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So long, farewell

8 Dec

Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz

Mayor Fiaz will be among those departing after the elections in May

The panel tasked by Labour’s national executive to oversee the election of candidates for next May’s elections has completed its work. While we don’t yet have official confirmation of the successful applicants, there are a number of sitting councillors who will be leaving the Labour benches next year:

  • Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor of Newham since 2018; previously councillor for Custom House
  • Dr Rohit Dasgupta, councillor for Canning Town South since 2018; chair of council and First Citizen of Newham
  • Alan Griffiths, councillor for Canning Town South since 2014, previously represented Park, Forest Gate South and Plaistow North
  • Charlene McLean, cabinet member for Resident Engagement & Resident Experience; councillor for West Ham since 2018, previously Stratford & New Town
  • Simon Rush, secretary of Labour Group; councillor for Plaistow West & Canning Town East since 2022
  • Amar Virdee, councillor for Green Street West since 2022
  • Stephanie Garfield, councillor for Wall End since 2023
  • Joshua Garfield, councillor for Stratford (previously Stratford & New Town) since 2018 
  • Jemima McAlmont, councillor for Wall End since 2022
  • Mohammed Muzibar Rahman, councillor for Green St East since 2022
  • Sarah Ruiz, Deputy Mayor & Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education & Sustainable Transport; councillor for Custom House since 2018, previously South, Beckton and Royal Docks
  • Rita Chadha, Cabinet Member for Health & Adult Social Care and Transforming Newham for the Future; councillor for Canning Town North since 2022
  • Anamul Islam, formerly Labour Group chief whip; councillor for Forest Gate South since 2022, previously Forest Gate North
  • Dina Hossain, councillor for Plaistow West & Canning Town East since 2022
  • Carleene Lee-Phakoe, councillor for Plaistow South since 2018
  • Pushpa Makwana, councillor for Plashet since 2018
  • Terry Paul, councillor for Stratford (previously Stratford and New Town) since 2010
  • Winston Vaughan, councillor for Forest Gate South since 2002, previously New Town
  • Dr John Whitworth, Cabinet Member for Air Quality, Climate Emergency & Environment; councillor for West Ham since 2014, and previously 2002 to 2006
  • Nur Begum, councillor for Little Ilford since 2022, sitting as a Newham Independents Party councillor since learning of her deselection

Of course, there are four other councillors who were elected for Labour in 2022 who no longer have the whip. Belgica Guana (Canning Town South) and Lewis Godfrey (Green Street West) sit as ungrouped independents; Areeq Chowdhury (Canning Town North) is now with the Greens and Zuber Gulamussen (Plashet) is the chief whip for the Newham Independents.

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Remembering Neil Wilson

25 Aug

Cllr Neil Wilson at Curwen Primary School

Newham lost one of its most devoted public servants on July 30th, 2025, with the passing of Councillor Neil Wilson, known affectionately as the “Father of the Council.” A by-election to replace him will be held on September 18th.

Neil Wilson’s journey into local politics began in the early 1990s. After an unsuccessful bid in South Ward (now East Ham South), Wilson found his political home in 1994 when he was first elected to represent Hudson’s Ward. The ward would later become Plaistow South following boundary changes. For the next 31 years, Wilson served the area where he lived, embodying the important principle of local representation. 

In the administration of Sir Robin Wales, he held the Equalities portfolio. More recently, under Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, he served as Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care.

Wilson’s High Anglican faith was a cornerstone of his life and politics. He was a regular worshipper and trustee at St Alban the Martyr in Holborn and a member of the Society of Sacramental Socialists.

By-election

The contest to fill Wilson’s seat has attracted candidates from all five national parties, plus the local independents. The six candidates standing are:

  • Asheem Singh – Labour Party
  • Md Nazrul Islam – Newham Independents Party
  • Rois Miah – Local Conservatives
  • Sheree Miller – Liberal Democrats
  • Lazar Monu – Reform UK
  • Nic Motte – Green Party

This by-election comes at a tricky time for Newham Labour. The three local constituency parties remain suspended and a new candidate for mayor, Forhad Hussain, has been selected for next year’s elections.

Recent by-election losses in Plaistow North and Boleyn, plus the 2022 defeat to the Greens in Stratford Olympic Park have raised questions about Labour’s grip on the borough. A victory in Plaistow South would demonstrate resilience despite recent controversies, while a defeat could signal deeper challenges ahead of the 2026 campaign.

A lasting legacy

As voters prepare to choose Wilson’s successor, they face the challenge of replacing someone with deep institutional knowledge, a profound commitment to social justice and a determination to do through best for his constituents. 

