Who's Standing For Tower Hamlets Mayor?

James Drury
By James Drury Last edited 106 months ago
Who's Standing For Tower Hamlets Mayor?

Copyright Steven Haslington, used under Creative Commons Licence

One election's behind us and the London Mayoral election is on the horizon. But before that, there's the matter of deciding who'll be the mayor of Tower Hamlets, following the unceremonious ousting of Lutfur Rahman for electoral fraud.

Voters go to the polls across the borough on 11 June to decide who will lead the council, which controls a £1.2bn budget.

The main contest is expected to be a battle between Labour's John Biggs — the man who was pipped to the post by Rahman in last year's ballot — and the former mayor's anointed candidate, Rabina Khan.

Biggs is a member of the London Assembly, where he was recently re-elected as the authority's budget chairman. Khan was championed by Rahman at a rally where he vowed to challenge the ruling against him. She says: "I believe that together, working outside the narrow establishment politics of the past, we can do politics differently here in Tower Hamlets — in a way that makes sure no-one’s voice is left out of the room."

The two will also be squaring up against the council's Conservative group leader, Peter Golds, and Andy Erlam — one of the people who brought the legal action against Rahman — who's campaigning on an anti-corruption ticket.

Gold says: "Every penny we spend of our budget will be published and I will be completely accountable to you the people of this borough. I will run our council for the benefit of all residents regardless of race or religion."

Rather like a turkey in favour of Christmas, Green candidate John Foster actually wants to scrap the post of directly elected mayor in Tower Hamlets.

Nominations close at 4pm today.

Last Updated 15 May 2015