A former leader of Tower Hamlets Council who was dumped by Labour then stood as an independent has been voted in as the borough’s new mayor. Lutfur Rahman secured 51.76% of the vote to become the east London borough’s first directly elected mayor.
Former council leader Mr Rahman was Labour’s initial candidate. But when he was rebuffed by the party he announced he would stand as an independent with several Labour councillors’ backing.
Thursday’s poll was the first ever ballot for a directly-elected mayor in Tower Hamlets, with a 25.6% turnout.
Labour’s London mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone has risked internal discipline by campaigning for Mr Rahman against the party’s new candidate, Helal Abbas. On Monday, he was seen on the streets of Tower Hamlets campaigning with Mr Rahman.
Mr Livingstone called the deselection of Mr Rahman an “utterly unacceptable” move by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) 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.
Labour’s Mr Abbas launched a bitter attack on Mr Rahman, accusing him of being “in the gutter”. “This is a sad night for those of us who want to build a better future and a united Tower Hamlets. Lutfur Rahman has won tonight but not as he wanted, as the Labour candidate,” he said in a statement.
“Thankfully, Labour’s ruling National Executive had the backbone to stop him from being the Labour candidate. We may have lost tonight, but at least the Labour Party has clean hands.”
Votes were as follows:
- Helal Uddin Abbas, Labour Party – 11,254
- Alan Duffell, Green Party – 2,300
- John David Macleod Griffiths, Liberal Democrats – 2,800
- Neil Anthony King, Conservative Party – 5,348
- Lutfur Rahman, Independent – 23,283
See also Dave Hill’s London Blog, 22 October 2010
So Andrew Gilligan’s contemptible witch-hunting was all in vain. Needless to say, he is not happy.
Update: And now Gilligan has posted a transcript of his Channel 4 documentary “Britain’s Islamic Republic” on his Torygraph blog. Give it a rest Andrew. You spent all that time and effort trying to stitch up the IFE and turn public opinion against Lutfur Rahman – and you lost.