Wilson served for 31 years, but his legacy extends beyond mere longevity in office. Wilson represented a style of local politics rooted in community connection, principled governance, and genuine public service. His commitment to equality, his role as a mentor to newer councillors, and his unwavering dedication to his community set a benchmark for public service.

The candidates vying for his seat will each bring their own vision for Plaistow South’s future. However, they will all be measured, in some way, against the standard of service that Neil Wilson established over more than three decades of dedicated public service.

On September 18th, residents of Plaistow South will not just be choosing a new councillor – they will be selecting someone to carry forward the democratic tradition that Neil Wilson served with such distinction.

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Beckton and Little Ilford by-election results

29 Jul

Two local council by-elections held on 18 July, two weeks after the general election, caused by the resignations of Elizabeth Booker and James Asset.

Beckton

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Blossom Young Labour 597 38.7%
Shahzad Abbasi Newham Ind Party 476 30.9%
Justine Levoir Green 228 14.8%
Maria Clifford Conservative 144 9.3%
James Alan-Rumsby Liberal Democrat 96 6.2%

Turnout was 13.55%.

Little Ilford

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Akthural Alam Labour 884 39.0%
Tahir Mirza Newham Ind Party 738 32.5%
Akm Mahinbur Rahman Liberal Democrat 274 12.1%
Vijay Parthiban Independent 163 7.2%
Mohamadu Faheem Conservative 104 4.6%
Joe Oteng Green 103 4.6%

Turnout was 18.3%.

In my post about the Forest Gate North and Maryland by-elections which were held on the same day as the general election I said that these contests would be more challenging for the incumbents. And in truth I expected Labour to lose Little Ilford. Tahir Mirza, the Newham Independent candidate, had just finished as runner-up to Stephen Timms in East Ham in the general election with around 7,000 votes. He lives in Little Ilford. Surely this was going to be his day. But for some reason his vote did not turn out and Labour’s ground operation ensured that theirs did. I am incredibly pleased for Akthural Alam, who showed tremendous courage putting himself forward again after losing Plaistow North last year. 

The other surprise in Little Ilford was the respectable showing for the Liberal Democrat candidate. Having read his campaign material I have to wonder how much control the national party has over what gets published in their name. Mr Rahman appeared to be fishing for voters in the same pool as Tahir Mirza – overtly anti-Labour and pro-motorist. He also seems to have been asleep for the past two years, as he insisted that there was no opposition to Labour on the council.

In Beckton the excellent Blossom Young held off the Newham Independents in what can only be described as an appallingly low turnout contest. I know it was only two weeks after the general election, but 13.55% demonstrates a shocking level of disengagement by voters.

Hopefully these are the last by-elections in this council term and voters won’t be asked to turn out again until May 2026.

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FGN and Maryland by-election results

11 Jul

Two local council by-elections held on the same day as the general election, caused by the resignations of Sasha Das Gupta and Ken Penton.

Forest Gate North

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Liz Cronin Labour 1757 43.0%
Zakaria Bhariwala Newham Ind Party 1073 26.3%
Zahra Kheyre Green 810 19.8%
Malcolm Madden Conservative 251 6.1%
Jamie Bryant Liberal Democrat 192 4.7%

Turnout was 53.35%.

Maryland

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Melanie Onovo Labour 1626 43.0%
Linda Jordan Newham Ind Party 896 23.7%
Chris Brooks Green 712 18.8%
Mary Antwi Conservative 360 9.5%
David Terrar Liberal Democrat 185 4.9%

Turnout was 41.25%.

There were no surprises and Labour held both seats comfortably. The Newham Independents threw everything at the campaigns, with a mountain of leaflets, a small army of canvassers and even digital advertising vans touring the streets, but to no avail. Their brand of grievance-based communitarian populism has a more limited appeal in this part of the borough.

The Greens will be disappointed to have given up second place but their shares here both exceeded the 17.7% they achieved across the entire Stratford & Bow constituency in the general election, despite limited campaigning. 

Neither the Tories nor the Lib Dems did any campaigning. We got a single Conservative leaflet combining their GE and local candidates but nothing from Liberals – not even the standard free post delivery. The resulting vote shares were par for the course. 

Attention now turns to Little Ilford and Beckton, which vote on July 18th. Both will be more challenging for the incumbents.

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More council by-election candidates

24 Jun

The statements of persons nominated for the Beckton and Little Ilford by-elections have been published.

