One of the features of Lutfur Rahman’s divisive administration has been the readiness of his low-grade lieutenants to chuck around the word ‘racist’. I’ve documented this far too many times on this blog to list them again now.
It’s also been clear the past few months that this would be their strategy in the lead up to May’s mayoral election. And having grown up in the swamp, they know that mud can stick.
They’ll probably find some way to label me racist for even saying that, but I’m not.
You see, my wife and her family sometimes call themselves Bangladeshis; more frequently it’ll be Bengalis. All the time, of course, they also say they’re British. And at other times, when they’re describing someone who’s white, they’ll say they’re ‘English’.
All terms of common parlance. And they’re the most lovely, open-minded family I know (and yes, I would say that, but it’s true.)
Unlike the dimwitted muck-rakers who pretend they’re campaigning for a One Tower Hamlets, ie Lutfur’s Tower Hamlets First crew.
Lutfur was always described to me by those who knew him better as an empty vessel. It seems that vessel now poureth over with poison.
How so?
See this press release from Lutfur’s campaign manager Cllr Alibor Choudhury.
John Biggs: Dividing the East End
Labour Mayoral hopeful reported to Equalities and Human Rights Commission over inflammatory and divisive comments
Pressure was today mounting on Tower Hamlets Labour Mayoral hopeful John Biggs after he was referred to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission for remarks made on the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme
The complaint, by Cllr. Alibor Choudhury of Tower Hamlets First, refers to a statement made by Biggs on 22 September 2013.
Attempting to refute claims of institutional racism in the Labour Party, Mr Biggs said: “All of the Mayor’s Cabinet are Bangladeshi and his primary policy focus has been the concerns of one community, the Bangladeshi community.”
Cllr. Choudhury said: “First off, the makeup of the Mayor’s cabinet is a result of Labour’s policy of non-cooperation. Secondly, John might want to think of me as a foreigner, but I was born here and am as British as he is. Thirdly, policies like free homecare, bringing back EMA and building the most affordable homes in the UK benefit everyone. John’s remarks are untrue and inflammatory and are doing lasting damage to community cohesion in the East End.”
The comments reported to the Commission are the latest in a long line of racially charged comments by the Labour Mayoral hopeful. In 1998, he campaigned against the creation of Banglatown and in 2013 his dog-whistle claims on housing were picked up and gleefully used as propaganda by the EDL who marched on the borough just a couple of months later. More recently, one of his Labour colleagues accused him of having a problem with outspoken Bangladeshis.
Cllr. Choudhury added: “Biggs’ slogan is ‘Uniting the East End’ but with far-right ‘patrols’ on our streets and bomb threats to the Town Hall and East London Mosque, his remarks are doing the opposite. Residents have tried to get him to explain his comments and have been ignored, so there’s no other option but to report him to the EHRC.”
Very kindly, Alibor also sent us the letter he’s written to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
Dear Commissioners,
I have been an elected councillor in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets since 2006, and currently serve as the council’s Cabinet Member for Resources, serving alongside the directly-elected mayor, Lutfur Rahman.
I’m proud that in Lutfur, Tower Hamlets has elected Britain’s, and Europe’s, first BAME directly-elected mayor. He is standing for re-election this coming May. Sadly, however, the local Labour Party, who are currently in opposition on the council, appear to be centring their campaign to unseat Lutfur on racial grounds.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show on 22 September 2013, the Labour mayoral candidate said, “all of the mayor’s cabinet are Bangladeshi and primary policy focus has been the concerns of one community, the Bangladeshi community.”
This is worrying on a number of levels. First, I am one of those cabinet members. I may be ethnic-Bangladeshi but I was born and brought up in Britain, I have always lived here, and I am as British as Mr Biggs is.
Second, there is a clear appeal to racial prejudice, which is deeply irresponsible, particularly given the backdrop of tensions around the EDL march that had taken place weeks before the programme, and constant negative press coverage around the local Bangladeshi community and Muslims.
On 25 September, three days after the broadcast, the East London Mosque was the subject of a bomb threat and police were called. On 26 September, a suspicious package arrived at the Town Hall. It is very possible that these sinister incidents were the work of extremists whipped up by Mr Biggs’s outburst.
Even if there is no direct link, Mr Biggs should know that his position as a London Assembly member gives him a prominent and influential public platform and that as such, he should choose his words responsibly.
