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Unmesh Desai cleared after police investigation

13 Jan

Unmesh Desai signis in as London Assembly member

Police will take no further action, but Desai remains suspended by Labour

A police investigation involving London Assembly member Unmesh Desai has concluded with no further action to be taken, according to a statement released through his solicitor last week.

Ali Parker of Saunders Law issued the following statement on Mr. Desai’s behalf:

Between late December 2024 and today, I was the subject of a police investigation. I have not made any public comment on this until now.

I cooperated fully with the police investigation. I answered all of the police questions in interview, maintaining my innocence without any legal advice.

I have today been informed that police are taking no further action in my case. I have always maintained my faith in our system of justice and in the Metropolitan Police.

I have however been saddened that certain media outlets, political bloggers and users of X (formerly Twitter) have linked my name to this investigation before I was ever charged with any offence.

Allegations like this spread like wildfire across the internet. In my case, there were very good reasons for pre-charge privacy. It is not right that my name has been tarnished in this way.

The Labour politician, who was first elected to the Assembly in 2016, represents the City & East Assembly constituency, which includes Barking and Dagenham, City of London, Newham and Tower Hamlets. He currently sits on several important committees including budget and performance, transport, and police and crime. He served as a councillor in Newham from 1998 to 2018, holding a number of cabinet positions in Sir Robin Wales’ administrations.

During the investigation, the Labour Party placed Desai under “administrative suspension,” requiring him to temporarily sit as an Independent at City Hall. The suspension remains in effect pending resolution of a related complaint within the party. Desai has not said whether he would be challenging his suspension from Labour and the party has not commented on whether it will now lift it in the light of the Police decision.

The Metropolitan Police will not comment on the reason for the arrest. This aligns with a general rule, confirmed by the Supreme Court, that a person under criminal investigation has, prior to any charge being brought, “a reasonable expectation of privacy.

 

UPDATE (2 April 2025): Unmesh Desai has been re-instated by the Labour Party and is again sitting as a member of the Labour Group on the London Assembly.

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Elevated to the peerage

20 Dec

Lyn Brown, who stood down as MP for West Ham at the last general election, has been appointed to the House of Lords.

The full list of political peerages is here.

Many congratulations, Lyn!

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End of the Road?

18 Dec

Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz

The last directly elected mayor of Newham? 

On Monday the government published its proposals for local government reorganisation and devolution in England.

The English Devolution White Paper (PDF) promises a ‘devolution revolution’ over the course of this parliament. Headlines include plans to extend devolution to all parts of England, additional powers and funding flexibility for mayors, and the replacement of two-tier local government with unitary authorities.

This might sound like good news for Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and her counterparts elsewhere in London, but they are the wrong kind of mayor. What the government wants to empower are regional mayors and strategic authorities (think Greater London, Manchester, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands).

And on page 32 of the white paper, we read:

Given [regional] Mayors are the government’s strong preference, the deepest powers will only be available at the Mayoral level and higher. Mayors should have a unique role in an institution which allows them to focus fully on their devolved responsibilities, while council leaders must continue to focus on leading their place and delivering vital services. Conflating these two responsibilities into the same individual and institution, as is the case if an individual Local Authority had a mayoral model of devolution, would risk the optimal delivery of both. We will therefore discontinue the individual Local Authority devolution model in its mayoral form. (emphasis added)

Does discontinue mean no more will be established, or that all of the existing ones will be abolished? in the context of the preceding sentences I think it is clear abolition is the intention. 

Given that Newham and four other London boroughs will be holding mayoral elections in less than 18 months time, the government needs to get a move on and legislate or face being stuck with lame duck local mayors until 2030.

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Disgraceful antics

22 Oct

The excellent Newham65 blog on last night’s council meeting: https://newham65.wordpress.com/2024/10/21/disgraced-council/

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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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Not so independent

14 Jun

The defintion of independent

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘independent’ as “not belonging to or supported by a political party.”

Which creates a paradox for Cllrs Mehmood Mirza, Sophia Naqvi and Zuber Gulamussen.

At the start of June the Electoral Commission approved the Newham Independents Party’s application to register as a political party. So now the Independents are a party, they are no longer independents.

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Further matters of interest

5 Jan

Cllr Sophia Naqvi posing with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

What does Jeremy think about buy-to-let landlords?

Cllr Sophia Naqvi’s register of interests has been published and it reveals that she, like the leader of her political group, is a multi-property owning landlord.

In addition to the home they live in, Cllr Naqvi and her partner own a further five properties in Newham – two in her own name, two in her spouse’s and one jointly owned. No doubt a tax-efficient arrangement of assets.

The latest recruit to the Landlords Alliance is former councillor Idris Ibrahim, who will be one of the three candidates for Green Street West. As the final register of interests from his single previous term shows, he is very much a junior member – just the one extra house. 

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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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