Something rotten in Tower Hamlets

Private Eye has a regular feature called Rotten Boroughs. The latest issue has an interesting item about Tower Hamlets:

"Congratulations to Tower Hamlets new assistant chief executive, Lutfur Rahman Ali. The 'diversity' guru becomes No 2 on the council and its highest-paid Bangladeshi officer, on £125,000 plus a year. the only fly in the ointment is the Tory opposition leader Cllr Peter Golds, who has made a formal complaint to the Standards Board for England about the selection process.

"Even the headhunters hired by the council had doubts about Ali's suitability, declaring him a 'marginal' candidate. But new Labour council leader Lutfur Rahman (no relation) thought differently and added him to the shortlist. Four members of the seven-strong selection panel duly voted that he get the job. All four happened to be Bengalis and fellow bigwigs at the East London Mosque - council leader Lutfur Rahman, his deputy Siraj Islam, Ohid Ahmed and locl 'Respeck' leader Abjol Miah...."

The piece goes on to detail other dubious connections via a consultancy called the Tribal Group and a false claim in Ali's CV. Some Conservatives might be happy to challenge Labour cronyism when it involves white people but be nervous of the sensitivities when there is a racial element. Golds is to be congratulated for his colour blind approach.