Third, that there are no white members of the mayor’s cabinet is not of his own choosing. When Lutfur stood as an independent candidate following the Labour Party’s suspension of his candidacy – on the basis of allegations that were never put to him and later proved to be false – a large number of Labour councillors supported him. Those who were ethnic-Bengali were expelled from the Labour Party, whereas those who were not were permitted to remain.
On winning the mayoral election, Lutfur wrote to all Labour councillors – white and non-white – inviting them to apply for cabinet positions. But Mr Biggs’s party colleagues ordered all Labour councillors to refuse the offer or be expelled from the Labour Party. This is the reason why there are no non BAME cabinet members.
Apart from anything else, I was hoping that Mr Biggs would have something more constructive to observe about me and my fellow cabinet members, rather than crass complaints about the colour of our skin.
I truly believe that the reason for such messaging is that the Labour Party feels it has lost the ethnic minority vote to Lutfur and therefore needs to appeal to a section of the electorate who resent Bangladeshis and Muslims’ involvement in local democracy and civil society, and who do not normally vote.
Such sentiments are fuelled by hysterical newspaper articles branding this multicultural borough ‘Taliban Tower Hamlets’ and ‘Sharia Zone’, and of course the false allegations famously made by Labour Party figures that Lutfur had been ‘brainwashed by Islamic fundamentalists’.
It would not be the first time such a strategy has been adopted: you will be all too familiar with Phil Woolas MP’s racial smears against the Liberal Democrats after he lost much of his ethnic-minority support base to that party following the Iraq war.
I trust that you will share my grave concern over these deeply unappetising and irresponsible election tactics. I write to you now because my analysis of the opposition’s approach has been reaffirmed by further developments in recent days, which have seen a Far-Right racist party, British First, mount intimidating vigilante patrols outside the East London Mosque, a serving opposition councillor accuse his party leaders and Mr Biggs of racial prejudice, and the party’s election organiser telling the public that the way to remove the mayor from office is to get more non-Bangladeshis to vote. I am happy to release the evidence of these incidents to you as you require.
My foremost concern is the community cohesion in this borough. Its sure destruction should not be a price any legitimate party is willing to pay in return for winning an election.
I very much hope that you will look into this situation carefully, and I look forward to a prompt and thorough response.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Alibor Choudhury
Cabinet Member for Resources
Shadwell Ward
CC: The Labour Party National Executive Committee Chair Angela Eagle
The Labour Party BAME National Executive Committee Chair Kamaljeet Jandu
Greater London Authority Monitoring Officer
Well, this is a bit thick really. And remember, Alibor is the cabinet member for finance. And not only does he in private call himself Bengali/Bangladeshi (he has to me many times and never British Bangladeshi, because that goes without saying), but he also signs off grants galore for groups whose names suggest Bangladeshi-only.
Only last week, for example, he and the Mayor handed out a ‘Third Sector Award’ to the Bangladesh Football Association, which has also received tens of thousands of pounds in council funding under Lutfur and Alibor.
The Bangladeshi Youth Movement, seen in this document here, also received grants aplenty. There are many other examples.
Hey, and what’s this we see in the Tower Hamlets Strategic Plan for 2013/14, authored by the Mayor himself: an action point for the Deputy Mayor, Ohid Ahmed…”Implement action plan for improving drug and alcohol treatment recovery rates across the borough, including for younger adults, Bangladeshi women, people with disabilities and LGBT residents. (March 2014)
Well, perhaps Alibor has referred himself to the EHRC.
As for suggesting John Biggs has somehow sinisterly prompted bombs to arrive in Tower Hamlets…well, Alibor is no stranger to violence. Perhaps it’s time he can explain how he got that six inch scar on his neck.
Every time I’ve asked John Biggs about Alibor’s past experiences with the gang-ridden Ocean estate, John has always declined to say anything. You see, Alibor was once John’s protege: John mentored him onto a straighter path and helped him see the potential power of politics as a force for good.
Perhaps he’s forgotten those lessons.
Actually, I think he needs a bit of love, a nice big cuddle. When you see him knocking on your door next, give him a squeeze.
In the meantime, here’s John Biggs’s response:
Lutfur Rahman’s smears are an insult to true victims of racism
Labour have today responded to a disgraceful press release which was issued by Lutfur Rahman supporter Cllr Alibor Choudhury unfoundedly accusing Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Tower Hamlets of racism. The press release made sweeping and baseless accusations and stoking racial fear amongst voters.
