Tory Joins the Independents

We see that Newham Independents have chosen a second candidate for Plashet Ward. This brings the running total of male/female declared candidates to 6:1. They have, as yet, chosen not to select any trans or non-binary candidates.

On this occasion they have chosen a former Tory activist and candidate.

Mr Sharif seems to have stood against his new running mate, (Zuber Gulamussen) in the elections in 2014 and 2018. (The ward changed in 2022 from East Ham North to Plashet Ward.) He took a creditable 1500 votes in 2014 but dropped a little to just under 1000 in 2018. This is not a bad showing for a Tory in Newham and suggests that he might bring a substantial personal vote with him.

It is an interesting twist that some Muslim candidates seem to be able to switch parties, almost at a whim and without any sense of philosophical confusion or tension.

We discuss this in the paper on the relationship between Mayor Fiaz and certain members of Tablighi Jamaat, (specifically with reference to the political career of the late Abdul Karim Sheikh at p14).

In the campaign to get Sonia Naqvi elected, several (left-leaning) former members of the Labour Party took to social media to offer their support. Quite what they think of recruiting a former Tory candidate into a group which purports to be left-wing, is not known.

Former councillor Linda Jordan.

Niall Mulholland of Newham Trades Council

Carel Buxton former Chair of West Ham CLP