Tower Hamlets Politics Roundup #1 - the fairly normal parties

Labour Cabinet Reshuffle

Mayor Biggs is a man of many hats. Including this one. Photo courtesy Vickie Flores

Mayor John Biggs has been sorting out his cabinet to various shouts of protest (“bully!”) and approval (“about time!”) depending on your point of view.

It seems likely that he is not quite in the same jolly mood as he was at the Meila the other week as pictured left.

Deputy Mayor Cllr. Rachael Saunders (Mile End) was in charge of Education, Children’s Services and Third Sector but after the damning Ofsted report into Tower Hamlets Child Services she has been shifted to Health & Adult Services.

Her responsibilities are taken over by Cllr. Amy Whitelock Gibbs (Bethnal Green) who is now Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services

Cllr. Sabina Akhtar is the first female Bangladeshi Speaker of Tower Hamlets Council.

Council Speaker Cllr. Khales Uddin Ahmed (Bromley North) has been replaced by Cllr. Sabina Akhtar (Stepney Green) who becomes the first Bangladeshi woman to serve as Speaker.

Sources tell us that Cllr. Khales feels that he has been “bullied and victimised” by others in Tower Hamlets Labour Party, this particular complaint not being confined to him (see below).

The most controversial move seems to be Deputy Mayor Cllr. Shiria Khatun (Lansbury) who Wapping residents may remember from her underwhelming performance at the recent police meeting.

Cllr. Khatun was in charge of Community Safety (that includes the police) but has ‘decided to step down from her role’ according to a Tower Hamlets Labour Party press release.

Presumably this is directly related to her not being a Deputy Mayor anymore and because she feels “bullied and victimised” by the Mayor. Like Cllr. Khales.

For more on this (which is rapidly developing into quite a story as well as being a great bandwagon for anyone to jump one) please see the Tower Hamlets Politics Roundup – the just plain weird parties.

Cllr. Shiria Khatun speaking at a Campaign Against Racism and Hate Crime meeting in support of herself.

Cllr. Ayas Miah (St. Dunstans’) was in charge of Environment but has left the Cabinet and is now Deputy Speaker.

Councillor Amina Ali (Bow East) becomes Lead Member for Environment.

Councillor Abdul Mukit MBE (Weavers) joins the Cabinet as Lead Member for Culture and Youth.

You can see the new Labour Cabinet below.

Tower Hamlets Council Labour Party Cabinet 19 May 2017

Name	Portfolio
Mayor John Biggs	Executive Mayor with specific responsibility for:
	-Strategy, Policy and Performance
	-Partnerships
	-Equalities
Cllr Sirajul Islam	Statutory Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Housing and also responsible for:
	-Work with Faith Communities
	-Welfare Reform Response
	-Community Language Service
Cllr Rachael Saunders	Deputy Mayor for Health & Adult Services
Cllr Joshua Peck	Cabinet Member for Work and Economic Growth
Cllr Asma Begum	Cabinet Member for Community Safety
Cllr Rachel Blake	Cabinet Member for Strategic Development and Waste
	Also leading joint work on air quality
Cllr Amy Whitelock Gibbs	Cabinet Member for Education and Children's Services
Cllr David Edgar	Cabinet Member for Resources
Cllr Abdul Mukit	Cabinet Member for Culture and Youth
Cllr Amina Ali	Cabinet Member for Environment
	Cabinet member also responsible for:
	-Somali Task Force implementation

Conservative Party

Business as usual. Strong. Stable. Strong and stable. A strong stable. A stable strongness. Whatever.

Liberal Democrats

Ditto. Just getting on with the whole General Election 2017 thing. The Poplar and Limehouse Lib Dems has tripled its membership since the EU referendum last year, a few weeks back they had hit 700 members. Will this make any difference at the polls? You never know.