Something Rotten at the Heart of Labour

It is axiomatic that politics is a dirty business. For much of the time, most of us are content to ignore the dirty part of politics as long as the streets are kept clean and the schools still operate.

Occasionally, the ‘dirty’ part of politics becomes egregious. That is what we suggest is happening in Labour today. We had thought that this was a problem centred on East London, but it seems that it goes deeper and wider than our small corner of the country.

Our awareness began with what we thought was just a Corbynite plot to impose their candidate in Ilford. Council Leader, Jas Athwal, was accused of sexual harassment just days before selections closed. Because of the nature of the allegations Athwal was suspended from the party and, of course, he then became ineligible to stand as a candidate.

The Corbynite favourite, Sam Tarry was selected as the candidate for Ilford South. And with Tarry’s selection, the allegations against Athwal suddenly evaporated.

Athwal fought back politically and in the 2024 general election he and his supporters had successfully ousted Tarry and Athwal was selected as candidate and fought and won the seat for Labour.

In the same general election another council leader, Darren Rodwell, was the favourite for the seat in Barking vacated by Margaret Hodge. Rodwell, too was informed that allegations of “inappropriate sexual conduct” had been made. These again were made just before the selection of candidates. Rodwell was suspended and the NEC imposed one of their own on the seat. And then again, miraculously, with the selection process over, the allegations evaporated.

This time however, it had nothing to do with Corbyn, the beneficiary was one of the Starmer faithful on the NEC.

And then we come to Unmesh Desai AM. Desai sits on the Greater London Assembly but is known to be interested in the mayoral seat in Newham. It is increasingly believed that Fiaz is now seen as a liability by the Labour Party and that her tenure will come to an end, one way or another in May 2026. Sources close to Desai suggest that it is his interest in the role that caused the next of the evaporating allegations. Just before Christmas 2024, someone in the Labour Party let it be known that Desai had been suspended because of allegations of a “serious” nature. Such allegations would damage his chances of any future post, on the basis of “no smoke without fire”. 

In his case, the police did investigate the complaint and decided to drop the matter within 48 hours. The Labour Party took slightly longer! But the damage had been done.

At the beginning we said that we thought that this was a local east London matter, but it appears not. Making anonymous allegations are enough to send honest men to the verge of suicide.

The Times carries an article by Caroline Wheeler about how former Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland, Steve Turner, was driven to contemplate suicide because of unverified, (and apparently entirely untrue) allegations of dishonesty, violence and sexual misconduct by him. These were promoted and amplified by Labour MP for the area Andy McDonald. 

Quite how the abuse of a process which is rightly there to protect (mainly) women and secondly the reputation of political parties is stopped is a good question. McDonald used parliamentary privilege to smear Turner. Perhaps there should be an automatic forfeit for anyone abusing privilege by pursuing malicious allegations; removal of the whip for instance in the case of those holding elected office with a lifetime ban from standing for the party. 

The reasonable desire to protect an abused woman can, as we have seen, be used to launch malicious allegations anonymously. Where this is the case, what is the public benefit in continuing to maintain the anonymity of the false accuser?

Although spurious allegations of a sexual nature seem to be the norm, they are not the only subject. Former Newham Labour councillor, Hanif Abdulmuhit discovered one hour before his interview for candidacy that there were two complaints against him. This was something of a surprise given that the whips office had, only days before assured him that there were no outstanding issues on his file. The sudden complaints were then the basis of a ‘hit job’ and character assassination by the interview panel.

This may disgust the average resident, but does it matter in the long run?

Locally, the 2018-2022 council was infamous for the level of antisemitism. The administrations led by Fiaz have become notorious for their ineptitude; council tax has risen 40% in six years, the streets have got filthier, motorists are being milked to subsidise her inability to balance the books and the council members are at war with themselves, with Fiaz taking her own council to court!

The skills necessary to climb the greasy pole are not necessarily the skills necessary to run a large organisation. A council, or party, filled with people without vision and unable to hold down a proper job does not sound like a recipe for success.