At the same time another Rahman supporting councillor took to twitter falsely claiming that if elected John Biggs planned to use his powers to scrap the “Banglatown” ward name which is a point of significant pride in the Bangladeshi community. Cllr Choudhury was also promoting his statement on Facebook openly referring to John Biggs as John Bigot.
The attack was described by Labour as a “desperate tactic” and said that “baseless cries of racism for political gain are an insult to anyone who has actually suffered true racial abuse.”
Labour drew attention to positive nature of Biggs’ campaign including the cross community support it enjoys. They highlighted that whilst Rahman’s supporters were intent on spreading baseless smears and character attacks Biggs was focused on speaking with local people and announcing policies which will help all residents such as free school meals for all primary school pupils. Over the last two weeks Labour councillors and John Biggs have announced a multitude of policies including:
– Free school meals for all primary school children
– A 24h out of hours noise service at weekends
– Working towards building 1,000 new council homes after the current administration built only 15.
– New measures to tackle drug dealing on estates
– Creating a new private lettings agency to cut out rip off charges for private renters
– Bringing the popular borough fireworks display back to Victoria Park
Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Sirajul Islam, said: “Let’s be clear about this, John Biggs is no racist. John Biggs has devoted his life to serving all the people of East London. This vicious character attack is nothing more than a desperate tactic from a party who know they are losing the battle of ideas.
“Whilst John Biggs is pledging to provide free school meals for all the borough’s primary school children, all Lutfur Rahman and his supporters can do is cry wolf. Their shameful and baseless cries of racism for political gain are an insult to anyone who has actually suffered true racial abuse.”
John Biggs, Labour candidate for Mayor of Tower Hamlets said: “I am extremely disappointed by this misleading, divisive, and inflammatory outburst from supporters of the current Mayor. I’m going to run the type of campaign Tower Hamlets deserves – one about ideas for how to make life in our borough better.”
In a joint statement MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, Rushanara Ali, MP and MP for Poplar and Limehouse Jim Fitzpatrick MP said: “We are utterly appalled by this behaviour. Tower Hamlets is, and deserves, better than these bullyboy politicians who resort to lies and character attacks. Labour have been clear from day one that we want this election to be about uniting Tower Hamlets, the policies that will improve peoples lives and the best person to serve all communities. Instead with over two months to go Lutfur Rahman is resorting to baseless, divisive smears and attacks.
“If Lutfur Rahman thinks Labour is standing against him because of his race then he needs to get real. The reason John Biggs is standing is because he passionately believes in uniting all communities in Tower Hamlets and with a strong unified Labour team he can bring the change the borough needs. The current Mayor just isn’t up to the job and is clearly more interested in his own self-promotion and wasting public money than helping the people of Tower Hamlets who will see through these inflammatory accusations for what they are: a desperate attempt to divide based on the politics of fear.”
“For over 30 John Biggs has worked tirelessly, fighting the fascist BNP and EDL and uniting communities across the borough. The diversity that runs through our party is represented by the fantastic slate of council candidates that will be standing side by side with John, as we will be, throughout the campaign and onward.”
Dear Ted,
I am pretty certain you would have come across Cllr. Anwar Khan’s piece about rascism/discrimination published in ‘Left Foot Forward’? Just incase you readers are baffled, below is the link which I trust you will include as a weblink so that everyone reading this can access its content easily!
I am dissapointed that you choose not to analyse his excellent well thought-out piece which provides various episodes and examples of Labour party members whom have fallen victim to the institutional rascism and discrimination that thrives within the corridors of power at Labour HQ. I too believe I have been victim to double-standards for which I find no reason other than race discrimination. As you will see from Anwar’s piece, I am not the first, and certainly will not be the last, judging from the list of Labour candidates which Jim describes as an excellent slate – forr no speaki inglish as opposed to the likes of Mizan and Anwar himself who both can naturally string a sentence together!
One final comment. When George Galloway challenged former MP Oona King and won, I recall clearly when white members of the Labour party asked me frequently, “How can you support that white man to kick out one of the few Black MP’s (Oona King) we have?” This certainly was the race-card being used by Labour in full-swing!
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2014/02/we-need-to-end-this-patronising-approach-to-ethnic-minority-representation/
Thanks Shahed, no doubt you’ll also be aware that Anwar repeatedly asked me to run the Left Foot Forward piece after it had been published there.
