Oldham council leader remains in power as independents attempt takeover

THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE FAILED 16:49, 21 May 2025Updated 10:49, 22 May 2025 A leadership challenge mounted against the leader of Oldham Council has failed after an explosive council

meeting. The council boss Arooj Shah faced off an attempted take-over by independent councillor Kamran Ghafoor, who leads The Oldham Group. Coun Ghafoor, who represents Hollinwood, attempted

to unite opposition groups to boot out the current cabinet, which is led by a minority Labour administration. But his attempt failed when 31 out of 58 attending councillors voted against

his bid for leadership. Speaking at a full council meeting on Wednesday, May 21, coun Ghafoor said: “This Labour administration doesn’t listen. Not to this chamber. Not to the residents. Not

to the people they claim to serve. We are better suited to deal with the real issues facing Oldham than this tired, out-of-touch Labour administration.” But Labour councillors called the

challenge ‘a political stunt’ and accused Ghafoor of ‘unsavoury tactics’ to convince the independents supporting the administration to jump ship. Coun Ghafoor has denied these allegations.

Article continues below Deputy Elaine Taylor said: “In reality, you have no pathway to govern and no plan to lead. This is just a political stunt. We’ve already heard about some of the

unsavoury tactics. You have no policy suggestions, other than anti-Arooj. We have no idea what you stand for.” The challenge failed when the Shaw & Crompton and Failsworth Independents

voted with the 27-strong administration. Following the outcome, coun Ghafoor hurled accusations of ‘betrayal’ at Brian Hobin and the whole chamber descended into shouting, allegations of

dishonesty and insults. The entire Oldham Group and some members of the Conservative party then stormed out of the chamber in protest. Councillor Shah has been reinstated as council leader

for 2025/26. The leadership challenge echoed a similar bid made by a ‘rainbow alliance’ of independents, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats exactly a year ago. At the time boss coun Howard

Sykes was proposed as leader, as he is the boss of Oldham's Lib Dems, who were the biggest opposition group at the time. Yet the bid failed in a very similar vote, after the Shaw &

Crompton and Failsworth Independents and the Labour group came to a ‘mutually beneficial agreement’. Article continues below The independents agreed to back-up the administration during

votes of no confidence and budgets in exchange for greater support for local projects and the CSE inquiry, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands.