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Lutfur Rahman's Muslim favouritism: the evidenceOver the next few weeks, this blog will be setting out in detail the truth about Lutfur Rahman, the extremist-linked mayor of Tower Hamlets, and the full evidence against him. I should stress that, over the last four years, all our material about Lutfur and his extremist allies has survived literally hundreds of complaints to Ofcom and the Press Complaints Commission.Rahman’s supporters make two main defences: first, that in the words of the Guardian’s Dave Hill, “if Rahman has sinned, how many others are doing so all day, every day in ways that, in the end, differ if at all only in the means and detail?”
To the contrary, this series of blog posts will show that what is happening in Tower Hamlets is on a completely different plane from normal political behaviour. (What is it with Dave, who has embarrassing form as Ken Livingstone’s chief media poodle? Has he some psychological need to act as a public excuse-maker for the least scrupulous politicians he can find?)
Astonishing. Truly astonishing and embarassing how this kind of Bangladeshi-style governance has been allowed to dominate UK local politics for so long. I get the impression that no-one is more embarassed by this state of affairs than young secular Bangladeshis.
Some of the stuff was already known, like the fact that Bengalis only make up around 32% of the borough (the largest ethnic group are in fact white people at 45%) yet take up 100% of Lutfur Rahman's cabinet, with not a non-Bengali, non-Muslim face on it. But the extent of the corruption was new to me.
I hope Rahman is booted out next month and that the new mayor creates a less corrupt and more secular council. They need it.
05 Apr 2014, 7:16 am