You’re also probably aware he got a little upset when I declined the offer, telling him I’d already covered this issue and it had had a good run elsewhere.
What voters like is a bit of transparency, I’m sure you’d agree. Anwar is colluding with you guys but fails to declare it and none of us like that.
On the Oona point, I entirely agree with you as most right thinking people would but I’m puzzled what you mean.
But let’s get some clarity. Do you think John Biggs is guilty of racism? Do you think he’s a bigot?
Actually, Ted, I wasn’t aware of that. I don’t know Anwar well but I thought his article made valid points that would be interesting for your readers.
What do I think of Biggs? I think he is willing to pander to racial prejudice in order to win an election. I think that’s a cynical and dangerous move given the issues Alibor mentioned with the Far Right.
John Biggs can criticise me for my policies in my Environment brief, but my skin colour is best left out of it.
Yes we have all come across the piece and it was rubbished as is yours in the process of being.
What a load of nonsense! Anwar Khan’s article was poorly written and badly thought through. It was clearly an attempt to drag Tower Hamlets politics back through the dirt. The response article penned by Chris Weavers was however much clearer and far more positive.
I don’t think the labour party is perfect in fact i often disagree with them but these accusations from “Tower Hamlets First” are just highlighting how ridiculous and unqualified they are to be leading anyone never mind a whole borough.
At the end of the day this is all rather like the homophobia of a closet queen. To deflect from ones own inner gayness one behaves in the most homophobic way possible. As it is with Alibor. Biggs is absolutely right to say that Lutfur’s administration favours one ethno-religious community because it’s a fact. The evidence is so overwhelming it’s too tedious to recite. Indeed, anti-white Racism is enormous in this borough and goes unchallenged because so few white people understand Bengali whilst every nuance of the English language uttered by anyone is scrutinized at the atomic level for any perceived slight by hordes of obedient useful idiots. Unfortunately, this insidious form of control even seeps into mainstream journalism. It is sad to see, Ted, that even you have felt the need to put the very word English in inverted commas and by doing so kowtow to the diktat that would seek to see us redefined out of existance. Well there’ll always be an England as the song Says and so long as there are Scots (and turning wheels) there’ll also be millions of English and I’m exceedingly proud to be one!
Alibor is inherently not “as British” as John Biggs and his suggestion as you note is another lie learnt from the Labour machine which twisted his already damaged young mind. Alibor’s ethnic identity is his whole identity and that Bengali identity is at odds with being truly British or at least as wholly British with someone who is only British. Yes, Alibor, you have a British passport. Whoopy do. Anyone can get one.
I’m English and we had Clive of India and by all accounts he was a thoroughly good egg.
The sad thing about all this is that the allegations are demonstrably true (all-Bangladeshi cabinet, Bangladeshi-favouring policies) and this reflects very poorly on those handing out the insults. But – oh no! – those people claiming ‘racism’ are all Bangladeshi …. so what does it say about Bangladeshis?
I wonder why Biggs bothered to respond to such a stupid accusation. A dignified silence would surely have been a better move – the truth of the situation is plain to anyone who bothers to look, and he really doesn’t need to point it out.
Tim.
Alibor and his colleagues play the race card at every available opportunity to avoid debating issues which they cannot defend. He uses the same formulaic approach for all accusations in that he ignores/distorts intent, ignores context and uses no common sense.
In doing so he cheapens the word that follows the immutable law of supply and demand; the more charges of racism there are the cheaper it gets. Genuine accusations of racism used to carry a premium. The market has is now flooded by cheap knock-offs causing its value to be substantially reduced.
Alibor’s lazy politics of crying racism rather than debating the issues does him no credit. Sadly, it appeals to those likely to vote for him and his colleagues. Nobody in their right mind would take Alibor’s puff and wind seriously. The unforeseen costs might be his credibility.
As you may be aware, the KHOODEELAAR! Campaign has been engaged in very serious disputes, to put it mildly, at almost very single level of Tower Hamlets Council’s bureaucracy.
More, soon!
We put it clearly in our very first detail post on your blog last week, we very strongly believe that Tower Hamlets Council cannot serve the community with an executive mayor, whoever they may be.
The system is brazenly antidemocratic.
And it IS doing a lot of what an antidemocratic bureaucracy with disproportionate amount of cash is prone to.
There is no accountability.
