I won't leave ground for the seeds of hate

Returning leader is determined to end division and give people TLC

- CHARLOTTE GREEN

BECOMING the leader of Oldham council is not a job for the faint hearted.

Previous incumbents have talked of death threats, campaigns of harassment and needing police protection amid a backdrop of conspiracy theories and misinformation.

And there’s the looming threat of being ousted, whether at the ballot box - which has claimed all three of the past leaders in as many years - or through a Labour party coup, which occurred five years ago.

Someone who knows exactly how much it takes to head up the borough is Arooj Shah. She took over from Sean Fielding following his election loss in 2021 to become the first female Muslim council leader in the north of England.

A little over two months after taking on the top role her car was firebombed outside her home in Oldham. She later told councillors she had been physically threatened, and faced ‘regular’ death threats.

At the next election she lost her seat in Chadderton South to the Conservatives, attributing her loss to an election campaign determined to ‘dehumanise’ her. “I can’t wait to go home this evening”, she said after the result was announced.

So it may well have raised eyebrows to see her name on the ballot paper for St Mary’s ward, the area of Oldham she grew up in, at this year’s all-out contest.

After coming first with a huge 2,743 votes she won a seat back in the town hall with a guaranteed term of four years. However Ms Shah didn’t stop at just a return to the benches of the council chamber.

With the leadership position now vacant - Amanda Chadderton having become the latest Labour councillor to pay the price for leading the borough at the polls - she put herself forward again and won in a twohorse internal race against Failsworth member Peter Davis.