already!
A crook is a crook, regardless of skin tone!
A crook is a crook, regardless of skin tone!
Hear, hear !
Extreme right is unwittingly pushing the most tolerant Westminster culture in politics that earned the envious glory of being regarded as the mother democracy for centuries towards a new route which runs the risk of dragging this beautiful island into the fold of an infamous clique who seem to have a dream of taking us towards Fascism of Mussolini of Italy, a close ally of Adolf Hitler.
This is a dangerous trend in disguise under the cloak of Islamophobia .
This has to be checked before it gets too far. News blackout has all the hallmarks of autocracy which cannot cohabit with a glorious culture of tolerance , the foundation of a democratic society.
Mr Shamsiddin Ahmed,
Are you a real person or a time-wasting charlatan ?
Were on earth do you get your gibberish from ?
Are you now claiming Rabina is ?
What has the Tower Hamlets mayorship to do with ? Surely you are not pretending the Mayor of Tower Hamlets is also the mayor of Westminster ?
Is your unexplained your name for Mr Rahman and his THF clique ? Just because one of the THF clique exhibited a photograph of Hitler, it does not automatically mean THF also love and worship Mussolini. Although in Tower Hamlets anything is possible in the THF association.
This is a dangerous trend in disguise under the cloak of Islamophobia .
Islamophobia is a political weapon created by bad Muslims who want to upset, sabotage and destroy the harmonious efforts of good Muslims to live in peace and friendship among non-Moslims.
My nice Moslem friends absolutely hate all fundamentalist “Moslems” whom they describe as evil creatures, traitors to Islam and impersonators of genuine Moslems.
News blackout ????????????????????
Why are you so afraid to read the Tower Hamlets election petition judgement ? Are you mentioned in that judgement ?
Curious Cat.
P.S. Are you one of the many illegal immigrants ?
Whichever way you look at it, there is hardly any scope to gloss over something which is fundamentally flawed and a clear contravention of the basic principles of law which must be followed to avoid miscarriage of justice .
What law has given you the legitimacy to play the role of an investigator and also a jury and judge ?
The High Court.
It’s not at all unusual for one senior legal person to be in control of Major Investigations and Hearings relating to events which appear to have contravened the law and relevant rules and regulations
The Leveson Inquiry into phone-hacking was another example.
The Election Court has a proper process and that’s the way complaints about the electoral process work.
It’s just tough if it doesn’t conform to your limited understanding of how the judicial process plays out in this country.
If you want to get really focused on proper process why not read the Judgement of the Election Court which spells out in lots of detail all the very many and various ways in which the ex-mayor and his cronies breached the proper rules and regulations for how elections should be conducted.
Make no mistake – the reason why the ex-Mayor is now the ex-Mayor is because he tried to CORRUPT the proper process.
Make no mistake there will be investigations into any and all examples of attempts to breach regulations and corrupt the process in this Election.
=> You Couldn’t.
Make no mistake there will be investigations into any and all examples of attempts to breach regulations and corrupt the process in this Election.
Regrettably that is not true in England.
English election laws are unfit for purpose because the basis of those laws is firmly routed back in the 1600s or 1700s. The infamous RPA 83 (Representation of the People Act 1983) is a dog’s jumbled breakfast based on, or copied from, laws existing before our great grandparents were conceived. The Westminster Wallies don’t care two monkeys. At times it really is embarrassing having to admit one is a UK citizen – no wonder the Scots want out.
Neither you nor I could have single-handedly challenged the Tower Hamlets mayorship contest regardless of how much evidence either of us had. Until that anti-democratic and wrong law is repealed, Free and Fair Elections in England continue to fall beneath the standard the UK agreed to in
Treaty 9 : Convention Protocol 1, Article 3, effective 18 May 1954.
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=009&CL=ENG
Wishful thinking is inert action.
Curious Cat
(not a lawyer)
You obviously missed the posts in which all the relevant law was spelt out
Who me missed the posts or Mr Shamsiddin Ahmed ?
I’ve read the judgement and studied it too. Never-the-less my point to you (Couldn’t) remains un-responded to. Here it is again ….
It was sheer luck, and the involvement of, inter alia, Debbie Simone (Petitioner 2) that the case was ever put before any court. Let there be no doubt remaining in your understanding of the Rahman scandal that without the participation of Debbie or the others, Mr Rahman would continue to be the Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
What type of election sewage is that ? England home of democracy or just a country of injustice, miscarriages of justice, corruption, staggering incompetence and a blot on the rest of Europe (excluding Belarus and Russia) ?
I rest my (preliminary) and reiterated case for better election laws.
Curious Cat.
Rabina Khan really is a pathetic human being isn’t she? Telling Love Wapping she has referred the blog to the police
Eternal,
Don’t you know that in Tower Hamlets the public are not allowed to criticise anyone connect to ex-Mayor Rahman ?
CC.
Shamsiddin Ahmed on June 6, 2015 at 6:11 am
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Whichever way you look at it, there is hardly any scope to gloss over something which is fundamentally flawed and a clear contravention of the basic principles of law which must be followed to avoid miscarriage of justice .
What law has given you the legitimacy to play the role of an investigator and also a jury and judge ?
Whatever may be the intention, the reality is that the voters in Tower Hamlets and the people anywhere in the land are overwhelmingly under the false impression that it was a trial under a High Court Judge and the verdict was treated as the verdict of the High Court. The Election Tribunal to give such a grossly misleading impression to the country and right across the world was fundamentally bullish and must not be condoned in the interest of justice and FairPlay .
Shamsiddin Ahmed, people can give their second prefs to whoever they want. It’s got nothing to do with you
Voters’ choice and unholy alliance of leading political parties with an unprecedented sinister agenda against a specific candidate to serve an agenda of Islamophobia is altogether different and most contemptible.
The dead body of Enoch Powell would turn in his grave in utter amazement having seen such a ghastly horrific scenario .
In English please?
Kangaroo Court in the heart land of the London Metropolis is a disgrace and a bad omen for a dark future which the decent minded millions in the general population of Great Britain does hardly deserve.
The dead body of Edward Heath will turn in utter horror having seen the ugly image of the country that he once led as an Icon in the Committee of Nations.
=> Dave Roberts,
The next time you ask Shamsiddin Ahmed for a translation of his gibberish into English, please prefix ‘English’ with understandable.
Thanks
CC.
Ted says
I listened and the one thing that struck me is how incapable Rabina is of actually answering questions – as opposed to ranting on in a longwinded way about what she wants to say. She just doesn’t listen.
It certainly does not create a good impression.
To balance that out, Nicholas McQueen, the UKIP candidate, was also unable to provide a sensible answer to the questions asked. He appeared to be living in fantasy land.
Sorry – I should have made it clear – the above relates to the BBC London Hustings http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02ryq4n
The killers of democracy are having nightmares at the sight of Rabina Khan who has outclassed the old miserable character in all fronts .
That is why they are looking for any scape route with the involvement of those who are supposed to be in the role of providing security who needs their help.
The killers of democracy ???
Oh, you mean Tower Hamlets First (THF) headed by Mr Rahman !
Curious Cat.
[…] who raised the fraud issue has utterly ignored it and been almost uncritical towards Haque in his latest piece on the issue. The writeup of Haque’s Labour-backing ‘Unity Task Force’ meeting in the East […]
[…] « Brick Lane curry king and ex-Lutfur money man Shiraj Haque says ‘Vote Biggs’ […]
Rabina is refusing to talk to a huge chunk of the non-Bangla press, she has missed nearly all the hustings and the police are now investigating her campaign and her agents.
Its 2014 all over again!