Tory candidate for Harrow East Bob Blackman is number 510 on the People-Power Index, a measure to see how hard MPs work.
The assessment criteria include MP’s availability to their constituents, participation in parliament and how an MP listens to the public, representing all constituents.
So what Mr Blackman does to remain in Harrow East marginal seat – the following references to him indicate how:
“The Tory candidate in my late parents’ constituency of Harrow East seems to be up to his neck in this cynical attempt at divide and rule by faith (Labour is accused of being pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu
“People in Harrow have already spoken out. Bob Blackman is neither Hindu nor Muslim but employs this far-right playbook at the expense of others so as to weigh their votes without counting the long-term cost of fanning the flames of racial tension” said Shami Chakrabarti, shadow attorney general for England and Wales.
“The approach of Bob Blackman during his nine years as Harrow East’s MP has been widely criticised for dividing communities. Wrapping himself in Hindu and Jewish causes, he has drawn fury by hosting events in parliament attended by extreme Hindu nationalist Tapan Ghosh – Blackman demurs that he didn’t invite him – sharing and then retracting Islamophobic articles by the likes of Tommy Robinson, and speaking proudly of his opposition to equal marriage” as Joshua Neicho pointed out.
Mr Blackman’s divisiveness has been compounded by others, for example, a letter  apparently from Lord Popat (Con) sent to the Harrow East Gujarati households, supporting Mr Blackman, said:

(The protest march was redirected away from the Indian High Commission building on the request of the Indian High Commission and not because of what Mr Blackman said at the Commons!!)

In an interview with the Muslim News the then Labour/Co-operative MP for Harrow West Mr Thomas (Coop chair 2001-2019) felt that “Muslim should vote Coop” and  said that Muslim and Coop values “lean the same way” and thought that there’s significant overlap between the Coop and Muslims.
“I would support a Muslim credit union that borrows money interest-free,” Mr Thomas added.
What was true some years back, is most likely true now!
The Co-operative Party and Labour Party have had an electoral alliance known as the ‘National Agreement’ since 1927, meaning they don’t stand against each other in elections.  Instead both parties agree joint candidates to stand as Labour and Co-operative Party.
Mr Thomas now Labour/Co-operative candidate for Harrow West considers himself far more suitable but somewhat insecure than the Tory candidate Anwara Ali who he said has been “parachuted into Harrow West from the other side of London”.
Anwara Ali might not win but her name seems to have caused significant political ripples.
Having heard concerns that Mr Thomas appears to be following the tactics of divisive Tory candidate for Harrow East to capture Indian background votes, wider views gleaned indicate that this was not generally the case.
Although Mr Thomas is only in the mid range (number 312) on People-Power Index list which is a measure to see how hard MPs work, he seems to be catering for wider community interests.
For example, his historic interaction with the Pakistani community is well appreciated, like when shadow foreign secretary in 2014, he was chief guest at the conference about Kashmir where he thanked the organisers: “I am thankful to SDM (Jammu Kashmir Right of Self-Determination Movement) leadership and Julie Hilling (Lab MP) as they provided me chance to come in this conference”, he said.
He is seen at various mosques and is an active supporter of the under construction Salaam Centre, a project to build a truly unique space for the Muslim and the wider community in North Harrow.
Votes of ethnic minority groups are obviously vital to the outcome on 13 December whose support can be expected to break in different ways, some more predictable than others.