Beckton

  • Shahzad Abbasi, Newham Independents Candidate
  • James Alan-Rumsby, Liberal Democrats
  • Maria Clifford, Conservatives
  • Levoir Justine, Green Party
  • Blossom Young, Labour Party

Little Ilford

  • Akhtural Alam, Labour Party
  • Mohammad Faheem, The Conservative Party Candidate
  • Tahir Mirza, Newham Independents Candidate
  • Joe Oteng, Green Party
  • Vijay Parthian, Independent Candidate
  • Akm Mahinur Rahman, Liberal Democrats

The elections will take place on Thursday 18 July. The last date to register to vote is Tuesday 2 July and postal vote applications must reach the council by 5 pm on Wednesday 3 July.

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WTF just happened, part 2

14 Dec

Newham Independents camapigners in yellow h-viz jackets

Newham Independent campaigners wearing the uniform of right-wing populism, the gilets jaune

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks you’l know that Sophia Naqvi, Mehmood Mirza’s candidate, won the Plaistow North by-election by a handy margin, handing Labour a second consecutive defeat.

Mirza and Naqvi have been joined in a new group on the council by Zuber Gulamassen (Plashet) who defected from Labour. The Newham Independents are now the largest opposition group on the council. Which hands Cllr Mirza an extra £7,900 a year ‘special responsibility allowance’ as leader. 

What did the local blogs and commentators have to say?

From the Left of the local political spectrum Newham 65 reported

Labour has been comprehensively beaten in Plaistow North by the misnamed ‘Newham Independents’, who generally represent a populist anti-Labour/pro-car platform. On this occasion the campaign undoubtedly focussed on the national Labour Party’s position refusing to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The failure of local MP Lyn Brown to join Stephen Timms in supporting parliamentary efforts to call for a ceasefire didn’t help the atmosphere.

Newham’s ‘Old Labour’ Right could barely contain their glee

The defeat in Boleyn was a disaster. The defeat in Plaistow North is a humiliation.

Predictably they blamed that humiliation on the mayor, but added

For the first time in decades, Labour is facing an opposition that wants to win. It is an opposition that builds its support on an ethno-religious communitarian base. Labour currently has no response … But they will have to decide whether they will confront this new party on principle or will appease them in the hope of retaining some of the votes, say in parliamentary elections. Meanwhile they face a campaign that aims to attack local Labour and its record at every opportunity.

Writing for the On London blog, Lewis Baston observed

There is an electoral malaise in this ancestral Labour heartland at the moment. Mirza polled only eight per cent in the mayoral election in 2022 as an Independent candidate but would clearly be doing better now as leader of what amounts to a local opposition party. After all, Lutfur Rahman and Aspire returned to power in neighbouring Tower Hamlets last year with a familiar blend of Leftist and Islamic rhetoric, populism and somewhat conservative campaigning on issues like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

However, the hurdle at which past challenges to Labour’s hegemony in Newham have fallen is the ability to campaign across the whole borough. That is a bigger task than picking off a ward or two where issues and personalities come together. Mirza’s political operation is not yet ready for that. Even so, its growth is a headache for Labour in a borough where the party has become accustomed to winning everything.

Mirza and his followers have already started to address that last point, inviting applications to be his candidates in a swathe of wards across the centre of the borough from Green St West to Little Ilford. Those selected are encouraged to be ‘community champions’ for their wards. It should be a wake up call to Labour and an antidote to complacency among its sitting councillors.

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Secret by-election

23 Oct

Former councillor Daniel Lee-Phakoe

Former councillor Daniel Lee-Phakoe

There’s going to be a by-election in Plaistow North. Not that you’d know it from the council website.

Cllr Daniel Lee-Phakoe resigned a week ago, on 16 October, for personal reasons. This created a ‘casual vacancy’ in his ward and assuming more than one candidate is nominated it will be filled following an election.

In order for people to stand they have to know an election is happening. So the returning officer (in this case the council Chief Executive) publishes a notice. These days that means an announcement on the council website.

But if you look on the homepage, there’s no notice. No mention of an upcoming election. Nor in Latest News. Or even on the council’s Twitter page.

Okay, so maybe it’s under Your Council. So click the hamburger menu, top right and scroll down to the bottom. Nothing obvious there, but a menu of other sub-sections and a link to results from May 6th (that’s May 6th 2022, more than a year ago). There’s also results from recent by-elections in Boleyn and Wall End and an archive of previous results. But nothing for upcoming elections.

Let’s try Voting in Newham.

If you look at that on a laptop or tablet there’s nothing obvious, but if you scroll down you might spot a link for Statutory Election Notices.

And there you have it – notice of a casual vacancy, dated 17 October, and Notice of Election Plaistow North, dated 19 October.

