Oona King to stand for London Mayor

Last night on Facebook Tower Hamlets Party comrades were busy chatting about Oona King standing to become the Labour Party candidate for London Mayor in 2012. Today it was confirmed.

I haven’t made up my mind who to support but I think it this is great news for London and the regional Labour Party. Ken Livingstone is the only high profile candidate so far and I have my doubts about whether or not he would be able to beat Boris.

Oona is a high profile and very credible candidate. Who was treated disgracefully when she lost her seat as MP in Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005. The campaign against her was characterised by shameful misogynistism and blatant “dog whistle” racism.

We need more candidates like Oona to put themselves forward.

Picture of Oona in March this year at a Karen Buck and Glenda Jackson House of Commons event with UNISON Housing Association members discussing their dispute over equalities with Notting Hill Housing Group.

Battling for Bethnal Green and Bow

"On Tuesday Progress visited the East End, meeting up with Rushanara Ali in Bethnal Green and Bow. Rushanara told us about George Galloway and his neglect of the area and its people, the divisions his election caused and how she's trying to unite the community and make their voice heard in parliament again".

Missing. Have You Seen This Man?

Bethnal Green & Bow Residents are asking for your help in identifying the whereabouts of George Galloway.

He was last seen wearing a pink leotard and white fluffy bunny slippers in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iran, Beirut, North Korea, Syria and on top of a red bus in Proctor Street, Holborn; he was also known to be posing as an illegal immigrant in Canada.

His height and weight is known to be dodgy, his hair grey and balding, moustache grey and grizzled, eyes grey and dilated, it has been known to be red in the morning.

If anyone has information of his whereabouts please do not approach him, he is known to be dangerous and armed with an offensive mouth.

Contact Details Office: Disrespect Party Office
Location: Shifty Road

Hat-tip thingy Facebook Group

Fire destroys Bow Sikh Temple

This afternoon at work we became aware of the strong smell of smoke from somewhere outside our office building. I volunteered to go out and check that there was not a fire in or near a building we managed.

Eventually I came across the source which was a fire in the large Sikh Temple and community centre in Harley Grove, Bow, E3 (about 500m away from our office).

I have never in my life seen such a major fire in person. The emergency services had the situation well in hand and the area around the Temple was cordoned off while fire crews tried to put the fire out (or rather control the flames). It was pretty dramatic when the roof collapsed and there was a wall of flames and smoke. The noise was unexpected and pretty frightening.

The Temple is adjacent to the Malmesbury Estate (Bow South) which is now run by the ALMO Tower Hamlets Homes. There were a number of people watching what was going on and you could see everyone was sombre and horrified about what they were witnessing. We all have a primeval fear of fire I think.

Thankfully no-one was apparently hurt. See the East London Advertiser online report. I had worked in the Council housing office directly opposite the Temple for 3 years in the 1990’s. There were some very ugly rumours going around about the cause of the fire which I very much hope are wrong.

There was scaffolding up on the rear of the building which indicates building works were being undertaken and so there may have been an accidental cause.

I think everyone present was very appreciative of the work done by the London Fire Brigade and the Police.

The Oona King Diaries: House Music

Finally, while on holiday I got round to read her autobiography “The Oona King Diaries: House Music” (£9.09 from Amazon) by the former MP for Bethnal Green & Bow.

I’m still trying to plough my way through Alistair Campbell’s “The Blair Years”. Oona’s book is a much better read and far more entertaining. It’s a pity about that the libel laws and Galloway’s deep pockets preclude more of her views on what she really thinks about him. So, as she suggests, we will probably have to wait for him to pop his clogs before the real story can come out.

This is not really a book about political ideas nor about the notorious “Mother of all Battles ...the Battle for Bethnal Green” rather about the nitty gritty of modern day politics, how tough it is to become an MP and then even tougher to deal with a inner city case load. There is also a lot on her family and early life. At the risk of appearing to be an insensitive sexist prig there was perhaps a little too much detail about IVF and marital problems?

