Mark Pack

Executive editor and news editor quit paper in storm over election smears

By | Tue 19th October 2010 - 11:41 pm

Trial by Jeory has the story from the contest to be Mayor of Tower Hamlets:

[Expelled Labour member turned independent] Lutfur Rahman’s campaign does seem to have galvanised a section of the Tower Hamlets community and many, if not most, are certainly very angry young people who are fuelled by a fair degree of hatred.

That bitterness has been targeted in almost equal measure at the Labour NEC and the party’s official candidate, Helal Abbas … There are many in the Labour party who believe the level of vitriol is similar to that experienced by Oona King in 2005 when she was beaten by Respect and George Galloway. They believe the tactics are similar: smear the candidate at all costs.

Incredibly, as Andrew Gilligan reports here, those smears have been published in full in the London Bangla newspaper, whose well-funded print run this week has been distributed en masse around large parts of the East End …

The issue is such a disgrace that Emdad Rahman has decided to resign his unpaid post as “executive editor” in protest. He tells me he has had nothing to do with those articles and he completely disassociates himself from them … Newham Labour councillor Forhad Hussain has also resigned as London Bangla’s news editor in protest.

You can read the full story here.

The Liberal Democrat candidate is John Griffiths, who you can find on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and how to help his campaign.

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2 Comments

  • Duncan Borrowman 20th Oct '10 - 1:28am

    Judging Bangladeshi politics in Tower Hamlets is a dangerous thing. Allegiances have little to do with UK party allegiances. I have had the Representation of the People Act described to me as a “guideline” by a Bangladeshi political activist in Tower Hamlets. Until all the parties get a grip, as well as the Electoral Commission and the police the situation will never resolve itself.

  • Terry Gilbert 20th Oct '10 - 1:54pm

    Good luck to John Griffiths – a good man in the maelstrom that is Tower Hamlets politics!

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