Fitzpatrick: MP was silent on 'segregated Mayor' ceremony

Dear Ed, ARRANGEMENTS for a wedding which is a private affair should be left to the respective families.But civic events held on public premises are a different matter. The Poplar MP was silent over segregated men and women at the 2004 Tower Hamlets Mayor-making at the Town Hall

Dear Ed,

ARRANGEMENTS for a wedding which is a private affair should be left to the respective families.

But civic events held on public premises are a different matter.

The East London Advertiser covered the story of segregated men and women at the 2004 Tower Hamlets Mayor-making at the Town Hall in June that year.

There were complaints from three Labour women councillors, one of whom, the only serving Bangladeshi woman, said she understood why segregation might happen in a mosque, but was at a loss to see why it might be necessary at a civic event.

This is interesting now because all three Labour councillors who raised the matter represented wards in the Poplar & Canning Town Parliamentary constituency. There was not a peep from the local Labour MP on that occasion about the segregation.

However, this year we are close to a General Election and every indication is that Labour will be heavily defeated.

In these circumstances, our Poplar & Canning Town MP finds his voice to criticise a private event (at the London Muslim Centre) when he was silent over the same issue at the publicly-funded mayor-making at the Town Hall in 2004!

Cllr Peter Golds (Con)

Opposition Group Leader

Tower Hamlets Council

(Blackwall & Cubitt Town ward)

Town Hall, Blackwall