Westminster is in recess but many of its finest are out and about, knocking up doors in their local constituencies. Council elections are just five weeks away and while some struggle to muster enthusiasm for such contests, the result will invariably be seen as a referendum on the two main party leaders. But amid all the paper candidates and MP wannabes, one name on a forthcoming ballot paper clearly jumps out: Lutfur Rahman, the prospective mayor of Tower Hamlets.
Steerpike has long covered the antics of Rahman, who in 2015 earned himself the dubious distinction of being Britain’s first directly elected mayor to be removed after being found guilty of electoral fraud. His five-year ban now having expired, the Tower Hamlets politician is now once again running for his old job and is regarded by local insiders as the favourite to win in May. One leaflet distributed today proudly displays an endorsement from Ken Livingstone and proclaims:
I have twice been elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets. Each time I have promised to serve the people, and each time I have delivered.
Quite the spin from a man found guilty of ‘corrupt and illegal practices in an election’. Still, Rahman’s claims are perhaps one of the more edifying aspects of the race to be Tower Hamlets mayor. Tory peer Lord Hayward has highlighted how one of Rahman’s supporters, Mohammed Abdus Shukur, told a packed meeting of activists last September to ‘collect’ votes for Rahman. In the video, Shukur, a professional carer, says in Bengali:
In Tower Hamlets, there are 3,500 carer brothers and sisters. If 1,000 carer brothers and sisters actively work in this way and if every brother and sister carer collects 20 votes each, then from our carers 20,000 votes can enter Lutfur’s [ballot] box… Can you all not collect 20 votes per head? I give you an oath, as an adviser, I will collect 1,000 votes.
Hayward pointed out that in the video ‘On four occasions during that meeting, different people do not refer to campaigning for votes, but repeatedly use the word “collect”.’ Communities Minister Kemi Baednoch has already warned both the Metropolitan Police and the Electoral Commission of possible fraud in polls next month in Tower Hamlets.
Good to see things have improved since 2015!
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