London's borough councils are up for grabs in the local elections next month, including Tower Hamlets where I live. Sometimes things can go off the rails here so I've had a go at researching who's standing for what, just in case they do again.
But first a quick historical recap.
1964-1982: very safe Labour
1986-1990: Alliance/Liberal Democrat interlude
1994-2002: very safe Labour
2006: no overall control (George Galloway intrudes)
2010: very safe Labour switch to elected Mayor
2010-2014: Lutfur Rahman swipes it
2015: 2014 election declared void
2015-2018: John Biggs (Labour)
2022-2026: Lutfur Rahman swipes it back
Sorry, my recap includes a prediction of who's going to win the upcoming election, but it's such a dead cert that I won't be wrong.
Council elections were relatively normal in Tower Hamlets until 2009 when a dodgy petition triggered a referendum on introducing an Executive Mayor for the borough. This seismic change passed with 60% of the vote. The subsequent ballot was won by Lutfur Rahman, now running his own party after a massive falling-out with former Labour colleagues. No matter that Labour had 63% of Tower Hamlets councillors, by becoming Mayor Lutfur took full control of everything and the majority opposition could only sit and watch.
Rahman won again in 2014 although the result was much closer, the cursed 52%-48% ratio. But a lot of well dodgy practices had taken place so in 2015 the electoral court declared the previous election void. Labour's John Biggs duly took over after a 55%-45% victory and Lutfur was banned from politics for seven years. But as soon as those seven years were up he came back, stood again and won, because here in Tower Hamlets we have no qualms in voting for a dubious not-quite criminal and gifting him total power.
In 2026 there are nine candidates for Mayor, one of whom is Lutfur who's going to win again.
» Lutfur Rahman: Aspire
» Sirajul Islam: Labour
» Mohammed Hannan: Liberal Democrats
» Hirra Khan: Green
» John Bullard: Reform UK
» Dominic Nolan: Conservative
» Hugo Pierre: Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
» Zami Ali: Tower Hamlets Independents
» Terence McGrenera: Independent
The only credible alternative is Sirajul Islam for Labour, or would be were the party more popular nationally which it absolutely isn't. Labour's John Biggs got 33% of the Mayoral vote last time but that percentage can only go down. No other party got more than 10% in 2022 and the Greens didn't even put forward a candidate. It's entirely possible that the Greens will do rather well in neighbouring Hackney, but this is Tower Hamlets and there's no hope of a Green surge for the Mayoralty.
mini bios
• Lutfur Rahman (Aspire) has been found "personally guilty of corrupt or illegal practices, or both"
• Sirajul Islam (Labour) is the current leader of the opposition on Tower Hamlets council
• Mohammed Hannan (Liberal Democrats) came last in Canary Wharf ward in 2022
• Hirra Khan (Green) co-leads an environmental charity and is also standing as a councillor in Bromley-by-Bow
• John Bullard (Reform) is thus far a mystery, likely parachuted in to fill a gap
• Dominic Nolan (Conservative) has been a councillor in Fife, but won only 6% of the vote in Poplar in 2022
• Hugo Pierre (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) is certainly a trier, this is his 4th Mayoral election
• Zami Ali (Tower Hamlets Independents) has his own website but hasn't added any news since January, a no-hoper
• Terence McGrenera (Independent) is a local journalist disillusioned by Tower Hamlets political bickering
Here in Tower Hamlets we also vote for 45 councillors across 20 wards, but their main job is either to agree with the Mayor or hold him to account. In 2022 Lutfur's party Aspire won 26 seats, Labour won 19, and the Conservatives and Greens one each. Since then five of those candidates have become independents, which would have been enough to put the council into 'No overall control' were Lutfur not fully in control anyway. The only by-election in the last four years was for my ward, Bow East, after one of the Labour councillors was unexpectedly elected as MP for Cities of London and Westminster.
Aspire, Labour and the Conservatives have all managed to put forward a full range of candidates in each of the 20 wards. The Greens, Liberal Democrats and Tower Hamlets Independents each have two gaps. Reform UK failed to fill ten slots although they've managed to cover every ward. Only residents in Bethnal Green East get the opportunity to vote for The Forward Party, which appears to be the one-man soapbox of a Tiktokker called Adham who likes parading round parks while you read long captions across his head.
Bow East candidates
» Aspire: Hamida, Mansur & Yusuf
» Labour: Abdi, Amina & Marc
» Liberal Democrats: Dan, Daniel & Folkert
» Green: Jonathan, Mads & Ottilie
» Reform UK: Gary, John & Kevin
» Conservative: Georgie, Jade & Robin
» Tower Hamlets Independents: Hira, Salim & Shofiqul
» TUSC: Naomi
Here in Bow East, Aspire are currently winning the letterbox battle with two massive expensively-produced leaflets. One's a folded sheet of A3 covered in bullet-pointed things Lutfur's council has achieved over the last for years, several of them bilingually. The other is ward-specific, half the size, and features our grinning leader alongside his three Aspire candidates. However absolutely no attempt has been made to link any of the party's policies to Bow East ward, merely to dazzle.
Labour have also sent two leaflets, one general and one specific, although these are rather smaller. Sirajul does at least look to have been in the same room as the three Bow East candidates when the cover photo was taken. There are specific mentions of Roman Road Market and 'Vicky Park', generally decrying how Aspire should be looking after them better. Marc Francis has been a Labour councillor here since 2006, but may very well not be in a month's time.
The Greens have sent two copies of something they call Bow East News, generally in the hope I'll be on first name terms with their three candidates. They have the localest policies, even down to litter in a single street, also two attempts at making 'genocide in Palestine' sound locally relevant. The trio have a decent chance of getting at least one of them elected, Bow East being one of the Green's four target wards hereabouts (along with Bow West, Mile End and Bromley North).
Nothing as yet from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Reform UK, partly because it's still early days and partly because they don't have a hope so why waste money.
Politics in Tower Hamlets is rarely dull but I suspect it will be this year, however much reshuffling takes place at councillor level, as Lutfur Rahman wins his fourth election for Executive Mayor. Technically the end result is always in doubt until the final votes are counted, but it would be nice to live in a borough that wasn't quite so one-sidedly anomalous.
London's borough councils are up for grabs in the local elections next month, including Tower Hamlets where I live. Sometimes things can go off the rails here so I've had a go at researching who's standing for what, just in case they do again.
