Ed Miliband and Lutfur Rahman are the “new generation”
by Abjol Miah:
I am giving my wholehearted support to Lutfur Rahman to become the first directly elected executive mayor of Tower Hamlets. This was my position and the position of the Respect Party when Lutfur won the selection contest in the Labour Party by an overwhelming majority. I will support him even more strongly now that he has been entirely unjustly deselected by Labour’s bosses on the National Executive Committee and is standing as an independent.
There are three reasons why Respect originally chose not to stand a candidate against Lutfur but instead to give him our support.
The first is that he has been subject to a terrible witch hunt stretching back at least to Andrew Gilligan’s fictional programme “Britain’s First Islamic Republic” more than six months ago. This is a witch hunt stained by anti-Muslim racism.
Secondly, Lutfur has a track record as leader of Tower Hamlets council which demonstrated that he understands that some of Labour’s policies in the past have been bad for the majority of the residents of Tower Hamlets and needed changing.
Thirdly, Lutfur has set his face firmly against any cuts to services and jobs in Tower Hamlets which the Condem Coalition intends to inflict on us and has declared he will lead a broad coalition of the trade unions and community groups not only to fight but to stop those cuts.
Everything that has happened in the last few extraordinary days since Lutfur was deselected by Labour has proved he is by far the best candidate with a realistic chance of winning the election. In particular, the revelation of the charges which Helal Abbas presented to the National Executive Committee of the Labour party show both how groundless the charges were and how prejudiced and unjust his deselection was. The Labour bosses’ actions are an insult to the Labour Party members of Tower Hamlets and to the wider electorate.
Amongst the charges against Lutfur is that he met with the Imam of the Grand Mosque at Makah. I would have thought this was something that Lutfur should be praised for as the Imam is a respected religious figure.
Also in the charge sheet is the claim that a number of individuals should not have voted in the selection process because they no longer live in the borough or at the address at which their membership is registered. I have no idea whether this is true and nor does anyone else.
Even more bizarrely none of these allegations now going to be investigated. Nor is there any reason to suppose that Lutfur was the beneficiary of these minor irregularities, if such they are; they could have had no bearing on the outcome of the selection process because Lutfur won by such a large majority.
If the charges had been so grave that they justified administrative deselection, the candidate who should have been selected in Lutfur’s place was John Biggs. Helal Abbas received less than a third of the votes given to Lutfur by Labour members and less than one sixth of the total votes cast. He came third in the selection process! The charge sheet he brought before Labour’s NEC is a disgrace and is enough to show him as unsuitable to be Tower Hamlets mayor.
One of the first things I think Ed Miliband needs to do is to launch a proper investigation into Tower Hamlets Labour Party. He needs to get to the truth about the conspiracy against Lutfur Rahman and the co-operation there has been between some members of the Labour Party and botht he Conservatives and the right wing press to denigrate both Lutfur and a large section of the Muslim community here. Without that the Miliband Labour party will never hope to restore the confidence that has been lost over this disgraceful affair.
As for Helal Abbas, he has never admitted that some of Labour’s policies in the past which he carried out were very damaging to people in Tower Hamlets. Helal Abbas is the “old generation” whereas Ed Miliband and Lutfur Rahman are the “new generation”.
This is very important. I have my disagreements with Ed Miliband and the jury is out on how good a leader he may ultimately be. But there were important things in his maiden speech as leader to Labour Party conference that most people can agree with.
Firstly, Miliband stated what has been obvious to most people and to most Labour Party members – the Iraq War was a mistake that should never have been made. There were alternatives and going to war undermined the United Nations. He might have added that the consequences of this mistake were the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, hundreds of British soldiers and a massive boost to Al Qaeda and extremist terrorism.
Secondly, he made it clear that Labour had made a massive error in pursuing its free market ideology to the point where deregulation of the banks produced the financial crisis we are now being asked to pay for.
I have no doubt that Lutfur would agree with both these self-evident propositions. Lutfur also demonstrated in office that he understood the profound housing problems that had been caused by New Labour’s determination not to build council houses but instead to seek to transfer the housing responsibility to the private sector.
He ended stock transfer in this borough and, within the modest means afforded to council’s by the previous Labour government, sought to boost the council housing stock by buying back large homes that had been sold off under right to buy.
There were many things that I disagreed with during Lutfur’s time as council leader but his regime showed a capacity to learn and change that was never there under his predecessors, Helal Abbas, Michael Keith and Denise Jones.
