The mayor of Tower Hamlets is the
directly elected mayor of
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, cu ...
in east
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough council. The position is different from the previous largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors of
Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originall ...
, who became known as the 'Chair of Council' after the first election and are now known as the 'Speaker of Council'.
The second election was held on 22 May 2014, the same day as the
Tower Hamlets Council election, other
United Kingdom local elections, and
European Parliament elections, but the election result was declared void by the election court. A by-election was held on 11 June 2015.
Referendum
2010
The proposal to change the status of the borough from one with a leader and cabinet to one with an executive mayor was initially opposed by all the main political parties and was an initiative only proposed and supported by the
Respect Party
The Respect Party was a left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left, Socialism, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Par ...
.
Islamic Forum Europe
The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) is an Islamic organisation based in the United Kingdom with affiliates in Europe.[referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...]
for this change.
Council officers stated that almost half the signatures were invalid, with entire pages bearing the same handwriting. Despite the flaws in the petition, there were sufficient valid signatures for the council to accept it, and a referendum was held on 6 May 2010 simultaneously with the voting in the
United Kingdom general election. The referendum was passed after an intensive campaign.
Writing in the ''
Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph'', also published by the Telegraph ...
'' on 17 October,
Andrew Gilligan represented the forthcoming election as the first big test for the recently elected Labour leader
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
, given the possibility of an independent candidate defeating the official Labour candidate in a strong Labour borough. Gilligan also said that it raised concerns over the political power of radical Islam in the UK, because of candidate
Lutfur Rahman's connections with
Islamic Forum Europe
The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) is an Islamic organisation based in the United Kingdom with affiliates in Europe.[Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the ...]
, also campaigned in support of Rahman, in breach of Labour Party rules.
2021
Elections
2010
The first election took place on Thursday 21 October 2010, with a 25.6 per cent turn out.
The new mayor officially took office on Monday 25 October 2010.
2014
In April 2015, this election was
declared void by an
election court.
[
]
2015 by-election
After the 2014 election was declared void, a new election was held on 11 June 2015.
Councillor Rabina Khan initially announced that she would stand as the Tower Hamlets First candidate. However, as a result of findings in the election court case against Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets First was removed from the register of political parties by the Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
as the party was not operating a responsible financial scheme and the running of the party did not follow the documentation given in the party's registration. Khan subsequently stood as an independent candidate.
Andy Erlam is a writer and film-maker who led the legal action against Rahman which resulted in the previous election being declared void. He had previously stood elsewhere as a Parliamentary candidate
for Labour, then as the first candidate fielded by "Red Flag Anti-Corruption" in the Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originall ...
Council elections on 22 May 2014.
Red Flag Anti-Corruption had also fielded two parliamentary candidates in the 2015 UK general election, Jason Pavlou for Bethnal Green and Bow and Rene Claudel Mugenzi
Rene Claudel Mugenzi (born 13 April 1976) is a British author, community and social development practitioner, human rights activist, community organiser and politician.
He stood as a Parliamentary candidate for Poplar and Limehouse in The Un ...
for Poplar and Limehouse
Poplar and Limehouse is a constituency created in 2010 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Apsana Begum of the Labour Party. From its creation until 2019, it was represented by Jim Fitzpatrick, also of ...
, both within Tower Hamlets.
Liberal Democrat Elaine Bagshaw and UKIP candidate Nicholas McQueen both stood for their respective parties in Poplar and Limehouse
Poplar and Limehouse is a constituency created in 2010 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Apsana Begum of the Labour Party. From its creation until 2019, it was represented by Jim Fitzpatrick, also of ...
at the 2015 general election.
2018
John Biggs defended the seat for Labour. Following a split in the former Tower Hamlets First group, Cllr Rabina Khan stood again, as the candidate for her new party, the People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets
The People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH) was a minor political party in Tower Hamlets, London, England composed of councillors who had formerly been members of Tower Hamlets First and then the Tower Hamlets Independent Group. The group wa ...
(PATH) while Cllr Ohid Ahmed stood for Aspire, which emerged from the post-Tower Hamlets First Tower Hamlets Independent Group. The Conservative Party selected Dr Anwara Ali MBE, a local GP and, until 2010, local Labour councillor. The Liberal Democrats selected Elaine Bagshaw, their 2015 candidate. In August 2018, Khan wound up PATH and joined the Liberal Democrats.
2022
Biggs sought to defend his seat for Labour. In January 2022, Liberal Democrat councillor Rabina Khan was announced as the party's candidate for the mayoralty. Independent councillor Andrew Wood, who had resigned from the Conservative group in 2020, announced he would stand for election as both a councillor and mayor. Former mayor of the borough, Lutfur Rahman, announced his candidacy for the Aspire party in February 2022. Rahman's five-year ban from standing for election, having been found guilty by an election court of "corrupt and illegal practices", had elapsed. He was endorsed at his formal campaign launch in March by the former mayor of London Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the ...
and the peer Pola Uddin
Manzila Pola Uddin, Baroness Uddin (; born 17 July 1959) is a British non-affiliated life peer and community activist of Bangladeshi descent. In 2009 she was included on ''The Guardians Muslim Women Power List for Britain. She previously sa ...
. Rahman won the election with a final vote share of 54.9%, unseating incumbent John Biggs and taking the mayoralty for the second time.
List of elected mayors
Notes
References
{{London Borough of Tower Hamlets
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Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originall ...
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