Have the “Opposition” councillors undertaken a daily diagnostic on what has been going on?
The brazenness of it all is astonishing.
Most of the strategic decisions being rubber stamped by so-called committees are against the long term interests of the East End.
Yet there is nothing that Councillors are saying let alone doing to oppose those.
The evidence shows that there is a de facto agreement that the public would be hoodwinked by the Council and the smokescreens used to do that would include the abuses that are exchanged at “Council Meetings”.
That is what a genuinely democratic group of councillors should be addressing ASAP.
If John Biggs wins these people will be asking the Labour Party to re-admit them the day after.
Another poor performance and mistake on Biggs’s side.
Why is he even getting involved in a polemic with these people?! What is the point in arguing these silly accusations?
Biggs should concentrate on local issues, local people, show he is above all these bangladeshi gangster style politics. He should at last kick off a real campaign as it is getting late now and every time I see any news with him in the background it is about Bangladesh or Bangladeshis.
If the only way to win the mayoral election is to get votes from Bangladeshis the strategy of pretending you are one of them but white simply does not work. Trying to use common sense arguments and an old fashion style campaign does not work either because you cannot have a meaningful dialogue with individuals like Choudhury (see letter above) or Ali (see his comments about relocating residents from Victoria Park area).
If Biggs was to do a full blown campaign focused on local people and local issues he might attract some of the more aspirational, more modern and more British at heart or young Bangladeshis.
Bangladeshi community might be easily manipulable and in love with their racism here racism there propaganda but the way to deal with it is to treat them like any other community, tackle their local issues they way you would tackle any other community’s issues.
Actually, Ted, I wasn’t aware of that. I don’t know Anwar well but I thought his article made valid points that would be interesting for your readers.
What do I think of Biggs? I think he is willing to pander to racial prejudice in order to win an election. I think that’s a cynical and dangerous move given the issues Alibor mentioned with the Far Right.
John Biggs can criticise me for my policies in my Environment brief, but my skin colour is best left out of it.
Now that my day job is sorted for a couple of days I can start to take apart Alibor’s little missive and maybe see if I can indicate some of the far left who are behind it.
First of all the gentleman himself. He was of course for many years a Labour Party member and councillor and at that time there was no criticism of either his own party or John Biggs who I and many people know for a fact mentored him through a difficult period in his life, some thanks.
If Cllr Choudhury was concerned about institutionalised racism, there is no such thing by the way, it’s an invention of the very race relations industry that the Cllr is now complaining to, then he should have expressed his concerns a little earlier. Quoting Anwar Khan as a reference point for anything to do with the truth in relation to anything but especially Tower Hamlets Labour Party politics.
He was a Labour Cllr and quite happy to take his allowances while never noticing all of the supposed racism and discrimination in his party which obviously didn’t affect his progress up the pecking order.
When he saw more advantages in being with Rahman than Labour he of course jumped ship as did many others, all Bangladeshi, most of whom were then expelled from the party as they had to be under the rules. Livingstone should have joined them but at the time still had clout within the party London wide and nationally.
The reason that the cabinet is all Bangladeshi is because Lutfur Rahman runs a Bangladeshi outfit. It’s as simple as that. He has effectively disenfranchised the majority of people in the borough because non who are not Bangladeshi feel that they can in an way participate in the electoral process and they, in any meaningful way, cannot.
Most of the stuff is gobblygook and some of it is certainly actionable. It is difficult to dissect such a rambling and ill thought out treatise but some bits stand out from the others. It seems that one of John Biggs’ crimes is that he was opposed to the name Banglatown. Can anyone explain why it is that a ward and an area that is less than forty per cent Bengali should be so named and would he, Choudhury, support parts of the borough being called Bankersville or Yuppytown? To name any part of the borough after one ethnic group is racist and divisive.
In the same paragraph in which he castigated Mr Biggs for his opposition to the Banglatown charade Mr Choudhury uses the great give away as to who is also involved and maybe even behind this nonsense.
He uses the phrase ” dog whistle”. I’m not going to spend time giving the various links but this was invented as a political metaphor by Jon Lansman the editor of the far left site Left Futures who is also, at least he was the last time I saw the members list for Weavers Ward, a member of the Labour Party.
It is used extensively by the far left in their attacks on people like John Biggs and the theory, or so it seems, is that at crucial times in whatever campaign when support needs to be summoned from the right, certain words or phrases are used that the EDL, Daily Mail and Sun readers, BNP voters, UKIP members all recognise and immediately react to.
