Rokhsana Fiaz defeats Sir Robin Wales to become Labour candidate for Newham Mayor

Long-serving Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales has been defeated in a Labour Party selection contest that will almost certainly see him succeeded by London’s first female directly elected mayor in May. Sir Robin, 63, lost a one-member, one-vote contest against his challenger Rokhsana Fiaz, 47, by 861 votes to 503, which means that in seven […]

Labour’s Newham mayor contest too close to call, both sides say

The outcome of the contest between Sir Robin Wales and Councillor Rokhsana Fiaz to become Labour’s mayoral candidate in Newham will end on Friday lunchtime and effectively decide who bosses the borough for the next four years, such is Labour’s dominance there. Sources in both camps tell me the outcome is too close to call. They […]

Q&A: Newham Labour mayoral hopeful Rokhsana Fiaz on gentrification, community involvement and Sir Robin Wales

Rokhsana Fiaz has been a Labour councillor for Custom House ward in the south of Newham since 2014. Aged 47, she was shortlisted yesterday for her party’s mayoral candidate selection contest and is the sole challenger to incumbent mayor Sir Robin Wales. We met at her family home in Forest Gate last Friday. Question: I don’t […]

Labour Newham mayor hopeful Rokhsana Fiaz pledges referendum on mayoral system

The mayoral system in Newham could be brought to an end under proposals to be announced by local councillor Rohksana Fiaz as she launches her campaign to replace long-serving incumbent Sir Robin Wales as Labour’s candidate for May’s mayoral election. Fiaz, who was shortlisted yesterday as the sole challenger to Sir Robin in a forthcoming candidate selection contest, […]

Q&A: Sir Robin Wales on his record, the ‘trigger ballot’ saga and why he deserves a fifth term as Newham Mayor

Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales is long serving local authority leader in a part of East London undergoing massive change. He now faces a re-selection contest after a controversial “trigger ballot” outcome was nullified. Such is Labour’s dominance across Newham that whoever wins the selection vote will almost certainly be elected Mayor in May. I […]

Labour Newham re-run mayoral trigger ballot result: entrails and implications

Labour’s London region has announced that an open selection contest will be held between 1-16 March for party members in Newham to choose their candidate for borough mayor on 3 May. This follows a re-run of the affirmative nomination process or “trigger ballot” originally held in autumn 2016. The re-run generated a resounding “no” to […]

Newham Labour mayor ‘trigger ballot’ – ten branches back open selection contest

Labour Party members in one of Newham’s two parliamentary constituencies have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a members-only open selection ballot to choose their candidate for May’s mayoral election in the borough. On London understands that individual votes taken in all ten ward branches of the West Ham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) resulted in a clean […]

Drama in Labour Newham mayoral candidate selection as Robin Wales urges ‘open selection’

The controversial contest to select Labour’s mayoral candidate for Newham has been throw wide open with a backbench councillor declaring her readiness to run and long-term incumbent Sir Robin Wales, in a surprise move, declaring his support for an open selection process to settle the issue. With some Labour members gathering in ward meetings to decide whether to back […]