ONLY KIDDING! The last full Tower Hamlets council meeting of 2024, held on 20th November, took place under a blanket of calm respect. But it was only superficial: under the blanket seethed the usual passions over who should be governing Tower Hamlets.
The meeting began in an unusual manner, with the Speaker inviting Cllr Amina Ali to speak about a former president of Somaliland whose death had been announced earlier that day. She also spoke about Somaliland’s recent elections, which had been a great example of mature democracy. The Speaker then held a one minute silence for the late President.
However, at the time of writing Somaliland is not recognised as an independent state by any country which is a member of the UN. A parliamentary petition calling on the UK to recognise Somaliland submitted in 2021 was signed by 12,684 people – far short of the number needed to secure a parliamentary debate. The Government responded, “The UK – in line with the rest of the international community – does not recognise Somaliland as an independent state.”
Cllr Ali, as she reminded the meeting, had moved a motion at Council some years ago. Under its terms, the Council had recognised Somaliland. At this Council meeting Cllr Ali said that she hoped the Council would continue to work with Somaliland in its quest to obtain international recognition.
This does put the Council in an interesting position. The Monitoring Officer (the officer legally responsible for ensuring the Council does nothing unlawful) has not allowed the Council to discuss Israel’s genocidal invasion of Gaza since it happened – or any motion to suggest that the UK should recognise Gaza as an independent state. Yet some years ago, Council was allowed to debate Somaliland in similar terms. Many residents will be confused.
Speaking of the Monitoring Officer, she also ruled out an emergency motion, put forward by Labour, on the Government’s Best Value Report. She had taken exception to parts of it, not least because at least some of them were inaccurate (and we all know how much the Labour Party hates gross inaccuracies). Labour had apparently re-worded its motion, but their final draft did not reach her before the deadline for emergency motions (24 hours before the Council meeting).
New Bow Councillor Abdi Mohamed said he was disappointed, and residents would be disappointed too. The Speaker assured Members that the matter would come up in the Leaders’ reports – and they could always bring a motion to a future meeting. Labour looked glum, but they left it there. Perhaps they were remembering the good old days of Lutfur Rahman’s first and second term of office as Mayor, when they had used their majority on the Council to ensure that Aspire motions were always put to the bottom of the agenda and were almost never taken.
And speaking of confusion, spare a thought for the Ungrouped Councillors. The thought is: who are they? Cllr Nathalie Bienfait (Green Party) and Cllr Peter Golds (Conservative) are not grouped, because they don’t have enough councillors to meet the threshhold to create a formal Group. There’s a couple of former Labour councillors who have resigned from Labour (for one or more of the many reasons people are giving for resigning from Labour these days). And in the middle were Cllr Kabir Hussain and Jahed Choudhury, looking for all the world like newly born litte lambs who have mislaid their mother. Whatever it was that led these councillors to resign from the Aspire Group is not clear – and whatever it was did not have enough substance to leave them with anything to say at this meeting.
Two former Labour Councillors have now joined the Aspire Group: Cllr Sabina Akhtar (Stepney Green) and Cllr Sabina Khan (Mile End). Both had opportunities to speak at this, their first Council meeting in the majority Group: both relished them, and spoke with conviction – very much in contrast to the lost lambs of the Ungrouped Group.
And speaking about Labour Councillors, as the evening ran on key councillors on the opposition benches took the opportunity to give speeches showcasing their oratory, political incisiveness and general cuddly-factor. Cllr Marc Francis did his usual “Disgusted of Bow” exasperated sighing: he hasn’t actually said it’s time the electors stopped voting for Aspire because it’s their own time they are wasting, but it must be coming. Cllr Mufeedah Bastin came up with another cute anecdote from her younger days. The fact that she went to a rap concert some years ago is bound to chime with the youth of Tower Hamlets. And Cllr Islam had a bad chest and was sucking sweeties to keep his voice audible All this showcasing of their talents: you’d think that the Labour Party was about to select its candidate for the next mayoral contest.
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