:00:11. > :00:19.This is Britain's first directly-elected Asian mayor. Last
:00:20. > :00:26.year a Government minister accused him of divisive community politics.
:00:27. > :00:33.Lutfur Rahman claims he stands for what he calls, One Tower Hamlets. It
:00:34. > :00:36.is about giving a facility... Has the system given too much power to
:00:37. > :00:41.one politician? We have a lot to thank him for. If he cannot do it,
:00:42. > :00:47.he will tell you that. That is what you can ask of a politician. Tell me
:00:48. > :00:53.the truth. Opponents say he's handed out favours to help him win the
:00:54. > :00:58.upcoming mayoral election. It is untrue. It is untrue! Tonight,
:00:59. > :01:03.Panorama investigates the most serious questions raised so far
:01:04. > :01:07.about our system of directly-elected mayors.
:01:08. > :01:14.The allegation allegations that Panorama rise are of a completely
:01:15. > :01:17.different magnitude to worries and concerns that we have with other
:01:18. > :01:41.councils. This is Tower Hamlets, in East
:01:42. > :01:46.London. One of Britain's most ethnically-diverse boroughs. It has
:01:47. > :01:52.some of London's most iconic landmarks too. And it is also home
:01:53. > :01:56.to some of its poorest inhabitants. Tower Hamlets is perhaps the most
:01:57. > :02:03.political borough in Britain. It has a long history of
:02:04. > :02:08.bear-knuckle politics. -- bare-knuckle politics.
:02:09. > :02:13.Thank you very much! Those who have done 12 rounds here tell me it has
:02:14. > :02:18.rarely been more brutal than it is today.
:02:19. > :02:26.Three-and-a-half years ago, the residents of Tower Hamlets voted for
:02:27. > :02:31.their first directly-elected mayor. Lutfur Rahman, having polled 56% of
:02:32. > :02:37.the vote... APPLAUSE
:02:38. > :02:45.I will work for you - each and every member of Tower Hamlets.
:02:46. > :02:48.Lutfur Rahman won with a fraction of the electorate, just 13% of
:02:49. > :02:53.registered voters. Of the people that did turn out to
:02:54. > :02:58.vote that day, nearly two-thirds were from his own Bangladeshi
:02:59. > :03:04.community. Lutfur Rahman stood as an
:03:05. > :03:11.independent. Vilified by opponents, his supporters saw him as a David
:03:12. > :03:16.standing as against the goly yacht of his -- Goliath of his old party,
:03:17. > :03:23.Labour. Four years on, it has shifted. The mayoral system is we
:03:24. > :03:27.elect people who are accountable and visible to the community. This is
:03:28. > :03:33.moving to a more Presidential system rather than a parliamentary one.
:03:34. > :03:36.This is in order that we have strong visible leaders who can make
:03:37. > :03:38.decisions and the public know who they are because they have directly
:03:39. > :03:53.elected them. An early decision from Mayor Rahman
:03:54. > :04:02.was the creation of a new logo for the new Office of Mayor. Of mayor.
:04:03. > :04:06.He uses both his name and photo. He has even branded the council's bin
:04:07. > :04:12.men. The mayor has already created an
:04:13. > :04:17.image within the community that he's someone very powerful. He would like
:04:18. > :04:24.to give the message that he's the most powerful man around. That's the
:04:25. > :04:29.kind of image he wants, with his pictures around the borough. The
:04:30. > :04:34.other side... I have a lot of questions for the mayor. First, he
:04:35. > :04:39.insisted on shows me some of his achievements. He also lined up some
:04:40. > :04:44.supporters, like Lillian Collins, who lobbied the mayor to renovate
:04:45. > :04:49.these art deck co-swimming bars in Poplar. So, after eight years we got
:04:50. > :04:53.this wonderful man here as our leader.
:04:54. > :04:59.The mayor says he upholds the highest standards of problemty and
:05:00. > :05:01.transparency. Like not using public money to promote himself beyond, of
:05:02. > :05:14.course, explaining his policies. Like many mayors, Mayor Rahman funds
:05:15. > :05:19.a news sheet from the public purse. Unlike any other mayor, his is
:05:20. > :05:25.actually a weekly newspaper, as well as reporting the news, the mayor's
:05:26. > :05:30.newspaper has made the news. No power exists to tackle its
:05:31. > :05:34.political propaganda sheet. It is further evidence of a worrying
:05:35. > :05:38.pattern of divisive community politics and miss management of
:05:39. > :05:45.council staff and resources by the mayoral administration.
