Aspire (political party)
Aspire is a minor political party in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets made up of councillors elected as members of Tower Hamlets First. After Tower Hamlets First was removed from the register following voting fraud and malpractice, its councillors formed the Tower Hamlets Independent Group. After some defections, the remaining Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors later registered formally as a political party in January 2018. Most of its elected members were former Labour Party members, but there are a few exceptions. It was the largest and the main political opposition with elected councillors at the Tower Hamlets Council prior to the 2018 May elections.
Background
was established by Lutfur Rahman on 18 September 2013. The party stood candidates in the 2014 Tower Hamlets Council election, where it won 18 out of 45 seats, becoming the second-largest party on Tower Hamlets Council and the fifth-largest political party out of all London borough councils. The party was suspended in 23 April 2015, after an election court report that found Rahman "personally guilty of 'corrupt or illegal practices' or both" with the party labelled as a "one-man band". The party was removed from the list of political parties maintained by the Electoral Commission on 29 April 2015.Following the dissolution of Tower Hamlets First, the majority of former party members established the Tower Hamlets Independent Group to co-ordinate activity on the council. Six members subsequently left the Tower Hamlets Independents to form the competing People's Alliance group.
Although barred from running for elected office himself, Rahman is behind the party; Aspire is his second attempt at a new party after an application under the name 'Tower Hamlets Together' was rejected.
Initial representation
Between its formation and the May 2018 elections, Aspire councillors occupied 10 of the 45 council seats on the Tower Hamlets Council.| Name | Ward |
| Ohid Ahmed | Lansbury |
| Suluk Ahmed | Spitalfields & Banglatown |
| Mahbub Alam | St Dunstan's |
| Gulam Kibria Choudhury | Poplar |
| Harun Miah | Shadwell |
| Md. Maium Miah | Canary Wharf |
| Mohammed Mufti Miah | Bromley North |
| Muhammad Ansar Mustaquim | St Peter's |
| Oliur Rahman | Stepney Green |
| Gulam Robbani | Spitalfields & Banglatown |
Ohid Ahmed was previously a Labour Party councillor and cabinet member between 2002 and 2010. He was also the Labour Party candidate in West Suffolk at the 2010 general election, and Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets between 2010 and 2014. Harun Miah was formerly a Respect Party Councillor. Maium Miah was formerly a Conservative Party councillor for Millwall before joining Tower Hamlets First, and stood in Canary Wharf ward in 2014.
The party's general secretary, Lillian Collins, was formerly Labour's party chair in Tower Hamlets.
2018 elections
Ohid Ahmed stood in the 2018 election for directly elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets, coming third behind Labour and the People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets, a group that had earlier split from the Tower Hamlets Independent Group. Ahmed had been endorsed by Rahman.On 4 April 2018, Aspire launched its campaign for the borough elections in Tower Hamlets, with a full slate of 45 council candidates. It won no seats.