One of Greater Manchester’s most controversial politicians is in the headlines again – for all the wrong reasons.
Cllr Arooj Shah, whose disastrous second spell as Leader of crisis-torn Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council keeps journalists busy locally, regionally and nationally, was appointed by the Region’s Mayor, Andy Burnham, as his Equality Lead last year.
Following on from her ‘cancelling Christmas’ gaffe (read more here); allowing a Palestinian flag to be flown inside the civic chamber at the last Full Council meeting in December, 2023, and, worse still, claiming that the harassing of other members of the public in the gallery was not unlawful (read more here), another two more very recent incidents paint their own picture as to Cllr Shah’s unvarnished approach to diversity and inclusion.
Yesterday, she failed to show at an annual Holocaust Memorial event and, last week, she promoted the admittance to the Oldham Labour Group of a close friend and key political ally, Cllr Aftab Hussain, who has stood as an independent councillor since 2017 and publicly opposes LBGQT teaching in schools in his ward on religious grounds. A former Liberal Democrat activist, he represents St Mary’s, the very same ward as Cllr Shah.
One report on social media, from notorious Tameside-based conspiracy theorist, Raja Miah, appears, by way of a welcome change, to be well-sourced:
Cllr Hamblett also added ”This year’s Pride is being celebrated a stone’s throw from Cllr Hussain’s ward, so I hope his admittance to Labour means that he now totally rejects the leaflet delivered in his name and he will now join other Labour members in celebrating Oldham Pride this year”.
He concludes: “I worry that, without this clarification and promise from Cllr Hussain, Labour’s claim to want to make Oldham a diverse and welcoming place is just another empty promise.”
Asked to comment on Cllr Shah’s contortions as Equality Lead for Greater Manchester, Cllr Hamblett asks this question:
“I’d like to know if Andy Burnham’s pick to be Manchester’s diversity champion, Arooj Shah, leader of Oldham’s Labour Council, backed the admittance of Cllr Husain.”
The answer to that, Cllr Hamblett, is a resounding ‘yes’: Not only did she back it, she was the architect behind it, along with Deputy Leader, Cllr Shaid Mushtaq (pictured below in grey suit, standing). Make no mistake at all about that. One local source claiming that the quid pro quo being Cllr Hussain (pictured below in dark glasses next to Cllr Mushtaq) becoming Deputy Mayor in the near future, if the balance of power in the civic chamber remains the same after the next local elections in May, 2024. This is, allegedly, his reward for overtly supporting Cllr Shah (pictured alongside her chief political adviser, Imran Ali, in white polo shirt) during the 2023 local elections.
Added into the diversity matrix is the reporting of Cllr Hussain’s LBGQT leaflet to Greater Manchester Police as an alleged hate crime, in April, 2023, by then Leader of Oldham Council, the openly gay Amanda Chadderton (read more here).
UPDATES
A member of the public and respected social media commentator, Jean Friend, has come forward to say that Cllr Mushtaq arrived in the school car park at the same time as her – 15 minutes before the Holocaust Memorial was due to start.
Several Labour sources have said that the decision to sanction the admittance of Cllr Hussain was ratified by the Regional Executive. On which sits Ms Chadderton as Vice-Chair.
FURTHER UPDATE
Cllr Mushtaq has confirmed that he did arrive in plenty of time at the Holocaust event but that there were problems with the school’s registration system and that he, and a number of other visitors, were, as a consequence, late getting into the event.
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Page last updated: Thursday 1st February, 2024 at 0855 hours
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