Lutfur has been subject to smears and vilification in a cynical campaign orchestrated by a small number of people in Tower Hamlets Labour. One of the most shocking things in all of this is the fact that there has clearly been a conspiracy to denigrate Lutfur involving co-operation between senior Labour Party members and the Conservatives. They have been aided and abetted by journalists who are either deeply ignorant or pandering to Islamophobia or both.
To give an idea of the cynicism of this campaign let me take the example of Andrew Gilligan who now proclaims he is the London editor of the very right wing pro-Conservative Telegraph. Gilligan conducted a long campaign to vilify Ken Livingstone, who is once again, I’m pleased to see, the official Labour candidate for 2012, having crushed Oona King in the London-wide selection.
Amongst other things, Gilligan has repeatedly claimed I am a senior activist in the Islamic Forum of Europe. He has also absurdly repeatedly described the IFE as “fundamentalist” which is an appalling misuse of the English language.
I have great admiration for the IFE and in particular for the work it has done in the community to combat anti-social behaviour, drug use and so on. But I am not and never have been a member of the IFE never mind a “senior IFE activist”. I told Gilligan this.
Despite that fact and the fact the Press Complaints Commission ruled he had breached their code on accuracy grounds, he claimed I lost my PCC complaint and has continued to repeat his untruths about me ad nauseam on his blog. His blog incidentally seems to have attracted the support and admiration of a highly unsavoury bunch of Islamophobes whose ignorance and prejudice suggest many of them are supporters of the English Defence League and the British National Party. The PCC will be hearing from me again.
This shows the kinds of forces ranged against Lutfur. That’s why we need to do everything we can over the next three weeks until the election on 21st October to show that Tower Hamlets is not going to be dictated to by a prejudiced and out of touch Labour hierarchy or the extreme right wing.
Ken Livingstone was elected as an independent to be mayor of London in 2000 in not dissimilar circumstances.
In fact the parallels go further. The same band of senior Labour people in Tower Hamlets who have opposed Lutfur so strongly – Jim Fitzpatrick, Rushanara Ali, Josh Peck – also encouraged Oona King to stand against Ken and backed her all the way.
They were overwhelmingly rejected by London Labour and Ken can now look forward to becoming London mayor again in 2012. We must make sure in the same way that Lutfur is elected mayor of Tower Hamlets.
Neil Williams on said:
So Respect campaigned for the whole of last year for an executive elected Mayor, first to support the Labour Party candidate, and then to support the same person as an “Independent”. How confusing this must be for Respect voters in Tower Hamlets(along with George Galloway’s disastrous decision not to stand in his own constituency in the election).
“Ed Miliband and Lutfur Rahman are the “new generation”
now Ed Millabnad could turn out to be a reasonable social democratic leader of the sort of Labour politics we see in Wales but Lutfer Rahman “the new generation”!!!! you must be joking. With thinking like this you can see why Respect has been reduced from 12 Councillors now to one currently and most likely about to lose this Mayoral election to the Labour Party.
How many Labour Leaders/Councillors has stated that they are opposed to cuts then quite happily voted for them as they had to “balance the Council’s budget”?
“This shows the kinds of forces ranged against Lutfur”
So Lutfer Rahamn has never been involved in any sort of faction fight or dealing to become Leader Or Tower Hamlets Council or the Labour Party nominee – he stands above all that sort of Labour Party politics in Tower Hamlets? – come on you really think we are going to buy that!
I have no doubt at all that there are some people and some journalists that are happy to attack the Labour Party and some in the Muslim community any way they can but the fact is that it is other Labour and Muslim Councillors that have made official complaints of “intimidation” inside the Labour Group. No doubt this may be part of a Labour Party faction fight but should Respect take sides in this rather than stand their own candidate?
No, this whole sorry business is just another move to the right by Respect led and encouraged by its current leadership.
Onc again I leave you with the words of Lutfur Rahman on his blog this week and today, the words of a “new generation” according to Abjol Miah:
““My Politics
Under my leadership, Labour returned 41Councillors and two MPs – the best result for us since 1998 – and OBLITERATED RESPECT AS A POLITICAL FORCE IN THE PROCESS”
Lutfur Rahman on his blog this week (and today).
http://www.lutfurrahman.com/politcs.php
Neil WilliamsQuote text Reply
Pauline Ross on said:
Neil,
let it go comrade, you’re out of Respect now anyway. Those left are just the die-hard drinkers that you get at the end of any party refusing to go home peaceably.
