Tower Hamlets coalition MP candidate launch meeting descends into chaos

With Rishi Sunak’s recent announcement for a snap election, slated for July 4, campaigning is underway amongst prospective parliamentary candidates across the UK, including in British Bangladeshi-dominated Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency, where Labour’s British-Bangladeshi Rushanara Ali is the sitting MP.

Ali caused anger and controversy amongst her constituents by abstaining in a UK parliament vote in November, which demanded a ceasefire by Israel in its assault on Gaza, which has since been classified as a plausible genocide by the ICJ, and many speculate that she will lose her seat--to an independent candidate.

Mohammed Akunjee announced his intention to stand in January and has been running a highly visible campaign since. He is tipped to be Ali’s most serious competition.

Last week, a new organization named Tower Hamlets Community Coalition (THCC) announced it was intending to field its own candidate, local Muslim preacher Ajmal Masroor, a polarizing figure in Bethnal Green and Stepney and across British politics. Masroor stood against Rushanara Ali in 2017 for the Liberal Democrats, only to be defeated heavily on the ballot with 3,888 votes vs Ali’s 42,969.  He also stood three other times for a variety of public-facing roles, only to be heavily defeated each time.  

Ajmal Masroor

In its campaign leaflet, THCC claims to represent “nearly 30 local organizations” who represent 29,000 voters. And yet at their launch event on Sunday—which started 90 minutes late because of a lack of attendees--barely 30 people were in attendance. There was no evidence of the “nearly 30 organizations” in attendance either.

The meeting was toxic, with much anger and many arguments. Many attendees questioned THCC about its validity and motivations. Masroor was accused several times of “deliberately sabotaging” other candidates’ campaigns with his “extremely late announcement,” which attendees feared would “split the vote” for independent candidates, which would allow Rushanara Ali to win.

THCC was co-founded by local businessman Abdul Shukur Khalisadar, who was constantly heckled by the few people in attendance. George Galloway’s new Workers Party was represented by Mr Jamil, who said the party had extensive discussions with the community to identify an appropriate single candidate, whom he could support.

Abdul Shukur Khalisadar

Jamil added that the candidate was Mohammed Akunjee, saying he did not think Ajmal Masroor could make an impact in six weeks and that Galloway’s Workers Party was strongly against THCC. 

THCC’s launch meeting was also marred by several unsavoury and aggressive incidents involving co-founder Abdul Shukur Khalisadar. The first involved Halima Khan, who is standing as a Workers Party candidate in neighbouring Stratford and Bow. While trying to enter the venue, Khan was aggressively confronted by Khalisadar, who demanded to know why she was attending.

One witness statement shared in popular Tower Hamlets groups stated that: “I am at the Ajmal Masroor/THCC event and have just seen one of his cronies Shakur intimidate and try remove Halima Khan, Worker Party candidate for Stratford and Bow, who is a Labour whistleblower and Palestinian activist, before the event has even started.” The statement said Khan “was stopped from entering, talked down to, and interrupted. She said she was actually invited by one of their candidates, Omar, and was repeatedly telling Shakur he was being misogynistic and intimidating. He would not leave her alone until brothers got involved, who could tell it was going too far. This event is a shambles they should be glad as she is 1 of about 15 people here an hour after the event was supposed to start. What a disgrace.” 

Halima Khan later issued an open letter addressing the event incident: “I became aware that there was disharmony in THCC group chat surrounding the interaction I had with Abdul Shukur bhai, and the messages I sent.  This disunity saddens me more than anything, we need to unite and work together. We are all together in the same cause against Labour.”

Khan, an ex-Labour party employee, went on to mention her courageous role as a whistleblower when she was involved in the making of Al-Jazeera’s “The Labour Files – The Hierarchy,” which made many allegations against Keir Starmer and the way he seized control of the Labour Party after ousting ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn. 

She said: “Lyn Brown is MP for Stratford and Bow. Rushanara Ali is bad, and Lyn Brown is even worse, has many skeletons in her closet, and wants the worst for us and for Palestine.” 

“I am not against my brothers.  I am not against Abdul Shukur, Omar Faruk, Tasnime Akunjee or Ajmal Masroor.”

In a later incident, Khalisadar attempted to physically assault a guest because he did not like his questions and had to be stopped by others from direct confrontation.

According to one witness statement on WhatsApp: “One brother got up and said the empty room says it all about the coalition and Shukur lost his cool then started badmouthing Akunjee. The brother in crowd said why badmouth someone if he isn't here to defend himself just goes to show what sort of individuals you are”. 

This description is corroborated by several different witness videos of the incident also circulated widely across social media. 

Previous controversy

Abdul Shukur has courted controversy and allegations before. This newspaper reported in 2017 that:

“The Times reports that a Bangladesh-origin businessman and a former deputy mayor of Tower Hamlets have been linked to a £2 million bribery scandal involving one of the largest skyscraper construction projects in London.

Businessman Abdul Shukur Khalisadar, 38, who allegedly has close ties to the Labour Party, asked the developer for the money to guarantee planning permission for the £500 million project.

In a secretly recorded conversation, Shukur described how he had sought the bribe from John Connolly, UK head of development for Hong Kong-based property group Far East Consortium. He is also heard saying that the money would be split among four politicians – half a million each. A consultant, acting on FEC’s instructions, recorded the conversation.  Shukur, who also allegedly sought a £15,000 monthly consultancy fee, claimed Shiria Khatun, the former deputy mayor of Tower Hamlets, had introduced him to Connolly in October 2015.

In a leaked internal memo, Connolly had said that Shiria told him Shukur ‘can help get planning consent’ for the proposed £500 million development in the Isle of Dogs, east London, according to the Daily Mail. Shiria, who resigned earlier this year, has denied any wrongdoing. Both Shukur and Shiria are of Bangladeshi origin.

Tower Hamlets Council has referred the case to the National Crime Agency, saying it was "committed to fighting corruption." Shukur told The Sunday Times that he had asked for £2 million but denied this was a corrupt offer, according to the Daily Mail. He claimed he was not involved in any wrongdoing when speaking to the Mail and dubbed the recording ‘partial and misleading’. He said he did not bribe anyone and that no contract of any type was signed with FEC, adding that neither the police nor the council had been in touch with him since the incident two years ago.”

Source: AFP