The fall of Lutfur Rahman

[Filuwaúrdjan]

All things must end. Lutfur Rahman one of the more controversial/colourful/appalling/entertaining (delete according to preference) figures on London's political stage has been found guilty of electoral fraud and has been removed from his post as Mayor of Tower Hamlets and has been barred from standing again. Mercedes-Benz will doubtless be very upset at this news.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A bit of context...

It's a complicated story and there are different versions of the truth, think its fair to say. So trying to be as even handed as possible:

Basically the Labour group on the council elected in 2006 had certain serious factional difficulties, and there was something of an ethnic dimension to them, with most (though not all) councillors from a Bangladeshi background forming the one faction. The lead figure in this group was Lutfur Rahman, who is allegedly linked with the Islamic Forum of Europe which is allegedly linked to the Bangladeshi political party Jamaat-e-Islami. Bangladeshi councillors opposed to Rahman tended to be associated with another Bangladeshi political party (the Awami League). These tensions increased with the defection of Bangladeshi councillors elected for Respect. Rahman became council leader in 2008 after a factional coup. His tenure was controversial; Rahman clashed with the council's Chief Executive (i.e. senior civil servant) and eventually fired him, and claims were made by various people of improper use of council funds.

Rahman was ousted as Leader after the 2010 elections and replaced by Helal Abbas (a longterm rival, though they represented the same ward). But the voters of Tower Hamlets had voted to have a directly elected executive Mayor in a referendum. Rahman and Abbas both ran for the Labour nomination for this position, as did the local GLA member John Biggs (himself a former Tower Hamlets councillor). Rahman won the vote, but was removed as candidate by the NEC following accusations of IFE links - the IFE was accused by being an entryist organisation and entryism is severely frowned on in Labour due to the experience with Militant - and claims of electoral fraud. Abbas was picked as the Labour candidate by the NEC, even though he had finished third. Rahman stood as an independent and won the election by miles; hardly any non-Bangladeshi voters turned out.

Following Rahman's election, the Labour group split with Rahman's faction eventually forming itself into 'Tower Hamlets First'. Rahman's tenure as Mayor has been every bit as controversial as his time as council leader, and there have been repeated accusations of financial irregularities, dubious use of council funds (most notoriously on a Mercedes E-class for Rahman's personal use), and questionable grants to 'community groups' in the borough. Rahman has also been accused of links to (Bangladeshi) criminals, while 'Tower Hamlets First' has been accused of electoral intimidation. But the borough isn't a basket case in the usual sense (i.e. basic services are delivered pretty effectively) and bad publicity has not damaged Rahman's image with the people that actually vote for him.

[afleitch]

The ruling itself is worth a read.

https://trialbyjeory.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/judgment.pdf

Including, 'On past form, it appears inevitable that Mr Rahman will denounce this judgment as yet another example of the racism and Islamophobia that have hounded him throughout his political life. It is nothing of the sort. Mr Rahman has made a successful career by ignoring or flouting the law (as this Petition demonstrates) and has relied on silencing his critics by accusations of racism and Islamophobia. But his critics have not been silenced and neither has this court.'

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Yes, Rahman is a piece of crap. Can we end this silly experiment with powerful directly elected mayors? It clearly leads to bad situations like this.

Incidentally, I'm surprised that neither THF nor Respect are running in any Tower Hamlets seat.

[You kip if you want to...]

Bet that the Tower Hamlets constituency are still the last to declare.

[Хahar 🤔]

Lutfur Rahman a crook? I for one am shocked.

[Silent Hunter]

Yes, Rahman is a piece of crap. Can we end this silly experiment with powerful directly elected mayors? It clearly leads to bad situations like this.

Incidentally, I'm surprised that neither THF nor Respect are running in any Tower Hamlets seat.

Respect is a one man show, really and he's running in Bradford.