:05:46. > :05:50.A recent council survey of council Hamlets' residents say they don't
:05:51. > :05:52.think that East End Life is bias. Council newspapers are supposed to
:05:53. > :05:57.reflect the make-up of the council as a whole. So, I have been through
:05:58. > :06:01.every edition of East End Life over the past year. Even though
:06:02. > :06:07.opposition parties outnumber the mayor and his party by more than two
:06:08. > :06:16.to one, the mayor and his party still get 29 times more mentions.
:06:17. > :06:22.The council's own new publicity code requires coverage to be fair and
:06:23. > :06:27.balanced. I asked the mayor's former communications chief if he thought
:06:28. > :06:32.the mayor abided by the code. Do you think, having 97.3% of
:06:33. > :06:37.quotes, sharing them between him and his Cabinet, do you think that
:06:38. > :06:43.amounts to political advertising? It sounds like it to me, yes. Because
:06:44. > :06:49.if this newspaper is going through over 90,000 letter boxes every week,
:06:50. > :06:58.that's the level of exposure that the mayor is getting, to me it is a
:06:59. > :07:04.personality. Our Review Shows over that year, 97.3% of quotes were from
:07:05. > :07:08.you and your Cabinet, does that strike you as balanced? It is a fair
:07:09. > :07:13.and balanced paper. It has been around for the last 20 years. The
:07:14. > :07:18.style and format has been the same style and format since I have been a
:07:19. > :07:24.councillor, about 15 years ago. It is about to reporting on the
:07:25. > :07:28.services we deliver. Is 97.3% fair and balanced? It is a fair paper,
:07:29. > :07:33.reporting on the services of this council, what we deliver. Does it
:07:34. > :07:38.amount to political advertising? Absolutely not.
:07:39. > :07:42.From today, a new law on council publications will outlaw East End
:07:43. > :07:48.Life from publishing in its current form.
:07:49. > :07:53.It is partisan, it is there promoting not only the mayor but the
:07:54. > :07:56.mayor's party. The mayor would say, look directly elected mayors were
:07:57. > :08:01.elected to become the face of the council - the face of campaigns, so
:08:02. > :08:05.you would expect a higher concentration of coverage on one
:08:06. > :08:11.individual. And let him use his own money to do that. He shouldn't abuse
:08:12. > :08:18.his position and use taxpayers' money for that and, with due process
:08:19. > :08:26.and consideration, we may well be issuing instructions to the mayor to
:08:27. > :08:32.stop. Mayor Rahman has an unorthodox relationship with some local TV
:08:33. > :08:38.stations. One that is also unique among elected mayors. This is
:08:39. > :08:43.Channel S. Passionate about exceeding expectations. It
:08:44. > :08:48.broadcasts to the nearly 500,000 bang Bangladeshis who live in the
:08:49. > :08:55.UK. It is influential among the 80,000-odd who live in Tower
:08:56. > :09:02.Hamlets. Channel S is a powerful channel.
:09:03. > :09:10.A lot of people 's opinions is it is bay yased to us, the mayor's team.
:09:11. > :09:14.Under Mayor Rahman Tower Hamlets has given Channel S ?17,000 of public
:09:15. > :09:18.money to sponsor programmes and events.
:09:19. > :09:26.The mayor has also been made very welcome on Channel S. I am grateful.
:09:27. > :09:30.You want to me me accountable to the people of Tower Hamlets. The channel
:09:31. > :09:43.seems to have let the major promote himself.
:09:44. > :10:05.What do you think of the clip you have just seen? I have never seen
:10:06. > :10:10.anything like it before. It is just so partial, it is beyond belief. I
:10:11. > :10:15.am trying to think what the broadcast equivalent of Vanity
:10:16. > :10:20.publishing is. That is what we're talking about, isn't it? Let's go
:10:21. > :10:24.for a break then! Since 2008 Channel S, who declined
:10:25. > :10:31.to comment, has been found guilty of bias, in favour of Mayor Rahman by
:10:32. > :10:36.Ofcom three times, including once when he last stood for election.
:10:37. > :10:41.Mayor Rahman has paid the chief reporter of the channel which has
:10:42. > :10:46.promoted him ?50,000 a year to be his community media adviser.