It takes five clicks to find the notice of election, and that’s assuming you knew to start looking.

There’s also a Timetable of Proceedings for the by-election, but that’s on a different page.

Long story short, the by-election is being held on Thursday 23 November and if you want to stand you need to get your papers in by 4 pm this Friday (27 October 2023).

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WTF just happened?

17 Jul

This was not the news I was expecting to wake up to on Friday morning:

Boleyn (Newham) council by-election result:

IND: 42.5% (+42.5)

LAB: 32.1% (-27.0)

GRN: 21.1% (+3.5)

CON: 2.5% (-15.6)

REF: 0.8% (+0.8)

LDEM: 0.8% (+0.8)

Votes cast: 2,710

Independent GAIN from Labour.

The Independent in question is Mehmood Mirza, a figure well-known (and not necessarily in a good way) to local Labour people.

For those fortunate enough not to have encountered him before, the excellent Newham 65 blog addressed the question Who is Mehmood Mirza? 

Mehmood Mirza has surprised many by winning Thursday’s by-election in Boleyn ward. But who is he, and what does he stand for?

He has described his occupation variously as a legal adviser, a campaigner and a human rights activist, but he is also a significant private landlord. He currently owns ten properties in the borough, which will make him – since the departure of Ayesha Chowdhury from the council last year – the most propertied Newham councillor-landlord.

The piece is worth reading in full for a flavour of what we can expect to see in council meetings over the next three years. His first outing as Cllr Mirza will be on Wednesday. 

Lewis Baston, writing for the On London blog tried to take a broader view of why Labour had lost a seemingly safe seat.

Mirza’s win came as a surprise to most observers, although he had obviously run an effective campaign on the quiet. While Labour dominates in Newham, other candidates poll a third of the votes cast even at a peak Labour elections such as 2018. There – particularly with the focus of a local by-election – there is still the critical mass required for a challenge in the right ward at the right moment.

I don’t think anyone in Boleyn would have described the Mirza campaign as being run on the quiet. But the point about a potentially critical mass of non-Labour voters that can coalesce around the right message is well made. As Baston notes

Boleyn was one of the three best Newham wards for Respect in 2006, when it mounted the most successful recent challenge to Labour’s ascendancy. Mirza’s vote in 2023 mobilised some of this left of Labour and independent strand of opinion, and he was assisted by left wing campaigners. Some of Mirza’s policies were not particularly socialist – he said he was in favour of free car parking and a lower council tax, so he might have attracted some Conservative-inclined voters too.

Some? The Tory vote collapsed completely! Mirza basically stole their local policies – opposing LTNs and parking charges – and combined them with a hefty dollop of anti-establishment populism. As in May 2022, Mirza’s actual policy platform – as opposed to his left-wing posturing – was indistinguishable from the Conservatives.

Open Newham, the voice of the dispossessed ancien regime, wasted no time in pointing the finger

This is an indictment on Mayor Fiaz. In five years, she has taken Labour from a seemingly impenetrable position to one in which Labour appears vulnerable; she has alienated her colleagues on the council; and faces serious accusations of bullying of staff and colleagues.

The two constituency parties remain suspended by the Labour Party. There is a real doubt that Fiaz would have been reselected if the members had been allowed to choose in 2022.

The election of Mehmood Mirza will not mean that the voting arithmetic on the council has significantly altered. It will mean that there is a consistent and hostile, independent opposition voice who will seek to hold the mayor to account. If Fiaz experienced some discomfort at council meetings before, we can only anticipate that this will increase in the future.

Over on Twitter the Jeremy Corbyn fan club was in equally jubilant mood, declaring

Seat taken by a staunch Corbyn supporter standing as an independent – up yours Akehurst and co

And

Newham folk don’t like being stitched up by Central Office & [having] candidates foisted on them.

Which ignores two inconvenient facts. Firstly, that in neighbouring Wall End ward Labour’s vote share went up by 12 percentage points with a candidate selected in the exact same way. 

And secondly, that staunch Corbyn supporter is a buy to let landlord with multiple properties who swans round the place in a huge Mercedes & campaigns on lowering taxes, abolishing parking charges and removing LTNs.

Maybe get your head out of your arse, understand that most voters neither know nor care about Labour’s internal processes and recalibrate your political compass.

None of which is to ignore the fact that this result is an absolute disaster for the Labour party in Newham. Losing two seats to the Greens is one thing; losing a third to a populist campaign like Mirza’s is altogether more threatening. Just look across the borough boundary to Tower Hamlets. 

