It’s been a busy week for Lutfur Rahman. On Monday, the mayor of Tower Hamlets was the subject of a Panorama investigation, which alleged he had misdirected public funds. Yesterday, Eric Pickles announced he was sending in PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct a fraud investigation. Rahman has vehemently denied all of the claims, describing the BBC as ‘Islamophobic’. On Thursday, he announced a ‘community walkabout’ to counter #PanoramaLies, so I decided to go along and find out what Rahman had to say.
Arriving outside at the Sir John Cass School in Stepney this afternoon, I found a group of around 75 waiting for the mayor. There was a fraternal vibe (I did not spot a single woman during my time there) amongst the crowd, who hugged and greeted each other. Nor did they seem pleased to see outsiders, especially when Sunday Express journalist and local blogger Ted Jeory turned up. Rahman supporters flocked across the road to snap our photos, including this one from Councillor Gulam Robbani:
Lutfur’s Cllr Gulam Robbani most pleased to see me at mayor’s rally.
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