It is useful to have something to counter the inaccurate and damaging comments that I have come across in the past such as that she was “imposed” on the seat by the Labour Party (she was short listed by the NEC and won a selection meeting by giving an outstanding husting speech).

Ironically it is clear that while she was a so-called “Blair Babe”, she was never promoted due to her independent thinking (and occasional “foot in mouth” media comments).

It is interesting for me to read a book where you know (mostly not that well) many of the people mentioned. She also mentions a lot her beloved home in Bow, which use to be a traditional East End pub. I use to work in the local housing office about 200 yards away. Many years ago we had a Christmas drink after work and we ended up in this pub. I was somewhat “worse for wear” and when I came across a “spread” of food in the pub I thought that it was a freebie, so I was happily tucking into this spread, when I came aware that I had suddenly become public enemy number one. The food was for a private party. I had to be grabbed and bundled out of the pub very quickly by the local head caretaker Montrose M (who ironically later became a member of respect! now thankfully lapsed) from some very irate customers. For obvious reasons I never returned.

If anything Oona played down the difficulties she encountered in the 2005 election. She didn’t mention when Jewish Second World War veterans and herself were stoned by Respect supporters at a war memorial ceremony. Nor the gangs of youths that were deliberately organised by local drug dealers, who hated for professional reasons, “New” Labour” anti-social behavior laws, to follow, scream abuse and physically intimidate Labour canvassers and try to drive them off the estates.

In short this is an excellent book and I hope that Tower Hamlets residents who didn’t vote for Oona read it (and weep).

The picture above is of Oona after she had been a guest speaker at our branch “Labour Link” meeting in April 2005. “Despite” our support she lost the following month. Some superstitious members claim that she suffered from the “Curse of the Tower Hamlets UNISON Labour Link” since we had a habit of inviting political leaders who we would support to the rafters and who would then suffer defeat. The following year we had Michael Keith, the council leader to speak to us, a month before he lost his seat in the 2006 elections. What nonsense..... (Fingers crossed of course)

Actually one reason why Oona did not win could have been that while she was really good “on the knocker” you had to almost physically drag her away from people while canvassing. Even with the mostly absolute vile middle class tossers, who lived in their luxury gated communities and paraded their armchair support of the “Gorgeous one”. Despite the fact they had made it perfectly clear that they were not going to vote for her, she would still politely chat and talk to them for ages about national and local issues. When if we could have got her in front of enough genuine floating voters then she would have made a really positive impression on them.

Still, I don’t think we have heard the political last of Ms King. Can't wait!

See No Evil: Diss-Respectful hypocrisy?

Former Tower Hamlets Respect councillor, Wais Islam, makes a damning attack on “Respect” in this week’s East End Advertiser (24 May 06 page 12 “Off you Chest” - can’t find an Internet link yet). One of the reasons he gave for leaving Respect and joining Labour was that “George Galloway and Respect should practice what they preach. They call on the Town Hall to employ ethic minorities and make accusations of “institutional racism”…. Yet Respects own employees are mostly non-ethnic minority. How hypocritical”. He points out that the (predominantly white) Socialist Workers Party stopped a Bangladeshi businessman, Azmal Hussein, from standing as the chair of Tower Hamlets Respect last year. Note also the SWP white candidate for the 2008 mayor of London election.

His defection is not the only “problem” for the beleagued “Respect”. Kumar Murshid (above centre), former Asian Affairs advisor to Ken Livingston, announced that he was leaving Labour for Respect. Kumar, a former Tower Hamlets Councillor was recently cleared of corruption charges. He somehow blames the local Labour Party for the criminal charges. However, he waited until his attempt to become the next Labour Party candidate for Bethnal Green & Bow, had failed (not a single nomination) before announcing he would leave Labour for Respect.

What is really interesting and I think potentially the long awaited death nail of “Respect” in Tower Hamlets, came out in an embarrassing interview, he and Galloway gave to the BBC. It has long been rumoured that the only reason that most of the (complete and utter non-socialist) Bangladeshi Respect councillors, have not left Respect is that Galloway had always claimed that he would not stand for re-election and that the future candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow would be one of these Respect councillors. However, since Kumar (his old mate) has now joined Respect, Galloway now says that Kumar could be the Respect candidate by saying “yes definitely, one of the strongest possibilities”.

