Former Newham Chief Exec to Investigate Lutfur Rahman

It seems that Mayor Lutfur Rahman has got himself into hot water again in neighbouring Tower Hamlets.

Readers will recall that Rahman was found guilty of “corrupt and illegal practices” in 2015. He was then suspended from public office for five years. It seems that the shame one might have felt having been found to have acted corruptly did not prevent Rahman standing again, nor did it deter his supporters from voting for him again. 

In an email from the DLUHC it was revealed that a team of local government experts (led by Kim Bromley Derry) are about to begin an inspection into the operations in Tower Hamlets. Some of the things that they raise for concern might be of interest to the burghers of Newham as there might just be some echoes there, in terms of organizational culture, leadership and use of resources.

There is much that they are concerned about.

Given the costs of the mayor’s office, the following concern about Tower Hamlets might cause a little anxiety closer to home.

Observers might see some similarities between the behaviour of Mayor Rahman and Mayor Fiaz in respect of their attitude towards scrutiny.

Another area of concern  for LBTH is 

Given the regularity with which LBN has been changing Chief Execs, this might give rise to some trepidation at Dockside.

We would encourage readers to visit the Newham65 article on the Peer Review, which might cause them to reflect on how well Newham is doing.

We await the outcome of the inspection. The letter clearly gives a ‘heads up’ to Newham about some of the areas that should be addressed swiftly.