Sights on Higher Office?

We recently received a communication from Mr Mirza, indicating that he had not been ‘expelled’ from the Labour Party and that he had merely been suspended. He went to some pains to point out that had never revealed the reason behind his suspension and that as he had not revealed it, no-one knew the real reason.

Clearly, then, the link between Mr Mirza and antisemitism was purely coincidental. Or not.

It was something of a surprise to learn from a posting on the Newham Labour Facebook page that Mr Mirza has now resigned from the labour Party. His reasoning is below.

“Today I have resigned from the Labour party because nationally and especially locally in Newham, the current Labour leadership is not serving the purpose and values of the party. 

“Newham is getting dirtier and it is getting worse on a daily basis. The single bridge called the Browning Road bridge has robbed the poor local residents a huge sum of £5,200,000 in just ten months, that's £20,000 a day. 

“Closing down parking bays in high street East Ham, Green Street, Forest Gate is killing the local economy. Fly-tipping issue is the worst we have ever seen in Newham. Closing down City Farm and Stratford Circus are things that are very close to my heart. Young people are dying on our streets. There are drugs and antisocial behaviour throughout Newham. It doesn't seem there is any leadership in Newham. 

“Labour party in Newham is suspended for a year where a clear willingness strategy from the current Newham labour leadership is seen. This has destroyed the labour party in Newham.”

All of the reasons he quotes for dissatisfaction with the current administration are real enough. Indeed, we have considerable sympathy for those who feel betrayed by the broken promises of the current administration.

However, we are not convinced about his motivation, coming as it does in the run-up period to the local elections.

Mr Mirza (and friend)

Our reasoning is this: 

We are unconvinced that Mr Mirza would have been readmitted to the Labour Party, we could be wrong, but there does seem to be some house cleaning in Newham Labour. So, we suspect that he jumped before it became apparent that he had been pushed. (We note that this may be the first in a series of resignations, seeing that Green Street’s Ajaz Sheikh has also resigned.)

It is unlikely, in our view at least, that his friend, Mr Shah will be selected by a panel from Labour’s NEC to stand as Labour’s candidate for mayor.

That leaves a space for a Left candidate to challenge Labour. In the wake of the invasion of Iraq, Respect, positioning itself as both Left (with the active support of the SWP) and pro-Islamic managed to pick up some 25% of the vote in Newham; not enough to take the mayoralty but sufficient to take at least one ward. There are several wards which could be vulnerable to a concerted challenge.

Mehmood Mirza, who appears to earn his living by renting properties in the private sector would appeal to both of the constituencies that flocked to Respect. Once upon a time, Labour Lefties didn’t get on with private landlords, but how things have changed. 

Under the TUSC banner only 2%-3% of the electorate ever supported the far Left but with a Muslim candidate and an expressly communitarian agenda that could grow to well over 20%.

So, we’ll wait and see. Will there be a Respect Mark II, maybe in the form of Aspire (Newham)? Maybe the members of Newham Socialist Labour will have been expelled by then so he could stand under their banner. Or maybe he would stand as an Independent Islamic candidate, it’s been done before.

Or maybe he’ll retire into obscurity. Somehow, we doubt it.