Tower Hamlets votes in independent mayor
The new mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London appeals for unity after a highly turbulent election campaign which saw him removed as Labour candidate.
Lutfur Rahman – who won just over 50 per cent of the vote – ran as an independent after he was deselected as Labour’s candidate. He was backed by George Galloway’s Respect organisation.
Mr Rahman, who served as Labour leader of the council until he was removed six months ago, said all he wanted to do was serve the people of Tower Hamlets – whatever their colour, religion or creed.
He becomes the borough’s first directly elected mayor, a £75,000 a year post, with control over its £1bn budget.
His election bid was supported by several Labour councillors, and London’s former mayor Ken Livingstone, who risked internal party discipline to back him against the official Labour man, Helal Abbas.
Earlier this week, Mr Livingstone called the deselection of Mr Rahman an “utterly unacceptable” move which “ignored the views of the local electorate”. He insisted however that he backed the official candidate and was simply trying to encourage voters to put the independent down as their second choice in an effort to keep out the Conservatives.
In yesterday’s poll – with a low turnout of just 25.6 per cent – Mr Rahman secured more than double the votes of his Labour rival, with the Conservatives a distant third.
On his victory Mr Rahman said: “Whatever party you may belong to, whatever community you may belong to, please give me the chance to serve and deliver for the people of Tower Hamlets.”
Mr Abbas, who’s been leader of the council five times, launched a bitter attack on his rival last night accusing him of being “in the gutter”. He called it a sad night for anyone who wanted to build a better future, and a united Tower Hamlets.
The two men have been embroiled in bitter infighting throughout the campaign.
Last month Mr Abbas produced a dossier accusing Mr Rahman of being influenced by a group called the Islamic Forum of Europe – which he described as a “fundamentalist organisation which is gradually infiltrating the Labour party.” It was this document which influenced the party’s National Executive Committee to remove Lutfur Rahman as the official candidate, and replace him with Mr Abbas.
In a statement, the IFE said Mr Rahman was not, and had never been a member and it strongly denied being a fundamentalist group. Instead, it said, the IFE promoted a “balanced message of Islam” which called on Muslims to be “model and active citizens.”
Mr Abbas himself became the target of unsubstantiated smears contained in a “special edition” of a local freesheet – the London Bangla – which was distributed to every household in Tower Hamlets. Mr Rahman strenuously denied having anything to do with it – declaring that he’d sue anyone who said the paper had come from his campaign team.
It’s all left the Labour party in a much weakened state – after its strong performance against Respect in May’s General Election.
And with 41 out of 51 seats on Tower Hamlets council, Labour will now have to find a way of working with the new directly elected mayor after this deeply divisive and vicious contest.
Votes were as follows:
Lutfur Rahman, Independent – 23,283
Helal Uddin Abbas, Labour Party – 11,254
Neil Anthony King, Conservative Party – 5,348
John David Macleod Griffiths, Liberal Democrats – 2,800
Alan Duffell, Green Party – 2,300