OK, it’s been a while and I won’t promise anything regular, but as it’s election time I thought this site could do with a little activity.
A senior Labour member I spoke to today believes John Biggs has it in the bag, albeit with one caveat that if there has been some sort of deal between Rabina Khan and the Tories (as quite a few have rumoured) in which Tory supporters are urged to give their second preferences to Rabina, then there could be a small problem. But on reflection he thought that wouldn’t even matter.
He thinks as this would be John’s last term, he would be free to enact some bold policies without the worry of bickering internal Labour politics (which sounds like wishful thinking to me…).
Has there been a deal between Rabina and Peter Golds? I’ve deliberately not spoken to either of them on this yet and just wanted to float that idea first.
It is also widely rumoured that she has long done a deal with Elaine Bagshaw’s Lib Dems, which is far more plausible given the potential trouble the Tories might from CCHQ.
And what’s confirmed is that she has accepted Helal Abbas’s lieutenant, Cllr Khales Uddin, as one of her candidates who was recently deselected by Labour amid allegations he had racially abused a fellow party member (he denies that). Rabina believes this shows her People’s Alliance party is a broad church because Khales was a key figure in the Election Court hearing that brought down Lutfur. He also happens to be personally popular in his Bromley North seat.
Rabina is desperate for all the help she can get having fallen out spectacularly with her old Lutfur crew, the consequences of which have seen her the target of some fairly hostile personal attacks.
And a leaflet issued by her team setting out her manifesto is one of the most grown up pieces of work I’ve seen in Tower Hamlets, but that’s possibly because she doesn’t have any party apparatus to speak of.
In it she pledges not only a cross party cabinet (on the face of it a bold and good idea, but fraught with problems) and that could be a clue to that rumoured deal.
And then there is this: she also promises to hold a referendum “to ask the people” whether they want to retain the mayoral system. The former Lutfur cheerleader, who at the time he was in power said there was nothing to see here, guv, now says “we all need a listening council that is both transparent and accountable”. Which is what they all say, I guess. However, it is welcome.
Her slogan is “for a fresh start” but that might well apply to her just as much as it does to Tower Hamlets. Her luck might be better third time around in four years’ time.
Here’s her leaflet.
And here’s a wee video someone sent me of her at a recent hustings. My source said this was Rabina “unshackled”, although to me it just likes a normal politician speaking sensibly at an event. That’s progress.
Trial by Jeory 