TH Labour set for new leadership

James Frankcom: Labour councillors at Tower Hamlets are set to choose their next leader on Monday. 
The current Labour Group Leader, Cllr. Helal Uddin Abbas, has decided not to stand for re-election. 
The Labour Party currently has thirty-two councillors in Tower Hamlets and as such form an overwhelming majority in the council chamber. They will be electing their next Group Leader in advance of the Annual Meeting of the Council scheduled for 18th May. It is at this meeting that the committee chairs and other positions are assigned for the next twelve months. 
The ballots for Labour Group Leader, Deputy Leader and other positions occur each year. Last May, Helal Uddin Abbas (Spitalfields & Banglatown) was chosen as Labour Group Leader. He was also the Leader of the Council, then the highest political position in the borough. That was until November when that post was abolished and replaced by the directly-elected mayor; currently Lutfur Rahman, an independent.
Abbas remained the leader of the Labour group after the election of Mayor Rahman but decided not to stand for re-election as leader this year.
The elections for political Group Leaders on the council are administered by their respective political parties and are open to elected councillors only. These elections always occur prior to the Annual Meeting of the Council. 
The Conservative Group consisting of eight councillors held its ballot on Tuesday night and Peter Golds (Blackwall & Cubitt Town) was re-elected as their Group Leader.
The far larger Labour Group (thirty-two councillors) is due to hold its ballot on Monday 9th May. After the members of the Group Executive have been elected nominations will be made for the various committees as well as the boards of external bodies such as housing associations. These nominations are then ratified at the Annual Meeting of the Council. 
Candidates
Foremost among the candidates believed to be in the running for Labour Group Leader is Cllr. Joshua Peck , the current Deputy Leader. Josh Peck has lived in Tower Hamlets since 1995 after moving here from Brighton. He has represented Bow West on the council since 2006. 
Long-serving councillor David Edgar is also considered a major contender for the leadership. Cllr. Edgar has lived in the East End since 1987 and represented the people of either Limehouse or Bromley-by-Bow on and off since 1994. He defeated the Respect Party incumbent to represent Limehouse once again in 2010.
It is assumed that Motin uz-Zaman, the current Chair of the Council, identified by commentators as a contender for Group Leader will not be standing for the leadership but may stand as deputy. Another in the running is Cllr. Abdal Ullah (St. Dunstan’s & Stepney Green), formerly a crime spokesman. 
Usually when the Labour Group Leader is from the non-Bengali community his deputy is from the Bengali community, or vice versa. If either Josh Peck or David Edgar were to become leader it seems likely that either Motin uz-Zaman, Abdal Ullah or  Shiria Khatun (East India & Lansbury) would be his deputy. 
Cllr. Peter Golds, the recently re-elected Conservative Group Leader, told the East London News that he would be most interested to see how the next Labour leader approached dealing with Lutfur Rahman. He went on to describe the outgoing Helal Abbas as “an effective leader who certainly held the Labour group together”. 
Neither of the Labour MPs representing Tower Hamlets in Parliament nor London Assembly Member John Biggs could be contacted for comment.