Snapshot survey indicates that with the exception of some mischievously poisoned against Labour, most consider Pamela Fitzpatrick (Lab) a suitable MP candidate for Harrow East.
In contrast, Bob Blackman, Tory candidate for Harrow East, suitability rating is much down, for example, he is number 510 (almost bottom) on the People-Power Index, a health check of how Parliament is working and how MPs are listening to, and engaging with, their constituents.
Ms Fitzpatrick is well trusted to address the dire NHS situations where ‘under Tories, NHS is being critically underfunded and is at risk of being sold off to Donald Trump’.
Much appreciation for Ms Fitzpatrick leading the ‘Save our walk-in clinic’ campaign to avoid the closure of Belmont Walk in Centre which she said could not come at a worse time. The winter is here, Northwick Park is already overstretched and local people are often having to wait weeks for a GP appointment.
Mental health is another major concern: “We have a mental health crisis with our young people – here in Harrow and around the country” said Pamela Fitzpatrick in welcoming Labour plans for a counsellor in every secondary school, including in Harrow.
As a voluntary legal advisor, Ms Fitzpatrick has been dealing with many ill effects of austerity in Harrow.
Over 30% of children in Harrow live in poverty where child poverty is rising to 40% in some wards. Last year, the Harrow food bank fed over 2617 people, including over 1041 children.
The government has cut the budget of the Metropolitan police drastically, forcing a reduction in officer – Harrow has seen an increase in violent crime with knife crime becoming a more frequent occurrence.
In Harrow, in the 12 months to Sept 2019 there were 648 racist and religious hate crimes reported, up from 288 the previous year.
Pamela Fitzpatrick said “It saddens to me to speak to local people in the area and hear them worried about the safety of them and their family. The people of Wealdstone should feel as safe as people in Windsor”.
Ms Fitzpatrick in committed to see more police on the streets and funding youth services to stop crime at its root causes.
On the homelessness in Harrow, Ms Fitzpatrick is touched by people who sleep out in the cold in Central Harrow and Wealdstone and another, unseen, side where children and families sleeping on someone’s sofa, or in temporary accommodation.
“The way to solve this is building more council housing, strong protections for renters’ rights, and proper funding for homelessness services. That’s how we’ll solve our broken housing market” said Ms Fitzpatrick.
In responding to the news that there will be 1,532 homeless children in Harrow this Christmas, Ms Fitzpatrick said “It’s appalling at any time of the year, but it’s especially shocking at Christmas”.
Ms Fitzpatrick who believes in putting power in the hands of tenants welcomes a new Labour ‘charter of renters’ rights which will protect private renters from bad landlords.
There are 27,723 households in Harrow – 31% – that will benefit from the plans.
Odd that there are no louder echoes of this injustice and inequality issues from Harrow West, perhaps because it is seemingly locked in Tony Blair era (many believe Blair should be tried as a war criminal over the Iraq War that resulted in half a million people dead)!

When at the Brent council, Bob Blackman, now Tory candidate for Harrow East, blocked honour for Mandela. He took Brent councillors to the High Court to stop them awarding Nelson Mandela the ‘freedom of the borough’ when he visited the area’s Wembley Stadium for a marquee concert broadcast in 60 countries.
Mr Blackman won the comments like “It’s a shame that even after Apartheid South Africa had forgiven Nelson Mandela, one British political wingnut couldn’t”.
Mr Blackman still seems to be proud of what he did.
He supported Zac Goldsmith campaign soaked in racism at the last London mayor election in one of the most ethnically diverse cities on earth. He has not distanced himself from that campaign.
Mr Blackman voted to prevent the release of secret documents about the Windrush scandal.
The political scandal last year was about black people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and, in at least 83 cases, wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries as members of the “Windrush generation” (so named after the Empire Windrush, the ship that brought one of the first groups of West Indian migrants to the UK in 1948).
“Bob Blackman, the MP for Harrow East, shared a story which had the headline: “Muslim Somali sex gang say raping white British children ‘part of their culture’.” reported the Independent newspaper.
Mr Blackman supports the Boris Johnson who has been called “a racist PM and a racist candidate” by the Momentum founder Jon Lansman, brought up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Southgate.
Mr Blackman has not condemned the hateful ‘vote against Labour’ campaign, seemingly engineered by despicable elements outside the UK.
He works closely with his temple visits facilitator the Harrow councillor Anjana Patel who has been included in an Islamophobia dossier.
Mr Blackman has been described as a right-wing extremist. He has opposed equal marriage, called for the reintroduction of the anti-gay Section 28, as well as backing the bedroom tax, austerity, cuts to taxes on the rich, trebling tuition fees, privatisation and other unjust Tory policies, including removing hot meals for children from low income families.
In the last election, Labour slashed his majority from 4,757 to just 1,757 despite he has calculated his votes and stirs up emotions in the Indian and Jewish background voters for political gains all the time.

