After a summer of by-electioneering in Earl's Court (congrats to new K&C Lib Dem councillor Linda Wade) and in Manor House (thank you to all 61 people who voted for me!) it's now time for something a bit meatier in the form of the inaugural election of an executive mayor in Tower Hamlets.
Being possessed of an Oyster card, a 254 bus and some spare time, I headed down there this evening to the Lib Dem campaign HQ in Bethnal Green. Tower Hamlets is somewhere desperately in need of Lib Dem success, having been ruled, like most of East London, by cliquish Labour Party administrations for most of its recent history.
Our candidate John Griffiths is a former local councillor who has previously exposed fraudulent use of regeneration funds in the Town Hall and is involved in social housing and green transport bodies. His CV is impressive but I'm much more taken with the fact that, unlike a lot of candidates I've seen - including some from my own party - he is totally willing to get out delivering his own leaflets and doing the grunt work. Bravo that man.
Meanwhile on the other side of politics, I would imagine Tower Hamlets Labour are pulping more leaflets than they are delivering, the party NEC having just nullified their choice of candidate. After a court battle to be allowed to stand, Cllr Lutfur Rahman was originally selected and even endorsed by the local branch of RESPECT. Yesterday we hear he has been removed and a replacement candidate installed. Whether this is the final outcome of the Labour selection, who can say? What makes it more interesting is the suggestion that RESPECT may now nominate their own candidate after all, either Rahman or ex-MP George Galloway - both of whom may end up standing as Independents if not as official candidates.
Rather makes you fearful of what they'd be like actually running the borough - or at least understanding or how badly is is already run!
The Tories on the other hand do have a candidate in place, but he is not mentioned on their local party website (which also seems to think there's an apostrophe in the name of the borough) so I've no idea what they're up to.
Either way, the maps on the wall and stacks of leaflets at the campaign HQ tell me that John and his team will be taking the Lib Dem campaign to all corners of Tower Hamlets - so good luck to him.
