London Bangla A Force for the community…
•Election court overturns 2014 mayoral election
•Mayor’s agent Cllr Alibor Choudhury removed from office
•Cllr Oliur Rahman is “acting mayor” till election re-run on 11th June
•Labour Party National Executive considering “fast track” process to confirm John Biggs as Labour’s candidate over heads of local Labour Party members
On 23rd April, the election court found Mayor Rahman and his agent, Cllr Alibor Choudhury, guilty of several offences under election law. These include various “corrupt and illegal practices”.
The Judge deemed that these breaches took place on such a scale that they had an effect on the outcome of the election. He has declared the mayoral election void and a new election will have to take place. The Judge declared that the corrupt practices also affected the elections for councillors, and he will report this to the High Court (which, presumably, may take further action).
The Court was considering allegations made in an election petition brought by four electors, three of them candidates who had stood for election to the Council (at the same time as the mayoral election) but lost their own contests.
Mayor Rahman will not be able to stand in the new election, due to be held on 11th June. The Court also ordered that he pay the petitioners’ costs of £250,000 and that its Judgement be sent to the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority – essentially so that body can determine whether Mayor Rahman is a fit person to be a solicitor.
The Judge removed Cllr Choudhury from his post as councillor in Stepney and a by-election will be held to fill the vacancy.
Until the new mayoral election is held, Deputy Mayor Cllr Oliur Rahman will be interim mayor, and he will appoint a new deputy. It is assumed that the Cabinet members will remain in post.
Lutfur Rahman and Tower Hamlets First were clearly surprised by the unexpectedly harsh result. They issued the following statement:
“Today’s judgment has come as a shock – the Mayor strongly denies any wrongdoing and had full confidence in the justice system, and so this result has been surprising to say the least. We are seeking further legal advice on the matter in relation to a judicial review. A more detailed statement clarifying our response will be released shortly.”
The Labour Party was, in contrast, delighted by the Judgment. Labour Group Leader Cllr Rachael Saunders issued a triumphant statement which included her own criticisms of Mayor Rahman:
“For as long as Lutfur Rahman has held power Tower Hamlets has been held back by division and patronage. The east end is home to people from the four corners of the globe, and we are proud of our vibrant campaigning traditions. That heritage has been damaged by Lutfur Rahman and this is a source of huge shame.”
Potential Labour candidate John Biggs was similarly delighted and joined in her criticisms:
“People from across our community have been badly let down by the Mayor. After five years of abuse of public funds and public trust, it’s time that residents have a council that is again on their side, that faith in free and fair elections is restored and divisions in our community are healed.”
It has to be said that there are many people in the community who do not feel “let down by the Mayor”. School and university students who received financial support from the Mayor (support not offered by the vast majority of Labour Councils in the UK) after central grants were cut will not have felt let down. Nor will tenants affected by the Government’s bedroom tax and cut in Council Tax benefit feel badly let down by Mayor Rahman’s policies of refusing to evict the former and making up the cut in the latter. Perhaps John Biggs, if he is confirmed as Labour’s candidate, will make an early promise to retain these parts of the Mayor’s programme – and clarify which of our “people” feel they have been let down.
Green Party Chair Dan Lee issued a statement blaming the Labour Party for letting their internal problems spill out into the public arena and vowing to work for the abolition of an Executive Mayor in Tower Hamlets.
A spokesperson gave the following statement on behalf of Tower Hamlets Council.
“Today, the election commissioner, Judge Richard Mawrey, found in favour of the arguments presented by the petitioners in this case.
“Mr Mawrey also presented a judgement which cleared the council’s returning officer, John Williams, and council staff of all allegations related to fraudulent practice in the delivery and administration of the 2014 elections.
“We welcome recognition that the council’s strong electoral processes – which have been subject to further intense scrutiny during this petition hearing – are sound and Tower Hamlets Council will now take the steps necessary to hold an election for executive mayor of Tower Hamlets.”
The full written Judgment became available during the day. It is runs to nearly 200 pages and will need careful studying to establish exactly what evidence the findings are based on. However, even early readings of the Judgment are throwing up disturbing points.
Most worrying is what appears to be a new attitude to faith leaders giving their views on election matters. The Judge has given a full account of what he considers to be the law in this matter, but he does appear to be relying a great deal on a case from 1892 to confirm his opinion that Muslim clerics went too far in recommending a vote for Lutfur Rahman last year.
His opinion on the differences between the Christian and Muslim faiths is likely to be controversial:
“A sophisticated metropolitan readership might smile patronisingly on the earnest strictures of the Bishops of the Church of England but many traditionalist and pious Muslim voters of Tower Hamlets are going to accept the word of their religious leaders as authoritative.”
London Bangla contacted both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England to see if, given this judgement, they planned to warn their clerics not to refer to the General Election in their sermons before polling day. Both were still looking into the Judgement and not yet in a position to comment.
There are several similar controversial statements in the Judgement. It is inevitable that the local population – and the thousands of Muslims across the UK who are preparing to vote in the General Election – will be looking at this Judgement and condemning it as a “whitewash”. As we go to press, a Twitter storm is brewing. The judgment is being discussed on the radio, with public figures such as Ken Livingstone and Christine Shawcroft expressing their surprise at the verdict and many Muslims calling in to phone-in programmes to condemn the verdict as the result of a racist and islamophobic state and to demand the reinstatement of Lutfur Rahman.
Mr Mawrey’s judgment may yet prove to have been the most divisive intervention in our community yet.
Lutfur Rahman
2002
Passed as a fit candidate by the Labour Party
Elected by the people
2006
Passed as a fit candidate by the Labour Party
Elected by the people
2010
Passed as a fit candidate by the Labour Party
Elected by the people
2010
Rejected by the Labour Party
Elected by the people
2014
Elected by the people
2015
Removed from office by a judge