:10:47. > :10:48.So, I asked the mayor, didn't that amount to a serious conflict of
:10:49. > :11:01.interest? Mr Jubair does not report on any
:11:02. > :11:09.issue of the mayoralty or any issue... That is not true. Ly, but I
:11:10. > :11:14.think -- I will double-check, but I think that is not correct.
:11:15. > :11:25.He denies reporting on the mayor. Yet here is the mayor's well-paid
:11:26. > :11:29.adviser, reporting on his boss. What's more, the mayor sponsored the
:11:30. > :11:33.event for ?5,000. And he also got a platform to
:11:34. > :11:38.promote his administration. The investment that we are making in
:11:39. > :11:44.Tower Hamlets clearly shows it has paid off. One of our young people, a
:11:45. > :11:48.young woman, has won your educational achievement award.
:11:49. > :11:56.Do you have any concept of how all of this close relationship with
:11:57. > :12:01.Channel S appears to be? Channel S is a small regional, digital TV
:12:02. > :12:11.station. We have a professional relationship... A cosy relationship.
:12:12. > :12:15.Cosy relationship. It is a professional relationship, all the
:12:16. > :12:19.local media. There is little scrutiny of the mayor in the
:12:20. > :12:23.Bangladeshi community generally and what scrutiny there is risks being
:12:24. > :12:29.treated with suspicion, as we discovered. In the course of making
:12:30. > :12:33.this programme, we hired a train trainee Bengali journalist. Within
:12:34. > :12:36.days she had copied some of our confidential material and handed it
:12:37. > :12:41.to the mayor's office, presenting herself as a whistle-blower.
:12:42. > :12:51.Apparently she felt our approach had been racist and by yasts. -- bay
:12:52. > :12:54.yast. -- biased.
:12:55. > :13:05.The mayor says his priority is to create harmony across tower Tower
:13:06. > :13:09.Hamlets' diverse faiths. He calls this One Tower Hamlets. He is
:13:10. > :13:16.especially proud of building new homes and improving etat estates
:13:17. > :13:21.like this one. There had not been work done before you became leader?
:13:22. > :13:24.Not at all. Even some critics agree with supporters like Brenda Daley
:13:25. > :13:28.that he has a good record on housing. Now you come in, it is
:13:29. > :13:32.open, it is green and it is lovely. And you know, I love living here,
:13:33. > :13:37.basically. We have a lot to thank him for. We really do. So he has
:13:38. > :13:40.your vote? Yes. He has my vote. If someone promises you something and
:13:41. > :13:45.they deliver, then you think, you know, if he cannot do it he would
:13:46. > :13:50.tell you that. That is all you can ask from a politician, don't tell me
:13:51. > :13:54.lies, tell me the truth. It may be One Tower Hamlets - however his
:13:55. > :13:58.Cabinet and advisers, none of whom were available for interview, are
:13:59. > :14:03.all Bangladeshi, as were nearly two-thirds of the voters on the day
:14:04. > :14:07.he was elected. Even though the borough is only one-third
:14:08. > :14:11.Bangladeshi. To win next May, the mayor is
:14:12. > :14:17.expected to need a high Bangladeshi turnout once again.
:14:18. > :14:22.This has led to accusations that for all his talk of one One Tower
:14:23. > :14:28.Hamlets, some of his policies are divisive.
:14:29. > :14:33.Mayor Rahman has become the first and only mayor to fund faith
:14:34. > :14:38.directly from local taxes. He's set up a ?3m fund to preserve what he
:14:39. > :14:43.calls faith heritage. He says he was inspired by a visit to this
:14:44. > :14:47.synagogue. It's a wonderful building, beautiful architecture.
:14:48. > :14:51.But see the way the rain is seeping in. The walls are cracking. I
:14:52. > :14:55.believe it needs us to protect it, and protect the heritage and history
:14:56. > :15:01.of a very important part of our borough.
:15:02. > :15:06.However, so far, most of the applicants for the mayor's faith
:15:07. > :15:10.fund have been mosques. When Labour ran Tower Hamlets, religious groups
:15:11. > :15:15.were given public funds to provide social services. But Mayor Rahman's
:15:16. > :15:24.faith grant scheme comes with no such strings attached.
