A West London councillor who was found to have breached the council code of conduct will stand again for Labour at the local elections.
Labour had faced calls to deselect Cllr Farhaan Rehman, who represents Hounslow Heath on Hounslow Council, since the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed he had failed to declare interests and parked his Lamborghini in disabled parking bays without a Blue Badge.
Hounslow Council’s Monitoring Officer found Cllr Rehman had broken the code of conduct on three separate occasions.
The LDRS exclusively revealed the outcome of the council investigation on 1 April, after Cllr Rehman requested that publication was delayed. The LDRS understands that days after publication, Hounslow Labour held a crisis meeting to decide how to respond.
It has now been revealed that Labour has chosen to stick with Cllr Rehman. The LDRS asked Hounslow Labour about the reselection.
A spokesperson said: “There is very little to say that hasn’t already been said. Cllr Rehman apologised and resigned as Licensing Committee Chair. The continued rehashing of this issue by the Conservatives is an attempt to divert attention from the fact that they have nothing to offer residents at this election.”
Peter Thompson, Leader of the Conservative Group on Hounslow Council, said: “Rehman’s multiple breaches of the council code of conduct should at the very least disqualify him from being a candidate. The Hounslow Labour Party are taking residents in this borough for fools.
“It is clear that a vote for them on 7 May is a vote for more local sleaze and scandal, at the expense of our borough. The only way to fix Hounslow is to vote them out and replace them with hard working local Conservative councillors next month.”
On social media, Conservative Cllr Jack Emsley and Cllr Rehman got into a public spat in Facebook comments after Cllr Emsley posted: “Labour’s Lamborghini councillor is running scared in what used to be one of their safest wards – roll on 7 May!”
Cllr Rehman responded: “Running scared? Hardly – just running to knock on a few more doors. See you on the doorstep. At this point I’m starting to think I feature more in your campaign than your own policies. I appreciate the attention, but I’d gently suggest focusing on residents instead.”
Cllr Rehman was contacted for comment, but failed to respond at the time of publication.
