Gilligan's delusions

I'll say at the outset I'm not a fan of Andrew Gilligan. The Evening Standard has improved noticeably since he left to join the Telegraph. It's the way he twists and distorts to fit his agenda, employing all the tabloid dark arts that give journalism a bad name. His writings during the London mayoral elections were a disgrace. He has moved on now, and in recent months a section of the local Muslim community has been in his sights.

My attention was caught the other day by his piece in Comment is free, boldly titled 'IFE loses its grip on Tower Hamlets'. I had to read this piece again and again, unable to believe the spin of his post-election analysis. There's so much I could say; I expect to return to this in future posts.

'A dramatic electoral defeat for the Islamic Forum Europe shows how moderate Muslims have rejected its divisive agenda'

 Leave aside for now who or what IFE is, their agenda, and so on. Recall that Gilligan started his 'campaign' with a Channel 4 Dispatches programme, with the claim that the IFE had 'inflitrated' the Labour Party in Tower Hamlets. He implied they were involved in electoral fraud, that they were turning Tower Hamlets into an 'Islamic Republic' through their control of the local Labour Party.

The elections have passed, and contrary to the national trend Labour gained an MP and several councillors in Tower Hamlets. Almost all the previous Labour councillors are still there - and instead of proclaiming this as proof of IFE entryism, he presents it as a massive defeat!

This just the tip of the iceberg of Gilligan's delusions.

He doesn't have any real understanding of the politics of Tower Hamlets, not if he really believes it's being directed from the East London Mosque.

But does he really believe that? Hard to say. I'm reading through his recent Telegraph articles and blog postings - there's plenty there for me to write about in future.