Respect Party councillor resigns

[faceless]

Councillor quits with savage attack on former party
04 July 2007
By Ted Jeory
www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk

A MEMBER of MP George Galloway's Respect party has quit his seat on Tower Hamlets council... with a savage attack on his "bickering, immature and self-serving" former colleagues. Disenchanted Shamim Chowdhury resigned as a councillor in the Shadwell ward on Friday (June 29). His decision stunned party colleagues who only learned of the move when contacted by the East London Advertiser. Opposition Tories on the council were quick to pounce and called for a by-election at Shadwell, which is likely to be August 9 or 16. Shamim, elected just 14 months ago, cited 'personal reasons' in his resignation letter to the Town Hall. But he later contacted the Advertiser to fire a scathing broadside on his ex-comrades.

"The Respect leadership has failed to capitalise on Labour's failure and are busy serving themselves," he said. "It was formed mostly by militants kicked out of the Labour party in the various phases of its reform agenda. It is those militant extreme Left groups now controlling the Respect coalition." The party had no vision to improve the lives of East End families, he insists, no ability to solve the housing crisis and no policy for youth. "The leadership has taken a course to oppose all that is proposed by others without giving a thought to the merits," he added.

"This mindless opposition is damaging to the prosperity of our community. The leadership is immature, inexperienced and has a militant tendency in its attitude. Internal bickering is ongoing, displaying little respect to party colleagues. A party that cannot unite in policy and struggles to keep its house in order has little prospect of leading the council at any time."

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This newspaper seems quite determined to attack anything and everything that Galloway and Respect do, so it will be interesting to see how the by-election goes...

[Mandy]

Thanks faceless.

This newspaper seems quite determined to attack anything and everything that Galloway and Respect do, so it will be interesting to see how the by-election goes...

I am not familiar with the editorial slant of the ELA, but above report seems especially one-sided (nothing reported from Respect's side). Though in the report on the money transfer firm collapse, they did mention GG's role in pushing for an investigation when the BBC didn't.

[faceless]

There have been quite a few stories from that paper which seem fairly biased against Respect and Galloway - so much so that I've not even posted them.

[faceless]

Respect hits back at councillor's 'immature & self-serving' jibe

13 July 2007
By Ted Jeory

MP George Galloway's Respect party has hit back at one of their former Tower Hamlets councillors who quit last week. Party leaders said Shamim Chowdhury's attack on them as "immature and self-serving" came as an unpleasant surprise. He wrote to Respect bosses after his attack in last week's East London Advertiser saying he felt forced to resign as a councillor in Shadwell ward because of 'despicable' rumours allegedly spread about him by his former colleagues.

But Respect's Tower Hamlets chairman Glyn Robbins said Shamim's logic was so 'flimsy' he found it difficult to take him seriously. "If people involved in serious politics reacted to every rumour and piece of gossip about us, we would never get anything done," he wrote back. "The things you are now saying about 'the leadership' (and I note you don't mention any names, but I can only assume you include me) are completely without foundation. If you are a man of honour, you should withdraw them immediately."

In a separate statement, Respect leaders revealed that Shamim had never even attended any branch meetings to set out his 'vision'... as to how we could 'improve the lives of the residents of Tower Hamlets'." The statement listed a catalogue of topics on which they claim to be leading the way, such as English language classes for foreigners, civil liberties, the NHS, workers' rights and council housing. It added: "If Shamim Choudhury can think of a more pressing agenda than that, or a better way to fight for the rights of ordinary people, we challenge him to share it."

Meanwhile, Labour's former council leader Michael Keith has been picked to try and reclaim the Shadwell seat he lost to Respect at the local Tower Hamlets elections last year. The by-election set for August 9 promises to be a classic that could even herald the end of Respect's influence in the East End if their new candidate Harun Miah fails to keep Labour out.

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