Read this. ” In 1998 he gleefully campaigned against the creation of Banglatown and in 2013 his dog whistle claims on housing were gleefully used by the EDL who marched on the borough just a couple of months later”. It would seem tat John’s claims that Lutfur Rahman wasn’t building enough houses so enraged the EDL that they decided to have a march in Tower Hamlets. The man is a joke.
Feast your eyes on this dear readers. ” Biggs’ slogan is ” Uniting the East
End” but with far right “patrols” on the streets and bomb threats to the Town all and East London Mosque, his remarks are doing the opposite. Residents have tried to get him to explain his comments and have been ignored, so there’s no other option but to report him to the EHRC”.
All good knockabout stuff and as far as I can see he has played into Johns’s hands if John wishes to use the weapon he as been given. He should immediately get his solicitors to write to Choudhury demanding a retraction, apologies and damages. If they are not forthcoming issue a writ immediately.
[…] « More cheapening of the word ‘racism’ in Tower Hamlets as Lutfurites brand John Biggs … […]
The gloves are really coming off now. I reproduce an article in this morning’s East London Advertiser.
MPs ‘appalled’ as racism row erupts.
Complaint is made to equalities watchdog.
A racism row erupted between politicians this week wit the borough’s MPs weighing in to defend mayoral candidate John Biggs.
Last week Cllr Alibor Choudhury, a member of Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s cabinet, accused Mr Biggs of of racism over remarks he made on the BBC and reported him to a government watchdog.
In a joint statement this week, MPs Rushanara Ali and Jim Fitzpatrick attacked the Mayor and is party, calling Cllr Choudhury’s comments a “baseless smear”.
They said: We are utterly appalled. Tower Hamlets, is and deserves, better than these bully boy politicians who resort to lies and character attacks.
” If Lutfur Rahman thinks Labour is standing against him because of his race then he needs to get real. The people of Tower Hamlets will see these inflammatory accusations for what they are: a desperate attempt to divide based on the politics of fear”.
Cllr Choudury’s accusations were made in a statement from the Mayor’s party. Tower Hamlets First which quoted Mr Biggs as saying : ” All of the Mayor’s cabinet are Bangladeshi and his primary focus has been the concerns of of one community, the Bangladeshi community”. Cllr Choudhury said he no option but to report Mr Biggs to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
He said : “Bigg’s slogan is ‘Uniting the East End’, but with far right patrols on our streets and bomb threats to the Town Hall and East London Mosque, is remarks are doing the opposite”.
John Biggs called Mr Choudhury’s allegations ” typical ratbag politics from a typical ratbag politician”.
All good stuff and no doubt more to come.
I apologise for the lack, sometimes of the letter h in my posts as it is sticking on my keyboard.
We still have a couple of months to go before polling day and I am beginning to feel more optimistic about the results. This attack on Biggs smacks of desperation of course and now that the two MPs have weighed in plus the reports of at least one and maybe two devastating documentaries it is becoming clear that the power that be have decided that enough is enough and Rahman as to go.
What is also interesting is that the far left seem to have abandoned him as well. Not a peep from Livingstone, Shawcroft, Jon Lansman or any of the other usual suspects about dodgy dossiers or how Lutfur represents old Labour and its pre Blairite values.
Anyone else out there? it seems to be just me this morning. I understand that at a full council meeting last night Alibor was voted ” not to be heard” as a result of his aggressive attitude. This is on top of the same thing being voted against the Deputy Mayor Ohid Ahmed some time ago. This has to be a record for any council anywhere in the country I would have thought.
MMBL,
Nope, there are others here as well. And – because I’m feeling uncommonly generous, here are some ‘H’s for you to use as you seem to be short of them:
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I hope your optimism isn’t misplaced. I would love to think that this is where things start to unravel for The Despicable Rahman but am wary about counting chickens and whatnot. I’ve said this before but I do wonder where Pickles and his useless department is on all this; I’d have hoped that there would be quite a lot of interest from them in all that is going on and yet I see nothing of it. I also echo the comments about Biggs’s campaign being almost totally invisible; if this election is lost then culpability surely will lie with both Pickles and the loser.
Tim.
[…] will be a hard fight against Labour’s John Biggs in the May election, things have become bitter. Biggs has said that Rahman’s “primary policy focus has been the concerns of one community, the […]