Tower Hamlets First | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Lutfur Rahman |
| Founded | 18 September 2013 |
| Dissolved | 29 April 2015 |
| Succeeded by | Aspire |
Tower Hamlets First was a local political party represented in Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, which was launched to contest the 2014 local elections in the Borough. During its existence, it was the second largest party on Tower Hamlets Council and the fifth largest political party out of all the London borough councils.
Tower Hamlets First was established by Lutfur Rahman on 18 September 2013. The party stood candidates in the 2014 Tower Hamlets Council election, [1] [2] where it won 18 out of 45 seats, becoming the second largest party on Tower Hamlets Council, and the fifth largest political party out of all London borough councils. Rahman was first elected as an independent mayor in 2010, and then re-elected as the Tower Hamlets First candidate in 2014, before the result was overturned in 2015.
Nick Cohen in The Guardian described the party as a cult of personality surrounding Rahman. [3] The party was suspended in 23 April 2015, after an election court report that found Rahman "personally guilty of 'corrupt or illegal practices' or both" with the party labelled as a "one-man band". The party was removed from the list of political parties maintained by the Electoral Commission on 29 April 2015.
Tower Hamlets First faced ongoing accusations of using intimidation, fraud and bribery to gain votes and having divisive policies. [4] [5] [6] In April 2014, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, ordered an investigation into suspected governance failure, poor financial management and fraud in Tower Hamlets. [7] The Tower Hamlets council, led by Tower Hamlets First, launched a legal appeal to try to prevent the review but the appeal was rejected, being described as "hopeless" by a High Court judge. [8] The subsequent investigation by the Department for Communities and Local Government carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers, [9] found a "culture of cronyism" but no fraud at the council. Pickles determined the council was not meeting its "Best Value duties", and sent in commissioners to run the council's grant-making system and approve any disposals of council property until March 2017. [10] [11]
In September 2014, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, accused the party of being socially divisive and having sectarian politics. [12]
In April 2015, following an Election Court ruling, the party was removed from the register of political parties by the Electoral Commission. It was stated that the party was not operating a responsible financial scheme and the running of the party did not follow the documentation given in the party's registration. [13] [14]
The finding against Lutfur Rahman was the subject of numerous controversies. [15] In April 2015, he was said to be "personally guilty of corrupt or illegal practices, or both", and of having "breached the rules governing elections." The result of the 2014 mayoral election result was nullified, thereby requiring a new election to be held from which Rahman was banned from standing; The ban has similar effect until 2021. [16] [17] A council by-election in the ward of Stepney was also called. [18]
Following the judgement of the Election Court, the Electoral Commission released a statement confirming that Tower Hamlets First had been removed from its register of political parties owing to a failure to implement the financial scheme that was submitted to the Commission upon registration of the party. [13] [14] Individuals previously associated, affiliated, or identified with Tower Hamlets First subsequently stood as independent candidates in this subsequent double by-election, but Labour gained both the mayoralty [19] and the council, by an overall majority of 1. [20]
Following the dissolution of the party, its 17 remaining councillors continued to serve on Tower Hamlets London Borough Council. Most stayed together forming the Tower Hamlets Independent Group (THIG), which later (February 2018) formally registered as Aspire, with Rahman still a key figure. Until the May 2018 elections, it was the largest and the main political opposition with elected councillors in the Borough. The party announced that former deputy mayor under Rahman, Cllr. Ohid Ahmed, would contest the 2018 Tower Hamlets Mayoral election against Labour's John Biggs alongside a team of 45 councillor candidates as done by Tower Hamlets First in 2014. [21]
Several former THIG members had defected to sit as independents. [22] A group led by Cllr. Rabina Khan formed the separate People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets group, which was formally registered as a political party on 26 February 2018. [23]
At the 2018 local elections, Labour re-gained every council seat Tower Hamlets First had won in 2014, except for one seat won by Rabina Khan for the People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets.
Tower Hamlets First stood candidates for the first time in the 2014 election, winning 18 councillors and becoming the second largest group on the council after the Labour Party. A by-election for the ward of Stepney Green was held on 11 June 2015, after the sitting Tower Hamlets First councillor, Alibor Choudhury, was found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices by an election court. [24] It was won by the Labour Party candidate, giving Labour overall control of the council. After the de-registration of Tower Hamlets First, its councillors continued in office as independents.
| Election | Votes | Seats | Position | Role in Council | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | |||
| 2014 | 28,170 | 30.4 | 18 / 45 |  2nd | Opposition |
Incumbent Mayor Lutfur Rahman was re-elected as the Tower Hamlets First candidate in 2014, having been first elected as an independent in 2010. His victory was overturned by an election court in 2015, following allegations of electoral fraud. Lutfur Rahman was found personally guilty by the court of making false statements about a candidate, bribery, and undue spiritual influence. The court also found Rahman guilty by his agents of personation, postal vote offences, provision of false information to a registration officer, voting when not entitled, making false statements about a candidate, payment of canvassers, bribery, and undue spiritual influence.
