A police investigation into the conduct of the General Election in the east London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow has found no evidence to support allegations from MP George Galloway of widespread fraud, it has been revealed.
Specialists from the Metropolitan Police Special Branch found that, although electoral records held by Tower Hamlets Borough Council were "not reliable", there had been "remarkably little" polling fraud in the borough.
Respect MP Mr Galloway claimed in his acceptance speech after winning the seat in May that the election in Bethnal Green and Bow had been "a shambles" run in a way which would "disgrace a banana republic".
He later told the London Assembly that police had been provided with details of addresses where he feared "very significant prima facie electoral fraud" had taken place.
He said the addresses represented only "the tip of the iceberg" and claimed that Labour had been involved in a campaign to pad the electoral register with non-existent voters.
But an Assembly report into the election revealed that police had no record of any complaints at all from the MP.
In a letter published as an annex to the report, Inspector Graham Brown, of the Met's Government Affairs Unit, wrote: "At no stage has Mr Galloway ever reported any suspicions direct to police or produced any relevant evidence."
Instead, the report found, Mr Galloway contacted the Tower Hamlets returning officer with his concerns, and she in turn spoke to police.
Mr Brown said the campaign in Bethnal Green and Bow, which saw Mr Galloway - previously expelled by Labour - unseat the party's sitting MP Oona King, was "characterised by emotion and malice and a significant disregard for truth and fact".
Concern over the impact the allegations could have on public confidence in the election prompted a summit between police, prosecutors and council officials to establish the true level of fraud.
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