Mayor of Tower Hamlets
Incumbent Lutfur Rahman since 9 May 2022
Style	No courtesy title or style
Appointer	Electorate ofTower Hamlets
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	Lutfur Rahman
Formation	May 2010 referendum

Themayor of Tower Hamlets is thedirectly elected mayor ofTower Hamlets London Borough Council in eastLondon, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough council. The position is different from the previous largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors ofTower Hamlets, who became known as the 'Chair of Council' after the first election and are now known as the 'Speaker of Council'.^[1] The second election was held on 22 May 2014, the same day as theTower Hamlets Council election, otherUnited Kingdom local elections, andEuropean Parliament elections, but the election result was declared void by the election court. A by-election was held on 11 June 2015.

The proposal to change the status of the borough from one with a leader and cabinet to one with an executive mayor was initially opposed by all the main political parties and was an initiative only proposed and supported by theRespect Party.Islamic Forum Europe organised a petition to trigger areferendum for this change.^[2] Council officers stated that almost half the signatures were invalid, with entire pages bearing the same handwriting. Despite the flaws in the petition, there were sufficient valid signatures for the council to accept it, and a referendum was held on 6 May 2010 simultaneously with the voting in theUnited Kingdom general election. The referendum was passed after an intensive campaign.^[2]

Mayor of Tower Hamlets Referendum
6 May 2010

Choice	Votes	%
Elected Mayor	60,758	59.67
Cabinet System	39,857	39.15
Ballot paper(s) rejected	1,203	1.18
Total votes	100,615	100.00
Source:https://democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgElectionAreaResults.aspx?ID=147&RPID=0

Writing in theSunday Telegraph on 17 October,Andrew Gilligan represented the forthcoming election as the first big test for the recently elected Labour leaderEd Miliband, given the possibility of an independent candidate defeating the official Labour candidate in a strong Labour borough. Gilligan also said that it raised concerns over the political power of radical Islam in the UK, because of candidateLutfur Rahman's connections withIslamic Forum Europe. The latter, along with local business interests which had supported the petition and referendum to have a mayor, prominently backed Rahman's campaign.^[2] Labour's former London Mayor,Ken Livingstone, also campaigned in support of Rahman, in breach of Labour Party rules.^[3]

London Borough of Tower Hamlets Referendum on the Councils Governance Model.
6 May 2021

Choice	Votes	%
Keep, By a mayor who is elected by voters.	63,029	74.66
Change, By a leader who is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors.	17,951	21.26
Ballot paper(s) rejected	3,444	4.08
Total votes	80,980	100.00
Source:https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-council/referendum-result-to-keep-tower-hamlets-mayor-7958210

The first election took place on Thursday 21 October 2010, with a 25.6 per cent turn out.^[4] The new mayor officially took office on Monday 25 October 2010.^[5]

In April 2015, this election wasdeclared void by anelection court.^[6]

After the 2014 election was declared void, a new election was held on 11 June 2015.^{[6][7][9][10]}

Councillor Rabina Khan initially announced that she would stand as theTower Hamlets First candidate.^[15] However, as a result of findings in the election court case against Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets First was removed from the register of political parties by theElectoral Commission as the party was not operating a responsible financial scheme and the running of the party did not follow the documentation given in the party's registration.^[16][17] Khan subsequently stood as an independent candidate.

Andy Erlam is a writer and film-maker who led thelegal action against Rahman which resulted in the previous election being declared void. He had previously stood elsewhere as a Parliamentary candidate^[18]for Labour,^{[citation needed]} then as the first candidate fielded by "Red Flag Anti-Corruption" in theTower Hamlets Council elections on 22 May 2014.^[19]Red Flag Anti-Corruption had also fielded two parliamentary candidates in the2015 UK general election,^[20] Jason Pavlou forBethnal Green and Bow andRene Claudel Mugenzi forPoplar and Limehouse, both within Tower Hamlets.

Liberal Democrat Elaine Bagshaw and UKIP candidate Nicholas McQueen both stood for their respective parties inPoplar and Limehouse at the2015 general election.

John Biggs defended the seat for Labour. Following a split in the former Tower Hamlets First group, Cllr Rabina Khan stood again, as the candidate for her new party, thePeople's Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH) while Cllr Ohid Ahmed stood forAspire, which emerged from the post-Tower Hamlets First Tower Hamlets Independent Group.^[22] The Conservative Party selected Anwara Ali MBE, a local GP^[23] and, until 2010, local Labour councillor.^[24] The Liberal Democrats selected Elaine Bagshaw, their 2015 candidate.^[25] In August 2018, Khan wound up PATH and joined the Liberal Democrats.^[26]

Biggs sought to defend his seat for Labour. In January 2022, Liberal Democrat councillorRabina Khan was announced as the party's candidate for the mayoralty.^[27] Independent councillor Andrew Wood, who had resigned from the Conservative group in 2020, announced he would stand for election as both a councillor and mayor.^[28] Former mayor of the borough,Lutfur Rahman, announced his candidacy for the Aspire party in February 2022.^[29] Rahman's five-year ban from standing for election, having been found guilty by an election court of "corrupt and illegal practices", had elapsed.^[30][31] He was endorsed at his formal campaign launch in March by the former mayor of LondonKen Livingstone and the peerPola Uddin.^[32] Rahman won the election with a final vote share of 54.9%, unseating incumbentJohn Biggs and taking the mayoralty for the second time.

• Politics of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
• Mayors of places in Greater London
• Mayoralties covering a single local authority in England

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