Controversial politician Lutfur Rahman has been elected mayor of London’s Tower Hamlets seven years after he was removed from office.

       He beat his closest rival, the Labour party candidate, to top the vote and retake his former position. Mr Rahman, of Aspire, was elected on the second round, winning with 40,804 votes compared to 33,487 for Labour’s John Biggs. Mr Rahman was banned from politics for five years in 2015 after he was convicted of corrupt and illegal practices by an election court.

       Richard Mawrey, the election commissioner, said at the time that Rahman had "driven a coach and horses through election law" and had run a "ruthless and dishonest campaign".

       That campaign had been designed to “convince the electorate his rival John Biggs was a racist", Mr Mawrey said.

       Andrew Wood, an independent councillor for Canary Wharf, said Mr Rahman’s remarkable comeback had in part been caused by Mr Biggs, who he said had isolated white working class voters by introducing low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), which limit the movement of traffic in residential areas.

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       Rahman, 56, had also secured the support of former London mayor Ken Livingstone. Mr Livingstone said at the launch of the Aspire Party’s local elections campaign that he “would trust Lutfur with my life”.

       Mr Rahman, a former Labour councillor, became the first directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2010, standing as an independent. He was re-elected four years later.

       But in a high-profile case he became the first such mayor to be removed from office when the result was declared null and void.

       When it emerged that Mr Rahman could secure re-election, Lord Hayward, a Tory peer and elections expert, said the prospect was ‘depressing’.

       “He has been found guilty by the High Court of this land of a series of electoral offences. It concerns me and depresses me.

       “He was banned for five years which was the maximum penalty, but sadly I believe it is inadequate.”

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