:15:25. > :15:28.Although it's been popular with faith groups, a number of local
:15:29. > :15:37.Muslims told me it was potentially divisive. Only one was prepared to
:15:38. > :15:41.voice his opposition publicly. Faith divides people. I mean, we are
:15:42. > :15:45.living in a multiculture society. If I am a strong believer of a
:15:46. > :15:48.particular faith, I have to have a different opinion about a particular
:15:49. > :15:52.opinion about if you are belonging in a different faith. Faith should
:15:53. > :15:57.be kept within yourself, and I don't believe that it basically unites
:15:58. > :15:59.people, rather it divides people. The mayor says his faith grant helps
:16:00. > :16:07.build community cohesion. Does it? This is the Esha'atul Mosque. So far
:16:08. > :16:20.the mayor has given them ?25,000. Last December the mosque gave a
:16:21. > :16:23.platform to a senior Saudi imam, even though, when interviewed, he
:16:24. > :16:35.doesn't seem to have a clue about community cohesion.
:16:36. > :16:41.Sheikh Al-Kalbani has previously been a guest of the mayor. Amid
:16:42. > :16:47.press criticism of his return visit last December, the Home Secretary
:16:48. > :16:50.cancelled his visa. My question is, how does inviting a
:16:51. > :16:56.cleric with those views contribute to community cohesion? I condemn any
:16:57. > :17:01.discrimination based on race, religion, gender. I'm sure you do.
:17:02. > :17:06.So why give them any money? So why give them any money? If anyone
:17:07. > :17:09.breaks the law, I will condemn them, if you have any... It's not
:17:10. > :17:13.necessarily a breach of the law, it's a question of values. If you
:17:14. > :17:17.have any evidence that someone in my community have broken the law, Mr
:17:18. > :17:20.Ware, Mr Ware, forward it onto my monitoring officer. That's not my
:17:21. > :17:23.question, you know it's not my question.
:17:24. > :17:27.Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived boroughs in the country.
:17:28. > :17:34.Many residents depend on council funded charities.
:17:35. > :17:39.This community association, which is also a mosque, has been given nearly
:17:40. > :17:40.?100,000 by the mayor to run a lunch club, advice service and homework
:17:41. > :17:52.and sewing classes. In the run-up to the election, the
:17:53. > :17:56.mayor had good news for hundreds of charities in Tower Hamlets. He said
:17:57. > :17:59.he wanted to fund many more of them from the mayoral-grant pot. And by
:18:00. > :18:08.our calculation he increased that pot to a record ?14m. However, the
:18:09. > :18:11.opposition were sceptical. We now return to members' questions. Next
:18:12. > :18:16.question is from Councillor Rachael Saunders. Is there any link between
:18:17. > :18:25.mayor's funding to new organisations in the borough and the mayor's
:18:26. > :18:28.campaign? I have a very short and simple answer. There is nothing
:18:29. > :18:32.improper about what we do. That's the bottom line, there is nothing
:18:33. > :18:36.improper. Alibor Choudhury is one of 14 councillors in the mayor's new
:18:37. > :18:38.party, Tower Hamlets First. Despite emphatic denials, the opposition
:18:39. > :18:42.still believe there was something improper about the way the mayor
:18:43. > :18:47.exercised his personal power over grants.
:18:48. > :18:53.I am pretty sure there is some quid pro quo in some of those grants
:18:54. > :18:56.decisions being made. I am pretty sure that part of that quid pro quo
:18:57. > :19:00.is about supporting the mayor politically on the ground in the
:19:01. > :19:04.run-up to the election. Because he doesn't have a political machine and
:19:05. > :19:09.he needs organisations out there making sure the electorate turns out
:19:10. > :19:12.to vote for him. Suspicion that electoral advantage
:19:13. > :19:15.was the mayor's motive has been fanned by opposition claims about
:19:16. > :19:23.the process he used to award the grants. If the mayor's selection of
:19:24. > :19:27.which groups to fund was based on who he thought would get the vote
:19:28. > :19:31.out for him, well, that would be unlawful.
:19:32. > :19:35.Because the mayor insists he upholds the highest standards of probity and
:19:36. > :19:37.transparency, we approached the financial standard setters for local
:19:38. > :19:48.government. It's very important that the process
:19:49. > :19:51.isn't behind closed doors. When it's behind closed doors, it calls into
:19:52. > :19:54.question whether or not that process is being properly followed and
:19:55. > :20:00.whether or not the decisions are being soundly made. So up and down
:20:01. > :20:04.the land, you will see councils very keen to ensure that their decision
:20:05. > :20:09.making in this regard, in these areas, is very much in public.