Mr Thomas, a member of Labour Friends of Israel, first supported Liz Kendall  and then Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.  After Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the leadership election (Corbyn remains under attack since), he was one of the first Labour MPs to go for the frontbench.
It is very concerning that this general election seems to be full of divisive, untrue and hateful smear campaigns against the opposition, particularly Labour leadership, seemingly engineered by despicable elements outside the UK.
What also seems to be worrying Mr Thomas is the fact that unlike Harrow East, Harrow West had always been won by the Tory party until Labour’s landslide in 1997 when a swing of 17.5% was the eighth-highest swing in that election, and it was the safest Conservative seat to be lost to Labour.
Added to this tension is that Tory candidate Anwara Ali could snatch considerable number of votes that Mr Thomas has taken for granted for long.
In view of all above, it is understandable that unlike Harrow East Labour graceful campaign based on Labour policies, Mr Thomas is keen to retain his seat, perhaps with reduced majority, and has developed his own tactics, deploying most local Labour resources. Therefore, some panicky and patronising political gestures on social media to survive from the widely condemned ‘vote against Labour’ campaign and to access the ‘Gujarati community’!!

Harrow councillor Anjana Patel (Con) has been widely reported for her ‘anti-Muslim tweet’ but she and Harrow Conservatives have failed to apologise for her unprompted tweet to the Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, demanding to know “how are you going to help?” after two Hindu girls were allegedly kidnapped, “molested and forcibly converted” to “your religion, Islam”.
This suggests that Yousafzai is responsible for the actions of other Muslims, which comes under the all-party parliamentary group’s definition of Islamophobia (Harrow council has adopted the definition).
Despite all this Brent North Tories selected her for the parliamentary seat.
The Harrow Times who has covered the story locally reports that ‘Harrow Conservatives have been contacted for comment’ (but obviously they have not responded).
Not only this but she is sharing photo evidence of her  close association with Harrow East Tory candidate Bob Blackman, home secretary Priti Patel and PM Boris Johnson.
In the same Harrow, Harrow councillor Peymana Assad (Lab), candidate for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, has apologised for 2012 Twitter post referring to Israel which used the word “gassed”.
She said “Some man I just met thought I was Israeli so I cracked the 10 lost tribes of Israel joke to him and he got gassed (slag for when one is overwhelmed or cannot hold your excitement any longer)”.
Similarly Harrow West Tory candidate Anwara Ali distanced herself from Kate Hopkins, a commentator well known for her habit of demonising Muslims, when her attention was drawn to a widely circulating twitter reply to Hopkins, seemingly by her.
Hopkins was included in the reply that described “women power – the lovely¸ witty, intelligent”.
“I do not share KH abhorrent & racist views, Judge me by the work I have done” said Dr Ali.

Labour has set out plans to put power in the hands of tenants with a new ‘charter of renters’ rights which will protect private renters from bad landlords.
The charter will enable new open-ended tenancies, protecting tenants from unfair eviction; new minimum standards, backed by a new annual property MOT as well as fresh local enforcement powers, and local housing allowance increased to cover the cost of renting.
The national ‘property MOT’ would introduce a legal requirement for landlords to complete an independent annual inspection to ensure homes are up to scratch, with tough fines and forced repayment of rent to tenants if landlords let out sub-standard properties or flout the rules.
Nationally, one in four private rented homes are classed as ‘non-decent’, meaning they are damp, cold, in disrepair or unsafe to live in.
There are 27,723 households in Harrow – 31% – that will benefit from the Labour’s plans.
Labour’s candidate in Harrow East, Pamela Fitzpatrick, said “As the number of council homes has been cut by the Tories, there have been more and more private renters, with fewer and fewer choices.
“Now one in three families are renting privately here, and none of them are protected by the government if their landlord tries to get one over on them.
“It doesn’t have to be this way: what we need are rent controls and strong rights to help renters against dodgy landlords. That’s real change for renters.
“Everyone deserves high quality housing – and this is how we’ll make sure we get it. Labour’s got your back.”

