Why Is A Convicted Drug Dealer So Interested In Oldham Council?
His name is Mohammed Imran Ali. On the streets he goes by Irish Imy.
This is not a man who made mistakes in his youth and moved on. His past sits inside organised crime. Ali was convicted for heroin dealing and for acting as getaway driver for Dale Cregan. Cregan later murdered police officers Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone in 2012.
To this day, though convicted in the dock as part of Cregan’s gang, Ali has not accepted his role in the brutal assassinations. This man is now standing as a candidate in local elections.
Council politics is not about potholes. Local authorities control planning permissions, property development, licensing decisions, housing allocations and public contracts worth millions. That is what is on offer. That is what is at stake.
People tell themselves organised crime and politics occupy separate worlds. They do not. Criminals seek proximity to political power because it provides protection and opportunity. Cover, when they need it.
When a convicted heroin dealer and associate of one of Britain’s most notorious gangsters decides he wants a seat around the council chamber table, the public has every right to ask why.
There is more to this.
Ali did not arrive in Oldham politics from nowhere. For years he operated inside the campaign machinery surrounding Oldham Labour. He was part of the operation, standing alongside Labour politicians whilst the postal votes were counted.
When I began exposing the grooming gangs cover-up in Oldham, Ali did not emerge as a neutral observer. He was sent to silence me. He has been convicted twice for offences committed against me.
Twice.
So why is a man with this record attempting to enter local government. Convicted drug dealer. Associate of a murderer. Twice convicted for crimes against a whistleblower.
Why is the Labour Party so quiet about it?
Why will Andy Burnham not condemn it?
Why will Jim McMahaon, Debbie Abrahams or Lucy Powell, all Oldham MPs, not distance their party from a violent gangster?
In any functioning political contest a party challenges a candidate with that background. The silence here is not an oversight.
Voters in Oldham deserve to know what is actually happening. When people with serious roots in organised crime develop a sudden interest in municipal power, it is not about public service.
It never is.
I’m Raja Miah MBE. For seven years, I led a campaign that exposed how senior Labour politicians helped protect Pakistani rape gangs. The people of my town helped force the national inquiry.
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