Pauline RossQuote text Reply
Neil Williams on said:
Pauline Ross perhaps that is good advice but having given six years to the project I find it very sad indeed. I would have liked to see Respect do well in Tower Hamlets but so be it. But as you say its time to let go move on and attempt to build a new Socialist Party with the many other 10,000 who feel unrepresented at the moment. I’am sure there will be more news on this very issue in the next six months which I should now talk about and as you say Pauline let go of Respect.
Neil WilliamsQuote text Reply
MRD on said:
As much as it pains me to do so, I have to agree with Neil re: confusion with voters. I still wanted Respect to do well after the unpleasant split a few years ago, I’m not a sectarian sticking the boot in, but TH Respect seems to be in complete freefall politically.
MRDQuote text Reply
David Ellis on said:
Hang on, Respect manage to split the whole TH Labour Party in half and in the process completely expose its thoroughly opportunist right wing. I’d call that a triumph that everybody should be trying to emulate in their own constituencies.
Neil: Sad to see you linking up with long time open and vicious enemies of Respect on this thread. That you now find common cause with these people is worrying to say the least. What next?
David EllisQuote text Reply
MRD on said:
Errr I’m neither vicious nor an enemy of Respect.
To take a point I made in another post, saying that the Respect stance is confusing to the electorate does not mean ‘lining up with long time… enemies’. Calm the needless hyperbole.
MRDQuote text Reply
David Ellis on said:
Not you MRD. Go up the page a bit.
David EllisQuote text Reply
Omar on said:
I agree TH Respect do look a little amateurish during this bizarre process but I think Abjol does a pretty good job of explaining why Rahman is worthy of support
(I think the issue of affordable housing is especially pressing in TH). I have a feeling George Galloway may have wanted a bit of a break and Respect made a tactical decision after deciding they had no one else who could mount a serious challenge to Rahman.
OmarQuote text Reply
Abjol please respond to this on said:
Abjol
Your comment about the Grand Inam of Mecca is deeply dishonest and sectarian. Who has criticised Lutfur for this? As you know, the only criticism made of this visit is that when leader, Lutfur Rahman only invited his supporters – such as Rofique Ahmed. Councillors and other significant figures in the Boroughs Cultural and Political Life were not invited (whether Muslim or not).
It would be like David Cameron not inviting the Leader of the opposition to meet the Pope.
You should apologise for this slur or provide evidence for it.
Abjol please respond to thisQuote text Reply
Karl Stewart on said:
What continues to puzzle me and others who are outaside of Respect and outside the Tower Hamlets area is why you’re not standing your own candidate here?
It’s your strongest locality – and the electoral evidence backs this up. You have a very high-profile party leader in George Galloway, who doesn’t currently have an elected public office.
You have an unpopular LibDem party, Tories set on slashing public services and jobs and a Labour Party which appears to be a split and divided among itself.
And the campaign for an elected mayor was a major priority for Respect in Tower Hamlets – according to articles on this site when the question of whether to hold this election was being decided upon.
Taking all this together, one can only draw the conclusion that Respect in Tower Hamlets is, perhaps, itself in crisis and, maybe, this party does not have a long-term future.
(As an aside, I always amusing how the comical David Ellis abruptly drops his doctrinaire “trotskyism” whenever the Respect Party is being discussed and suddenly becomes the “party loyalist,” defending this avowedly non-marxist party leadership to the hilt.)
Karl StewartQuote text Reply
David Ellis on said:
#10 `What continues to puzzle me . . .’
Most things seem to puzzle you Karl.
David EllisQuote text Reply
Andy Newman on said:
#10
It is not my place to speak for respect, but I think comrade Rogers explains it well:
“Every gambler knows the secret to surviving, is knowing what to throw away, and knowing what to keep, because every hands a winner, and every hands a loser, and the best you can hope for, is to die in your sleep”
Andy NewmanQuote text Reply
Paul Materialist on said:
Better Kenny Rogers than Karl Marx…
Paul MaterialistQuote text Reply
Nadia Chern on said:
Especially if it is your Marx.
