How an electoral fraudster became mayor of Tower Hamlets (again)

Roman Road Market in Bow used to be a bustling high street. Nowadays, it is a dilapidated market, sparsely populated with clothing stalls and a handful of food carts. A building which used to be a bank has its windows boarded up and plastered with graffiti. Here, locals can rattle off grocery lists of grievances across housing, sanitation, safety and support. Some point to an ever-worsening crisis beleaguering the East End: the state of Tower Hamlets council and, at its helm, the polarising figure of Mayor Lutfur Rahman.

The rise, fall and rise of Lutfur Rahman