An extraordinary case was concluded in the election court in Birmingham last month in which a former Labour Lord Mayor of Birmingham was given leave by the Election Court to withdraw an election petition seeking to overturn his loss at the May 2022 elections to two Lib Dem Councillors.
The background is that in the election Labour’s Muhammed Afzal and a colleague were defeated by Lib Dem Cllrs – Ayoub Khan and Mumtaz Hussain – the relevant bit of the result was:
Ayoub Khan (Liberal Democrat) 3012 votes
Mumtaz Hussain (Liberal Democrat) 2542 votes
Muhammad Afzal (Labour) 2463 votes
Nagina Kauser (Labour) 2223 votes
During the election the Lib Dem candidates had said that Mr Afzal had been ‘treating’ voters – by giving out packets of dates with a Labour sticker on while canvassing. Cllr Khan had said on his Facebook page
Such is Labour’s desperation in the Aston Ward…that the current sitting councillor has decided to bribe the people of Aston for votes by giving them a special treat. They ought to know better…this is not Pakistan where you can buy votes.
The election petition said that this claim was false and intended to defame Mr Afzal’s personal character and that therefore the result of the election should be overturned.
This was clearly a very serious allegation: apart from losing their hard won council seats, losing the petition would make the 2 Lib Dem councillors responsible for heavy costs putting their homes at risk, possible criminal charges and and as Cllr Khan is a barrister it may have had very serious consequences for his career.
Supporting the petition were 10 statements from people backing the claim that no dates had been distributed. This clearly placed a huge burden on Cllr Khan and Hussain to prove that their statement was correct. The best evidence would be doorcam videos but because the election petition was presented on the last possible date it was likely that these would have been deleted automatically. Cllr Khan took on the task of going door to door asking people if they still had the dates and any door cam videos. They had all been deleted until he came to someone who asked him in for a cup of tea while he checked the video – and in a life changing moment said he still had the recording – including the audio. The doorcam footage can be seen on the Birmingham Mail website :
On 27th January the two Lib Dem councillors presented their defence – including other videos and witness statements and following this Mr Afzal sought leave from the Election Court to withdraw his petition. His KC said it would now be ‘impracticable ‘ for him to continue with the it. In agreeing to the withdrawal the judge was scathing in his comments.
He said he was satisfied that the reason for the request was “overwhelming evidence served on behalf of the Respondents of illegal election practices in which he participated.” and in awarding costs on an” indemnity basis “ ( this is rare and based on the losing party’s behaviour and likely to mean they have to pay a higher percentage of the other side’s costs) the judge said he was doing this because “ The Petitioner had the audacity to issue these proceedings in the knowledge that the allegations quite properly made by the Respondents in the course of the election campaign were truthful. He persisted with the Petition and served evidence from himself and others which was and he must have known to be false”
The judge ordered Mr Afzal to pay each of the Lib Dem Councillors £10,000 within 28 days. That time has passed without any payments being made apart from £2500 with he had lodged with the Court.
The full ruling of the Election Court can be found here
After the hearing Cllr Hussain that that she was “delighted with the result “ and agreed that “it has been a big shadow over her” and Cllr Khan said that they were “relieved, very pleased” and that they would “carry on representing the people of Aston”
It may well be that this is not the end of the issue. The judge said : “Additionally, I will be arranging for a copy of this judgment to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions” and according to the Birmingham Mail West Midlands Police are also investigating. Cllr Khan said they would be “inviting the police to consider matter such as conspiring to pervert the course of justice.”
One a personal note I can’t image the stress that this case must have placed on Ayoub and Mumtaz and their families. To find not only was such a potentially damaging case being brought against you but that other people had provided statements supporting the lies must be awful. Ayoub told me that when he found the resident who had still got the damming door cam evidence he burst into tears and I can’t imagine what the relief must have been like. They are true Liberal Democrat heroes.
* Simon McGrath is a Councillor in Wimbledon and is a member of the Federal Policy Committee and Federal Council.
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4 Comments
As a Lib Dem Cllr and Criminal Defence Crown Court Lawyer I echo the sentiments in this story but in addition I would say ..IF making allegations against opponents have the material to back it up from Day 1 ….Nick
Have the two former Labour councillors been expelled from the Labour party?
We instigated an Election Court some years ago against the Returning Officer, and won.
Basically he was not checking the validity of candidates nomination signatures, and didn’t believe he should do.
As Nick said above, make sure all your facts are right before you do anything.
Thank you Simon for an excellently detailed note.
The Labour Party in Aston, Birmingham, appear to have form. It was, of course, in Aston (and Bordesley Green) in 2005 that “massive, systematic and organised” postal voting fraud occurred, leading the judge to observe that he had listened to “evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic”.
Plainly, Afzal should be prosecuted; but I won’t be holding my breath. Back in 2005, the (Labour) Government refused to change the postal voting system in advance of the general election because it believed that systems to prevent fraud were “clearly working.” Which, of course, they weren’t – indeed the judge remarked angrily that “The systems to deal with fraud are not working well. They are not working badly. The fact is that there are no systems to deal realistically with fraud…Postal ballots were sent out in ordinary mail and were clearly identifiable. Short of writing ‘STEAL ME’ on the envelopes, it is hard to see what more could be done to ensure their coming into the wrong hands”.
And, seventeen years and five general elections later, nothing has changed. But we can, of course, find time for a bit of voter suppression by way of an unnecessary demand for photo ID for anyone who votes in person.
It’s a pity that the 2005 judgment isn’t readily accessible.