The school playground that is Twitter just got serious again. After someone tweeted a suggestion that Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets’ independent mayor, could be a potential candidate in the 2016 mayoral elections, former Labour apparatchiks piled in with their opinions.
Rob Marchant, a former party manager, on being assured the suggestion was not geniune, tweeted: “Phew. If not I will load the revolver and we can all take turns.” He added: “Ah. [makes mental note to keep revolver well cleaned and oiled].”
Rahman is not an uncontroversial figure in local politics, having been expelled by Labour for alleged links to Islamic extremists, spending £115,000 on his office and claiming £71 for a 400-metre cab journey. Marchant seems to never have been a fan, having referred to Rahman in a 2012 article as “a monster we created”. However, these comments may have gone too far.
When contacted by the Londoner, Rahman said: “This is now a police matter, and it would not be appropriate for me to comment any further while their investigation is ongoing.”
Marchant’s tweets remain on the social media site.
Mr Marchant’s position that the tweets were joking about self-harm – and were not hostile – was set out in a further item published on 12 April.
