For the first time the Tower Hamlets Cabinet meeting was filmed fro the public. It took Mayor Lutfur Rahman less than half an hour to make decisions that affected thousands of local residents. There is, of course, no discussion or debate as only his supportive "Cabinet" can contribute, and few of those ever do that.
However, one important feature was the backdrop. Just before the meeting started communications supremo, Takki Sulaiaman arrived with a wrapped up "pop up display" which was placed behind the seat to be used by the Mayor, then officers placed tasteful plant arrangements either side of the display. Then and only then, would Mayor Rahman (who was standing by the entrance to the committee room) enter and take his seat before the cameras.
Says Councillor Peter Golds who attended the meeting.
"On this occasion the comic element of the public money wasted by the Mayor on his personal vanity almost makes it worth while. Watching the Head of Communications who is paid over £100,000 a year fuss over his background and the placing of plants, whilst Lutfur Rahman stood outside the entrance door, would have been comic, were it not the prelude to yet another example of the Mayor deciding in isolation. There is something profoundly unfair about a process such as this, despite the comic opera pretensions"
Councillor Peter Golds, Leader, Conservative Group, London Borough of Tower Hamlets