Forhad Hussain selected as Labour’s 2026 mayoral candidate – The Fiaz era ends
Labours Candidate for the Mayoral Election in May 2026
The news Newham has been waiting for is finally here: Forhad Hussain has been chosen as Labour’s candidate for the 2026 mayoral election.
We wish him luck. He’ll need it. There is a mountain to climb.
And so, it seems, the Age of Fiaz is at an end. Or is it? A few questions hang in the air.
Will she slip quietly into political retirement?
Will there be a legal challenge?
A surprise move to the Greens?
Or perhaps a long spell on “sick leave”?
Only time will tell.
What we do know is that the spin machine has already been switched on. Letters and emails are flying out of the mayor’s office with the same well-worn line: “I have decided to stand down.”
It does sound a little more dignified than, “I didn’t make the cut.”
In her message to Labour members, Rokhsana Fiaz said she had sought “to serve with integrity and honour; courageously striving to always do my best in the interests of Newham and its people.”
We’ll leave you, the residents of this borough, to judge how well that mission was accomplished.
The statement then veered into familiar territory – a list of supposed achievements:
“To make our borough fairer, more tolerant, more green and healthier; more democratic and more prosperous for all. I have always done so with passion and an unshakeable spirit of progress…”
Unfortunately, for most of the people who actually live here, none of this was particularly visible.
Ousted Mayor of Newham - Rokhsana Fiaz
And let’s not pretend she “chose” not to run.
We know she applied. We know she was interviewed.
So quite how she has “decided” to stand aside is, to put it kindly, a bit of a mystery. Right to the end, the spin and obfuscation continue.
Judging by the reaction to the announcement of Forhad’s candidacy, this day could not have come soon enough for many in Newham.
One final note: in her farewell, Fiaz sought to rewrite history, blaming the government’s Best Value notice on “14 years of Tory incompetence” rather than any failings of her own administration.