Six months ago, the Newham Independents were celebrating a remarkable electoral success. Having grown from a small group of four councillors to 24 following May’s local elections, they became the largest opposition group ever elected to Newham Council. For their leader, Cllr Mehmood Mirza, it was an extraordinary opportunity to establish himself and his party as powerful and credible alternatives to Labour and their new mayor.
Fast forward to November, and that achievement is increasingly overshadowed by chaos and internal turmoil.
That group of 24 is now down to 18. Six NIP councillors now sit outside the recognised political groups, four of them connected to the dispute over the Mayor’s Community Neighbourhood appointments.
Moniba Khan and Nasreen Shamima were suspended by the party after accepting neighbourhood leadership positions. Their respective partners, Cllrs Obaid Khan and Oliur (Oli) Rahman, have also left the group. Rahman has separately accepted a position as the Mayor’s Commissioner for AI, although he has acknowledged that the responsibilities of the role remain as yet undefined.
Rahman and Khan have both publicly criticised the suspension of their partners. Speaking to Newham Voices, the Little Ilford councillor said, “They say they were suspended pending investigation. But I don’t see why they couldn’t stay in the group and still be investigated. It seems they’re trying to make a political point by suspending two female members of their team.”
On Facebook, a clearly furious Khan commented “When the Mayor did listen to [the opposition] he picked these two top hard-working female councillors from the opposition as it was the Mayor’s right. Then what did the opposition party do? They suspended and embarrassed their two top hard-working Female councillors because??”
Two further departures, Cllrs Sunny Chowdhury and Begum Sahera, have further added to the group’s difficulties. As yet, no explanation for their removal has been made public. Did they jump or were they pushed?
None of this necessarily means that the councillors who have left are wrong, or that those who remain are right. You can argue that, whip or no whip, councillors are entitled to reach their own conclusions about how best to represent their constituents. But the scale of the departures inevitably raises questions about the cohesion and leadership of the Newham Independents.
Indeed, Cllr Mirza acknowledged the challenges of managing his rapidly expanded group in an August interview, saying: “Not everyone is on the same page, so we need to convince them.”
Six months on, it seems those challenges have become considerably more difficult. Leadership is a lot harder than making TikToks.
The Newham Independents remain the largest opposition group on the council. But numbers alone do not make an effective opposition. That requires unity of purpose, the ability to manage disagreement and a clear sense of collective direction. None of which is currently in evidence.
Cllr Mirza has repeatedly promised to hold Labour to account and provide a real alternative for Newham residents. The reality is somewhat different.
For a party that emerged from May’s elections with such momentum, things have fallen apart very quickly. Rather like a clown car.