The Bangladeshi community took the SWP for mugs in last years Council elections in Tower Hamlets and Newham. They got the SWP money and volunteers to run the elections, yet not a single white SWP councillor was elected. Even in what should have been “safe” Respect wards, the community voted for Asian candidates of any Party rather than white SWPers.

However, it seems that they now want their revenge by imposing their own candidate for the next general election. Expect trouble at mill…
Guest Post: Neil T.

Rushanara Ali to take on Respect in Bethnal Green & Bow

Rushanara Ali former aid to Oona King has just been selected to be the Labour Party Candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow in the next general election. Commiserations to the other 5 shortlisted candidates (I am sure that we have not seen the last of them). However, Rushanara was the clear winner in tonight's ballot. Well done. I'm looking forward to getting rid of diss-Respect at the next election.

UPDATE: From Tower Hamlets Labour group web site : -

Bethnal Green and Bow Labour Party unites around Rushanara Ali, Bethnal Green & Bow's diverse Labour Party membership has confounded expectations ,by selecting a female Bangladeshi candidate to stand for the constituency in the next general election.

Rushanara Ali is only one of four women to be selected through open Labour Party contests in winnable seats in the last five years. If successful at the next General Election Rushanara Ali is likely to be the first Bangladeshi woman to ever be elected to Parliament.

Rushanara Ali said: "I am proud to come from the East End, and I am proud to have received so much support from right across the community and thank everyone for their support. The East End is a special place, full of un-tapped talent. I am looking forward to working with everyone to win this seat back for Labour." "Iraq was clearly a major issue in the last election and like many in this community, I also opposed the war and marched against it with many loyal Labour supporters. Now, we need to focus on the bread and butter issues which people are worried about here at home, which are housing, jobs and education. I will be working with everyone this community to campaign on these issues, and working hard to unite our community."

For more information please contact Karin Christiansen 07816839533 or email rushanara.ali@googlemail.com There are currently only 2 female ethnic minority MPs in Parliament. Dawn Butler (Brent South), and Diane Abbot (Hackney North & Stoke Newington). They are both Labour MPs Apart from Rushanara Ali, the other three women to be selected through open Labour Party contests in winnable seats in the last five years are Madeleine Moon (Bridgend), Dawn Butler (Brent South), and Katy Clark (Ayrshire North & Arran)

Rupa Huq out campaigning for votes in Bethnal Green & Bow

UNISON trade union member Rupa was out again tonight calling on local Labour Party members. Asking for their support for her to be their Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate in the next general election. On Thursday (26 April) there will be a hustings for the 450 members eligible to vote at Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End. There are 6 short listed candidates in total to choose from by transferable vote (this vote will be so tight that you must use all your preference votes). Each candidate will give a 5 minute speech then face a 5 minute Q&A from the audience:

Rupa Huq, Rushanara Ali, Shiria Khatun, Lutfor Rahman, John Biggs & Helal Abbas

Then on Saturday (28 April), there will also be a secret ballot of members which will be held at the Labour Party HQ in Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green (10am to 5pm).

Rupa has been selected as a Candidate worthy of support by UNISON “Labour Link” National Parliamentary Panel. I think she would make an excellent “crossover” candidate who would appeal and unite all the different communities and interests in BG&B behind her and the Party. She is a Bangladeshi Muslim woman who is not only proud of her community and her roots but also to call herself British. She is a Cambridge University graduate and holds a doctorate, but is also a working Mum with a boisterous toddler.

Rupa has past experience of standing as a Labour Party candidate in General and European elections. She is a long standing Labour Party activist, very hard-working, bright, articulate and committed. She wants to take on “Respect” and return BG&B to Labour and she has the presentational and media skills necessary to do so.

Talking to Rupa you realise that she is Passionate (with a capital “P”!) about achieving Social Justice. Politics is not just about theories, but is about practical real life issues such as putting more money into pensioner's pockets, affordable child care for working parents, decent local housing & health services, combating crime and properly caring for our environment.

