Plaistow North Candidates Announced
The race begins in earnest and the candidates are announced.
There were those who pondered whether Mayor Fiaz would use her influence to promote the progressive women’s agenda and ensure that Labour fielded a female candidate. (The idea of a queer non-binary candidate was never going to work in Plaistow North.) It therefore caused a ripple of surprise to see that Labour has chosen to field an older man in the battle for votes, whilst Mirza’s Independents and the Greens have both fielded women sporting hijabs.
Akthural Alam is a Bengali, selected we are led to believe, primarily because he doesn’t have any current disputes with the mayor; no great history in the party, but no known vices either.
The Conservatives have adopted James Clifford. We’ll learn more about him in the future. The Conservative Party website is silent on the election, but we are sure that they will get something up. You can’t help but feel that they are just going through the motions.
Anas Khan, acolyte of the Tablighi Jamaat sect and Fiaz favourite has decided to stand as an independent. The word reaching us is that this (former?) Labour Party member who ran the Newham People’s Alliance campaign to get Rokhsana Fiaz selected as the candidate for mayor, is standing because he wants to split the vote that might otherwise go to Naqvi.
If so, this adds a new touch of cynicism to politics.
He will doubtless be portraying himself as a campaigner for Palestinians, which we interpret as a supporter of some of the more obnoxious death cults that oppress anyone that fails to follow their loathsome teachings. The suspicion is however, that he is doing this to actually support Fiaz. If he were elected, he would be closer to Fiaz than most of the current Labour Group, but the plan is not for him to win, he is merely there to split the opposition vote and give Labour a chance to sneak in.
In the event that Khan is genuinely opposing Fiaz, this is fascinating. It means that all of the key architects (see p23) of Fiaz’s selection have either left the Labour Party or form part of the Labour Group internal opposition.
Branding Newham Labour as “too divided to govern effectively”, (where did they get that idea from?) the Greens have adopted Zahra Kheyre, a local mum of three, and an autism campaigner as their candidate.
Zahra said: “I am extremely passionate about the community I live in. Children's education and disabilities has been an area I have been campaigning for. The Green Party is at the forefront supporting people with disabilities and the environment. Representing the Green Party in this election will have a big impact on where I live and I felt it was the right thing to do. I want to achieve a better outcome for the community I represent.”
Zahra has lived in Newham for the past sixteen years and moved to the UK as a child to escape war in Somaliland. We can’t help but feel, that for all of her good intentions, Zahra is unlikely to make any headway in this election.
Sophia Naqvi is another ex-Labour member fighting this election. She had previously stood on the Momentum slate for a place on Labour’s Conference Arrangements Committee. In her election address to voters she itemizes the failings of the Fiaz mayoralty and then goes at some length to make the election about Palestine, devoting a whole page to the issue and emblazoning the Palestinian flag on page 1.
Another former friend and former supporter of the mayor, Taqi Shah submitted a nomination form, and then withdrew. Shah is one of a number of ex-Labour members who, having fallen out with the mayor, now find themselves in perpetual opposition. It is believed that he was the just-in-case independent candidate; just in case Naqvi did not stand.
David Terrar has thrown his hat into the ring for the Lib-Dems. You have got to wonder whether he will get his deposit back in this election, although, there may be some voters in Plaistow North who feel that Mayor Fiaz is failing and who don’t feel that the situation in Gaza is central to keeping the streets of Newham clean. He might just pick up votes from voters who cry “a plague on both their houses”.
This is the second byelection he has fought for the Lib-Dems this year, having lost to Mehmood Mirza in Boleyn back in June.
Brought up in east London, he has now returned. He is something of a techie guru promoting cloud-based technologies.
Interestingly, David and Tory candidate, James Clifford are the only ones to publish their addresses.
You could be a little confused about some of the candidates. Until recently four of the seven were in the Labour Party. One has clearly just cut up her membership card and one seems destined for expulsion in the very near future. Just what is the Labour Party in Newham up to?
Nationally, Labour is positioning itself for government, but the voters are beginning to observe a party still at war with itself.