:20:10. > :20:14.And that's the way it was until the mayor took his grants process mostly
:20:15. > :20:17.behind closed doors. We've had access to confidential council
:20:18. > :20:24.paperwork relating to nearly ?9m worth of grants he approved. What
:20:25. > :20:30.they show is how officers tried to do what the mayor wanted to help
:20:31. > :20:34.some of the neediest in the borough. What they also show is the sheer
:20:35. > :20:40.scale of how the mayor rejected this advice.
:20:41. > :20:45.You're determining who will execute your policies best and after a
:20:46. > :20:51.rigorous process you come to a set of recommendations. But the mayor
:20:52. > :20:54.didn't like most of his officers' recommendations, so he redistributed
:20:55. > :21:03.nearly ?6m between hundreds of his chosen projects. More than half
:21:04. > :21:06.these changes were because the mayor funded projects which officers
:21:07. > :21:14.hadn't recommended, or because he rejected projects which they had.
:21:15. > :21:18.I don't know the specifics of a case. Of course, it will change a
:21:19. > :21:21.bit, that's why we elect people, in order to make final decisions on
:21:22. > :21:26.behalf of the community, spending public money. But it's very unusual
:21:27. > :21:33.for that degree of material change to take place.
:21:34. > :21:40.Inside Tower Hamlets, a council lawyer warned that the authority was
:21:41. > :21:42.vulnerable to legal challenge. The man representing Tower Hamlets
:21:43. > :21:50.charities also complained there was no explanation for the scale of
:21:51. > :21:56.changes. Khadiru Mahdi is chief executive of Tower Hamlets Council
:21:57. > :22:00.for Voluntary Service. As the one outsider given access by the mayor
:22:01. > :22:05.to the otherwise secret process, he was intended to be the eyes and ears
:22:06. > :22:07.of the charity sector. Yet in this confidential memo, he said that he
:22:08. > :22:21.was being kept in the dark. The information fell short of what
:22:22. > :22:25.was required. I have not been privy to the detailed review. It's in the
:22:26. > :22:26.best interests of the council for the process to be fair and
:22:27. > :22:33.transparent. A fair and transparent process means
:22:34. > :22:39.providing detailed explanations when major funding changes are made. And
:22:40. > :22:43.yet the only explanation given for hundreds of changes amounting to ?6m
:22:44. > :22:46.is contained in just a few words - that local knowledge was applied and
:22:47. > :22:55.that it was known where money needed to be redistributed.
:22:56. > :23:03.Rebel I'd expect a detailed explanation in the audit trail of
:23:04. > :23:06.why decisions had been made. Not just the odd sentence? No, no, you
:23:07. > :23:13.expect detailed explanation of why decisions have been made. And if
:23:14. > :23:16.there isn't an explanation. Then the decisions are challengeable. You
:23:17. > :23:21.mean in the courts, judicially reviewable. Yes.
:23:22. > :23:29.Our analysis covers 362 grants worth nearly ?9m approved by the mayor.
:23:30. > :23:35.The biggest winners by far have been charities run by Bengali or Somali
:23:36. > :23:41.trustees. Officers had originally recommended that these groups should
:23:42. > :23:48.receive ?1.5 million. Mayor Rahman increased that by nearly two and a
:23:49. > :23:52.half times to ?3.6m. To pay for it, he dipped into the council's
:23:53. > :24:01.reserves, and he cut what was left for everyone else by 25% overall.
:24:02. > :24:08.The last mayoral election had a high Bengali turnout. So if the mayor was
:24:09. > :24:11.using grants to build up his voter base, it would make sense to push
:24:12. > :24:17.the money towards organisations who'd help him get elected.
:24:18. > :24:24.? You've more than doubled the grant
:24:25. > :24:27.officers recommended to Bangladeshi and Somali organisations. Right,
:24:28. > :24:30.right. And you've cut everyone else's or many others' to help pay
:24:31. > :24:34.for it. And that's why the opposition say that this is as much
:24:35. > :24:38.about electoral advantage as it may be about need. What do you say to
:24:39. > :24:41.that? OK. Listen, it went through a vigorous process, Mr Ware. So the
:24:42. > :24:46.allegation that's made by your... It's untrue, it's absolutely untrue.
:24:47. > :24:50.But can I just say, my principle has all along been that we will
:24:51. > :24:52.distribute the money to as many organisations as possible? Because
:24:53. > :24:55.they benefit the community of Tower Hamlets, Mr Ware. The maths show
:24:56. > :24:58.that you made very significant changes to officer recommendations.
