I’m a Socialist, and I Just Beat the Labour Party in London’s Poorest Borough
In London’s poorest borough, I ran as an open socialist against the Labour Party to become mayor — and I won. Despite Labour’s conservative turn, the Left can win like I did: by going on the offensive.
Lutfur Rahman (second left) has been elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in London on the second round, defeating incumbent John Biggs (second right) of Labour. (Aaron Chown / PA Images via Getty Images)
Last week I was elected as mayor of Tower Hamlets, London’s poorest borough. Our victory was a grassroots-led upset of the big Westminster parties, including the Labour Party which has attempted for years to stop me from running under trumped up corruption allegations. After electing twenty-four councilors at the most recent election, Aspire, our left-wing independent party, is now the largest political force in Tower Hamlets. Labour, in contrast, gained only twenty-two councilors across the whole of England.
This is the first time that a council in London has been taken over by a party that isn’t named Labour, Conservative, or Liberal Democrat in nearly sixty years. In every conceivable sense, ours is a historic victory to which the whole world should pay attention.
Building on Radical Traditions
A short walk from where I live, the Commercial Road branches out of Aldgate and heads for the Docklands. It connects London’s two great financial districts, running through wards where half of children grow up in poverty. It was built as a private toll road, inaccessible to locals, to rush the ill-gotten gains of empire into wealthier districts.
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