I don't want power for the sake of
power. I want power for the sake of
changing
things. I think that you all know me. I
think you know that I have been faithful
to the cause, the causes you believe in.
Uh over all of my life, I I have been
involved with the Muslims for more than
40 years. I know I don't look old
enough. That's cuz my wife does my beard
in the morning before I come
out. For more than 40 years, I have been
standing with the Muslims here and
abroad in
Bangladesh, in Pakistan, in the uh Arab
world, from the Atlantic to the Gulf. I
have involved myself in the causes dear
to the people of this ummah and I will
do so as long as God gives me breath
whether I'm the mayor or whether I'm a
member of the assembly or a member of
parliament or just a member of the
public. So I'm not going to promise you
anything except that I will continue on
that path theat must and if you have a
mayor on that path well that'll be a
better mayor than any of the
alternatives. We do have uh opponents of
course, but if you look at my record and
you look at theirs, I'm confident that
you will see ours as
better. Not just historically, but here
and now. If I take an example from the
Maghreb, as we're in a Maghreb
restaurant, Sadi Khan voted for the
destruction of Libya and I led the
demonstrations against the destruction
of Libya. Sadi Khan supported the war on
the people of Iraq in the Gulf and I was
one of the leaders of the movement
against the war on Iraq. Sad Khan
supported
Muslims being interned for 90 days
without charge. Indeed, it was his own
ministry. He was the minister proposing
that Muslims could be locked up for 90
days without being
charged. Eventually forced down to 45
days when in Britain it used to be you
couldn't be held for 48 hours without
being charged or you had to be released.
And I oppose everything he stands for. I
oppose. Everything I support he opposes.
So that for example just in the last
three days and I've written about it you
can find it on
Twitter. We
proposed that the police and the
government should ask questions about
what's going on in the homes of women
wearing the hijab.
Well, as it happens, my wife doesn't
wear the hijab, but if she
did, no policeman or any government
would ever be allowed to come into our
house to ask questions about what my
wife was wearing on her head. This is
none of their business. Muslim women can
wear what they want as Jewish women can
wear what they want as Christian women
can wear what they want. and to have a
Muslim labor
candidate
propose that the state involve itself in
the private decisions, religious
decisions made by Muslim women in London
is an absolute scandal and disgrace.