Snapshot survey by the Harrow Monitoring Group indicates that Tory candidate Bob Blackman has disappointed many voters who feel that he is more interested in retaining his seat than resolving the overriding Harrow issues.
In the 2017 general election, Labour achieved +5.3 swing, slashing Mr Blackman’s (Con) majority from 4,757 in 2015 to 1,757, despite his divisive politics, like using places of worship and exploiting sectarian and international issues, to attract the Indian or Jewish background voters.
Many others did, but did Mr Blackman distance himself from the toxic messages (‘vote against Labour’) circulating within a certain community which he extensively works on?
After rubbishing Jeremy Corby in his recent letter to the residents, Mr Blackman poses a question: would they vote for him who has “actively represented” them or “Jeremy Corbyn representative in Harrow”?
Far from representing the interests of majority constituents, he is supporting Brexit even when reminded that majority in Harrow East voted for Remain!!
He remains unconcerned about the brutal force of Tory enforced austerity that has harshly cut down the expenditure of local government which has serious implications for the council services – Harrow council has lost £50m.
The austerity and the resulting socio-economic deprivation might not be significant issues in the four Tory dominated wards, these are very real matters in the other wards in Harrow East.
Harrow CCG is almost £40 million in the red and its financial position worsening, resulting in three walk-in centres have closed or are closing. Mr Blackman has not supported residents concerns regarding the closure but is rather pleased that the clinics are now appointment only GP services.

Entry of the Brexit party candidate Richard Jones, who believes that “trust in our democracy is under threat” and who is ready to “reform” the political system, could have the same beneficial effect for Tory candidate Dr Anwara Ali as did the *Referendum party in 1997 when Gareth Thomas unexpectedly won since there are many Labour Leavers in Harrow West – (*Referendum party gained 1997 votes and Gareth Thomas won by 1200 votes).
Though Harrow has a possibility to have its first Muslim MP, perhaps her party is not enthusiastic about it.
Dr Anwara Ali and few of her fellow Bangladeshi friends from her town Tower Hamlets were seen distributing her introduction leaflet outside the Harrow mosque this Friday. They were pleading for a vote for her just because who she is – no professional canvassing!
Not only that she seems to have no local prominent Tories around (like the leader and deputy leader of the Tory group) but she seems to be missing political direction for a meaningful campaign.
Politically rather immature leaflet, printed in East End and probably from her money, says “I understand the issues and concerns faced by many of you, rising gang crime, fly-tipping, high rise developments with loss of historic skyline, stretched NHS services and loss of green space”.
Is there ‘gang crime’ in Harrow? Usually these are the councillors and not an MP who try to resolve ‘fli-tipping’ issues. Most of the ‘high rise developments’ in Harrow have already taken place and the use of green spaces is according to the local, regionally and national planning policies and guidelines.
While Dr Ali has been left to swim or sink, her background is well used by local and national Tory party to veil Islamophobia in the party.
For example, nationally, to shield Boris Johnson who is a “racist PM and a racist candidate”, according to the founder of Momentum Jon Lansman  who was recently speaking in Harrow.
Locally, to defend the well exposed Harrow East candidate Bob Blackman for his endorsement of anti-Muslim elements, and the Belmont councillor and Brent North Tory candidate Anjana Patel for her anti-Muslim comments.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott slams cuts to police and youth services on visit to Wealdstone in Harrow East constituency.
“Listening to local business owners and the people of Wealdstone, it’s clear that people are aware to the systemic problems that have proliferated under the Tories when it comes to keeping communities safe” she said.
Since the Tories came to power, a massive 21,000 police have been taken off the streets leading to massive rises in crime and councils have been starved of funding that supports local community centres and other forms of preventative measures.
There has been a worrying increase in hate crime since the referendum. In Harrow in the 12 months to Sept 2019 there were 648 racist and religious hate crimes reported up from 288 the previous year. Many people do not report incidents so the actual figure is likely to be higher.
“We will put thousands of more police on our streets to make the people of Harrow East feel safer today but we won’t stop there. A Labour government will take action to address the causes of crime and end the epidemic and tackle at its root causes” said Ms Abbott.
Pamela Fitzpatrick, Labour candidate for Harrow East who was with Ms Abbott (R), added:  “It saddens to me to speak to local people in the area and hear them worried about the safety of them and their family. The people of Wealdstone should feel as safe as people in Windsor.  Harrow East will be safer under a Labour government, putting more police on the streets and funding youth services to stop crime at its root causes”.
Regarding the housing crisis, another associated concern, Ms Fitzpatrick said that whilst Boris Johnson is refusing to fund the council and social homes our people desperately need, “a Labour Government will give the go ahead to over a million low-cost homes over the next 10 years.”
There are more than 1,883 people waiting for a council home in Harrow – but not a single home was built for them last year, Ms Fitzpatrick informed.
The number of socially rented homes being built in Harrow has fallen from 237 in 2010/11, when the last Labour government’s funding for councils was still being delivered, to zero in 2017/18 – the last financial year for which there are figures.