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Ten things about the election

11 May

1. Turnout was abysmal

Perhaps to spare the blushes of the various parties and candidates that fought the election the council has not published any turnout figures, although reports on social media from the count said it was just over 28% for the mayoral election. Looking at the number of votes cast in some wards, it will have been lower than that in a number of places. This is shocking and everyone involved in Newham politics needs to take a long look at themselves and ask why the local electorate has become so disengaged.

2. Labour still dominates

The party won 64 council seats and retained the mayoralty. It took 56.2% of the votes for mayor and 61.5% for council. Although this was not the 100% sweep of recent elections, Labour is still by far the biggest force in Newham politics. Across the 26 wards in the council election the party took 100,535 votes.

3. The Greens are number two

For the first time since 2006 an opposition party won seats on the council, as the Greens took both in the newly created Stratford Olympic Park ward. They were the only other party to field a full slate of 66 candidates (the Tories had 65). Although they narrowly missed out on second place in the mayoral election they finished as runners-up on total votes across the council election with 27,268 – 4,000 ahead of Tories.

4. Your surname is worth votes!

In 21 of the 26 wards the candidate with the most votes had a surname closer to the front of the alphabet than their party colleagues. So in Beckton James Asser finished ahead of Rohima Rahman and Tonii Wilson. In Green Street West Lewis Godfrey topped the poll, followed by Mumtaz Khan and Ama Virdee. The candidates that bucked this trend were Rachel Tripp, Neil Wilson, Mariam Dawood, Steve Brayshaw and Imam Haque.

5. Is Manor Park Labour’s safest seat?

Measured by the gap between the lowest ranked elected councillor and the highest ranked loser, Manor Park is the safest ward in Newham. The opposition will have to close a gap of 1,647 votes to take even one of the three seats.

6. Or is it Maryland?

The new Maryland ward saw Labour score its highest individual vote share, with Carolyn Corben getting 33.8%. Her running mate Ken Penton scored 30.3%, more than 20 points clear of the next best candidate. Given the entire ward is covered by low traffic neighbourhoods and the candidates were unashamedly in favour of them on the doorstep, this should be seen as a vindication of the policy. 

7. Plashet is the most marginal ward

On the same basis, the newly created two councillor ward of Plashet is the Borough’s most marginal. Independent Mehmood Mriza finished just 196 votes behind Labour’s Pushpa Makwana. Beckton is also tight, with a margin of 230 and the Greens only have a 267 vote cushion between themselves and Labour taking back a seat in the Olympic Park.

8. The Independents got nowhere 

The group made a huge fuss about leaving ‘right wing’ Labour and standing on a ‘socialist’ platform of free parking permits, more traffic and setting illegal budgets. They won no seats and five of their seven candidates scored fewer than 200 votes.

9. The Christian Peoples Alliance is surely over

This has been true for several election cycles now, but they keep up coming back. This time their 26 candidates averaged just 131 votes and two of them recorded the joint lowest score across the entire borough with 25 votes each in Stratford Olympic Park. Maybe that’s God’s way of telling them to stop.

10. First Past the Post leaves many voters unrepresented

Labour took 61.5% of the votes and 97% of the seats. The Greens got 16% of the vote and 3% of the seats. The Conservatives got 14% of the vote and no seats at all. Is that fair? I don’t think so.

 

UPDATES (13 May)

First of all, a bonus thing about the election: more people voted to abolish the Mayor in last year’s referendum (36,424) than voted for the mayor last Thursday (35,696). I know it changes nothing, that turnout was lower and it’s a binary choice versus a multi-candidate election, but it amuses me.

Secondly, Cllr Nate Higgins has been in touch to point out – quite reasonably – that looking at closeness by number of votes instead of by percentages makes it seems like the smaller wards are closer than they actually are. The Greens are almost 20 points clear of Labour in Stratford Olympic Park; it’s just a low population ward (because of expected growth). 

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No surprises

11 May

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To absolutely no-one’s surprise Rokhsana Fiaz was re-elected for a second term as mayor of Newham.

The Labour and Co-op candidate took comfortably more than 50% of the first preference votes. Conservative Attic Rahman finished second, narrowly ahead of the Green Party’s Rob Callender.

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Attic Rahman Conservative Party 7,390 11.64%
Lois Austin Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition 2,096 3.30%
Simeon Adewole Ademolake Christian Peoples Alliance 2,405 3.79%
Saleyha Ahsan Liberal Democrat 3,528 5.56%
Robert Alexander Callender The Green Party 7,003 11.03%
Rokhsana Fiaz Labour and Co-operative Party 35,696 56.23%
Mehmood Mirza Independent 5,369 8.46%
  Total 63,487  

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