30 May 2014

The smear campaign against Lutfur Rahman is an insult to democracy

.... There had been a concerted effort by the media and political establishment to smear Rahman. This culminated in a Panorama exposé, followed by Eric Pickles sending in police to investigate the documentary's claims. And though the investigation turned up no credible evidence of wrongdoing, Labour insiders were confidently expecting victory. To be defeated by a convincing margin in an election where the turnout was London's highest must have hurt.

[A COMMENT] "There is a deep substrate of racism informing this". Thanks for playing the race card.

[ANOTHER] Tower Hamlets is the best recruiting ground for UKIP nationally. A truly rotten borough.

[ANOTHER] Yeah, yeah it's racism. That should shut everyone up. Pathetic. Never mind the fact that there have been allegations from all over the place any neutral observer can see that there are some real questions that need answering.

[ANOTHER] He does refuse to answer questions of fellow councillors, only employs fellow bangladeshis in the cabinet and funnels public money into institutions that support him. Some legitimate questions I think. [Guardian Cif] Read more