A finding that corrupt and illegal practices for the purpose of securing Rahman's election, and that such general corruption so extensively prevailed such that it could be reasonably concluded to have affected the result was also returned. [lower-roman 1] As a consequence of the findings, the 2014 mayoral election was deemed void. Rahman was barred from holding elective office, voting or being registered as a voter for five years as bribery and undue influence constitute corrupt practices.
| Year | Candidate | Popular vote | Position | Majority | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st pref. | 2nd pref. | ||||
| 2010 | Lutfur Rahman | 23,283 | — | 1st | 12,029 |
| 2014 | Lutfur Rahman | 36,539 | 37,395 | 1st | 3,252 |
The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen councillors in local government.
John Robert Biggs is a British Labour Co-op politician who was Mayor of Tower Hamlets between 2015 and 2022.
Sir Robert Andrew "Robin" Wales is a British Labour Party politician who served as Mayor of Newham from 2002 to 2018. Prior to taking up that newly created role, he was leader of Newham council since 1995, having been a councillor from 1982 to 1986 and 1992 to 2002.
Richard Mawrey, KC is a barrister and Deputy High Court Judge in the United Kingdom. He is a bencher of Gray's Inn and a member of Henderson Chambers. In his role as a judge in election cases, he has repeatedly criticised the postal voting system in the United Kingdom.
Mohammad Lutfur Rahman is a Bangladesh-born British politician and former solicitor serving as the directly elected mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for the Aspire party since 2022, having previously held the post from 2010 to 2015 until being found guilty of electoral fraud and forced to resign.
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, is elected every four years.
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, also known as Tower Hamlets Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under the majority control of local party Aspire since 2022. It has been led by a directly elected mayor since 2010. The council is based at Tower Hamlets Town Hall on Whitechapel Road.
In United Kingdom election law, an election court is a special court convened to hear a petition against the result of a local government or parliamentary election. The court is created to hear the individual case, and ceases to exist when it has made its decision.
The mayor of Tower Hamlets is the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in east London, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough council. The position is different from the previous largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors of Tower Hamlets, who became known as the 'Chair of Council' after the first election and are now known as the 'Speaker of Council'. The second election was held on 22 May 2014, the same day as the Tower Hamlets Council election, other United Kingdom local elections, and European Parliament elections, but the election result was declared void by the election court. A by-election was held on 11 June 2015.
Rabina Khan is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, politician, former councillor for Shadwell and Cabinet Member for Housing in Tower Hamlets Council, community worker and author of Ayesha's Rainbow. In 2015, she unsuccessfully contested the Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election. She was the leader of the People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets, but joined the Liberal Democrats on 29 August 2018.
Elections to Tower Hamlets London Borough Council took place on 22 May 2014, the same day as other United Kingdom local elections, the election of the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, and the European Parliament elections. Voting in Blackwall and Cubitt Town Ward was postponed due to the death of a candidate. The Mayoral election is particularly notable for the voiding of the result due to widespread corruption.
Erlam and others v Rahman and another [2015] EWHC 1215 (QB) is an English election court case challenging the 2014 election of Lutfur Rahman as the Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. On 23 April 2015, Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey voided Rahman's election under the Representation of the People Act 1983 on the grounds of corrupt and illegal practices by him and his agents, and general corruption so extensively prevailing so to reasonably supposed to have affected the election. Rahman's official election agent Alibor Choudhury was ordered to vacate his own office of councillor in the ward of Stepney Green for being guilty of corrupt and illegal practices.
The 2018 London local elections took place in London on 3 May 2018 as part of wider local elections in England. All London borough councillor seats were up for election. Elections to the Corporation of London were held in 2017. Mayoral contests were also held in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets. The previous London borough elections were in 2014.
The People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH) was a minor political party in Tower Hamlets, London, England composed of councillors who had formerly been members of Tower Hamlets First and then the Tower Hamlets Independent Group. The group was formed by Cllr Rabina Khan and her husband Cllr Aminur Khan as a split from the Tower Hamlets Independent Group in November 2016. Khan disbanded the party in 29 August 2018 and later joined the Liberal Democrats.
Aspire is a local political party in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England, formed by Lutfur Rahman and councillors elected as members of his Tower Hamlets First party. After Tower Hamlets First was removed from the register of political parties following voting fraud and malpractice, its councillors formed the Tower Hamlets Independent Group (THIG). After some defections, the remaining Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors registered formally as a political party in 2018. Most of its elected members were former Labour Party members, with a few exceptions.
Elections to Tower Hamlets London Borough Council were held on 3 May 2018, the same day as other borough council elections in London. The directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets was also up for election.
Treating is an electoral fraud criminal offence in the United Kingdom. Treating occurs when an election candidate or their agents offer material incentives for people to vote for them or to abstain from voting. It is a triable either way offence with the sentence being up to either an unlimited fine, one year imprisonment or both.
Apsana Begum is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Poplar and Limehouse since 2019.
The 2022 London local elections took place on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. All London borough councillor seats were up for election. Mayoral elections took place in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets, with Croydon electing a mayor for the first time following a local referendum in October 2021.
The 2022 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 45 members of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.
Tower Hamlets First, his political party, was nothing more than a cult of the personality. If you wanted a safe seat on the council, you had to show a lapdog loyalty to Rahman.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)