Nadia ChernQuote text Reply
hw on said:
As an outsider as well it seems both a odd tack by Respect to take. It seems that the Respect project is unravelling. The space between Respect and mainstream Labour is now very hard to detect politically and now they(Labour) are not in Govt the pole towards Respect is very thin. I do have a curiosity to know what comrades such as Rob Hoveman and Judy Cox make of all this as they were both talented individuals. Great shame really.
hwQuote text Reply
Andy Newman on said:
#15
“they were both talented individuals. ”
they still are.
Andy NewmanQuote text Reply
hw on said:
Well I am sure you are right Andy. However it would be really interesting for Hoveman to write some serious analysis of the economic crisis..news from Ireland today for example!!! Judy was also a very good writer, not seen anything from her..then again maybe I am not looking in the right places.
hwQuote text Reply
Mr Anderson on said:
It astonishes me that Respect can issue this extremely thorough statement, detailing the considerable precise reasons why they are supporting Lutfur Rahman, and some on this thread then carry on their ignorant posturing regardless.
It is clear that Respect did not stand aside with banal excuses but for political principles. That is very clear from Abjol’s article.
What is therefore also clear is that many who detest Respect are angry at them for not standing a candidate. That is instructive and i’m sure will have been noticed by Tower Hamlets Respect. Maybe they are doing something right. Then of course there are some who say they are on the left but who clearly enough by their words and deeds benefit the right. Neil Williams is now firmly in this category. There is a decisive political struggle taking place in East London. Neil has chosen to attack the progressive forces, imperfect as they are, in this struggle.
Mr AndersonQuote text Reply
Omar on said:
#18
I think that may be a little bit unfair to Neil and I speak as an unafilliated lefty.
After the losses suffered in the election I think some were hoping that the party would try and revitalise itself and it’s demoralised members by going in full-tilt for the TH Mayoralty but that seems to have been derailed in a somewhat puzzling turn of events.
People like Neil who were long term members would have, I’m assuming, invested alot in making the Respect Party into a viable electoral force and to see it peter-out so anti-climactically is very disappointing for those who have high hopes for the party.
OmarQuote text Reply
Andy Newman on said:
#19
“that seems to have been derailed in a somewhat puzzling turn of events.”
i don’t see why it is puzzling. Respect have played the hand of cards they have been dealt, and once Lutfur Rahman was a declared candidate, and even more so when he decided to stand as an independent, then the electoral space available was narrower than the aspace that existed in the general election. Respect can therefroe exert more leverage by supporting Lutfur than by their own candidacy.
Then see what happens. If Lutfur wins, 7 or 8 Labour cuncillors are expelled, including perhaps some in Newham for supporting Lutfur, then Respect can hope to infleunce in whatever comes next. Notwithstanding the anti-Respect sentiment from some of the former Respect councillors who defected to Labour and are now supporting Lutfur.
Andy NewmanQuote text Reply
Rorschach on said:
Tower Hamlets has been a spectacularly ignominious episode in the history of the left. We’re total clowns sometimes.
RorschachQuote text Reply
Karl Stewart on said:
Mr Anderson writes: “What is therefore also clear is that many who detest Respect are angry at them for not standing a candidate.”
No Mr Anderson, no-one’s “angry” at your decision, we just don’t understand why you made such a priority of campaigning for this election just a few months ago and now that the election’s on, you’ve declined to take part
It makes no difference to me – or, I’d guess, to anyone else who’s also outside Respect and not in Tower Hamlets – whether you guys stand or not.
But don’t you appreciate how odd it looks to we “outsiders” that this directly elected mayor was so important to you that you publicly campaigned for it. Tower Hamlets is the area where you’ve had more electoral success than anywhere else.
You’ve got the LibDems in political freefall, the Tories are not traditionally popular there anyway and are currently heading a government making svage cuts and the local Labour Party – apparently, according to your reports – is split and in some disarray, and you’ve got a high-profile leader George Galloway currently at a loose end.
A “perfect storm” for you and you’re stepping aside.
You’ve decided, instead of participating yourselves, to support the deposed former Labour candidate who doesn’t appear to be particularly left-wing or friendly towards you – judging by comments attributed to him that have been posted during this discussion.
It’s not unreasonable to conclude that this may indicate that that Respect may be on the way out.
I can’t see any other logical explanation.
Karl StewartQuote text Reply
Ism on said:
Every one who is anti Rahman is a ‘Islamaphobe’ due to the scientific process of bobopittism
IsmQuote text Reply