:24:59. > :25:02.There isn't an adequate explanation for the changes that you made. In
:25:03. > :25:11.fact, the only reason given really is that local knowledge is applied.
:25:12. > :25:16.Sure. Why is there no adequate audit trail? Oh, there is adequate audit
:25:17. > :25:19.trail, Mr Ware, your informants, your researchers just give you
:25:20. > :25:23.selected information. No, I've read all the papers. Or you choose to,
:25:24. > :25:27.you choose... You choose to air selected information.
:25:28. > :25:31.Directly elected mayors have more personal power than ordinary council
:25:32. > :25:37.leaders. In return, they're expected to be personally accountable.
:25:38. > :25:43.The mayor is asked many questions at council and the response is always
:25:44. > :25:45.the same, total silence. We were frustrated to find that the mayor
:25:46. > :25:54.was we were told by the legal officer
:25:55. > :25:59.that not only was he not subject to the constitution but it would be
:26:00. > :26:02.against his human rights to answer. Against the human rights of an
:26:03. > :26:06.elected mayor? It would be against his human rights to force him to
:26:07. > :26:08.answer questions from members of the public and from elected
:26:09. > :26:10.representatives in a public council meeting.
:26:11. > :26:15.Trying to hold the mayor to account has become a familiar battle in full
:26:16. > :26:19.council meetings. Look, it is not about being a Bengali mayor or an
:26:20. > :26:23.Asian mayor or black mayor. It's nothing to do with that. It is about
:26:24. > :26:26.decisions you make on behalf of the residents. If you are divisive, if
:26:27. > :26:31.you make decisions on grants, I want to see much more accountability,
:26:32. > :26:35.transparency from the mayor. The one committee where all decision
:26:36. > :26:44.makers are expected to be held to account is called overview and
:26:45. > :26:48.scrutiny, or O And yet in the last year, Mayor Rahman is the only
:26:49. > :26:56.one out of all England's 15 directly elected mayors not to have answered
:26:57. > :26:59.questions at O or full council. Can I just say my disappointment
:27:00. > :27:02.again, Mayor Rahman, for your nonattendance and again on the
:27:03. > :27:08.eighth occasion that you have declined to attend the overview and
:27:09. > :27:17.scrutiny committee? Since then, it's gone up to ten. By our count, there
:27:18. > :27:24.have been of the order of ten requests to the mayor. He has not
:27:25. > :27:28.presented himself. Is that unusual in your view? That's virtually
:27:29. > :27:31.unprecedented. And I'd be very interested in understanding why an
:27:32. > :27:37.important part of the local government settlement having
:27:38. > :27:40.scrutiny is not happening. Why haven't you been prepared to
:27:41. > :27:44.turn up and answer questions about the grants? Mr Ware, let me answer,
:27:45. > :27:47.please, yeah? Three grants panel, four cabinet meetings, two O
:27:48. > :27:52.meetings about the grants, a vigorous process after which I made
:27:53. > :27:57.the final decision. But you didn't answer any questions. So what was
:27:58. > :27:59.two overview-and-scrutiny committees? My executive members
:28:00. > :28:04.attended answered each and every question and gave a proper answer.
:28:05. > :28:06.They didn't, actually. They did. No, they didn't. No, that is your
:28:07. > :28:10.interpretation. The 17th of December, no-one turned up, you said
:28:11. > :28:16.you had other business. Mr Ware, Mr Ware... That's a fact. It's in the
:28:17. > :28:20.record. We took a summary of our research to
:28:21. > :28:27.the man ultimately responsible for the ethical framework of local
:28:28. > :28:30.government. I will look at it very carefully, and if I feel the
:28:31. > :28:35.allegations that you made are substantial and serious, I will
:28:36. > :28:40.actively consider intervening. In what way? Well, I have powers to put
:28:41. > :28:47.in an inspector to look at the way that the council's been run.
:28:48. > :28:50.This is International Language Day, Tower Hamlets' annual celebration of
:28:51. > :29:01.diversity. This annual occasion gives us the
:29:02. > :29:07.opportunity to celebrate our cultural differences. We are a
:29:08. > :29:11.microcosm of what this country is today.
:29:12. > :29:18.In two months, the electorate will decide the difference between the
:29:19. > :29:21.mayor and his political opponents. He has accused Panorama of becoming
:29:22. > :29:23.their mouthpiece, a portent of just how visceral this contests is set to
:29:24. > :29:27.be.