This will be an interesting week

The People have spoken….

Bethnal Green & Bow Labour Party PPC selection. Sorry this is a bit late but I have been away for a few days. Ayub Korom Ali didn’t make it into the shortlist. An absolute shame since he was an excellent candidate. Talent spot him for the future.

However, there are 6 really good candidates left who will face a secret ballot by 450 odd ordinary BG&B Labour Party members on Saturday 28 April (Husting on the 26th). As Ayub made clear in his recent blog the most important thing is that a Labour Party MP is elected at the next election. The final 6 are: -

Rupa Haq,
Rushanara Ali,
Shiria Khatun
Lutfor Rahman,
John Biggs and
Helal Abbas

Rupa is a member of UNISON and would be a winning candidate.

The race is on for Bethnal Green & Bow

Sorry folks, I got it wrong last night over the current position regarding candidates. Rupa and Shiria are through. There are only 2 vacancies left in the short list between 7 male candidates. I’ve cut and pasted this info from Ayub's site

Nominations have now finished. Two candidates have secured 51% of the nomination votes. This means they automatically go on the short list. The candidates are: Lutfur Rahman and Rushanara Ali. Well done.

This leaves the following candidates with nominations from whom the rest of the shortlist will be drawn from. They are:Rupa Huq, Shiria Khatun, Ayub Korom Ali, Helal Abbas, John Biggs, David Edgar, Abdul Asad, Moti Uzzaman and Shirajul Islam.

The two females i.e. Rupa and Shiria will automatically be placed on the short list because of the 50% rule. Congratulations.

This means the remaining two candidates will be chosen from the following:Ayub Korom Ali, Helal Abbas, John Biggs, David Edgar, Abdul Asad, Moti Uzzaman and Shirajul Islam.

So two of us out of the above seven will be selected at a shortlist committee of Bethnal Green & Bow General Committee on April 14. I am really looking forward to this.

Then the six short listed candidates will face a husting on April 26 with polling day count on April 28.

So Ayub will be up against some pretty serious opposition for one of the two short listed vacancies. There will be a short presentation and Q&A. Ayub gave a blinding interview at UNISON Parliamentary panel and the London region selection process. I am sure he will come through on the 14 April. I think that he is the candidate to unite all communities behind Labour at the next general election.

Ayub Korom Ali: On a Roll - Sucess at Mile End & Globe Town

The UNISON London Labour Link nominee for Bethnal Green & Bow PPC, Ayub Korom Ali, won another nomination tonight at the Mile End and Globe Town Branch selection meeting.

He also narrowly lost out (by only one vote!) a further nomination from Weavers branch.

The selection process has been dealt a upset by the unexpected and sudden withdrawal today by one of the other favourites, Anwara Ali. Anwara told me outside the Weavers meeting that as a scientist she had worked out that she would lose, so there was no point in going on for this election. She is a talented and capable candidate and everyone would wish her well in any future campaign.

Ayub and I are long time observers of Tower Hamlets politics, the selection process seems to be progressing remarkably smoothly without any "big rows" (see picture below of some of the 64 candidates and CLP officers). The atmosphere outside selection meetings has been, there I say quite "comradely". No doubt, now there will now be the most enormous "barney"! Today and tomorrow, it is Bow Wards turn to vote.

UNISON nominates Ayub Korom ALI as Candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow CLP to fight SWP/disRespect

Today there was an interview of UNISON Parliamentary Panel members to select who UNISON Labour Link will nominate as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow. This seat is of course currently held by George Galloway.
Ayub is a very strong candidate and gave an impressive interview. He grew up in Stepney and attended Stepney Green School until age 16 when he left to become a machinist in a Tower Hamlets “sweat shop”. Despite this he was able to become a mature student and obtained a Diploma in Applied Social Studies from Ruskin College, Oxford, and an MA in Social Policy from Brunel University. He currently works in Tower Hamlets in Education as the Extended Schools advisor. He is an experienced campaigner, life long trade unionist and elected local Councillor

See further details on his blog