A councillor whose Ferrari was vandalised while he attended an election count has described the incident as a 'targeted attack' and a 'political vendetta', leaving him with at least £10,000 in debt.
Kamran Ghafoor, leader of the Oldham Group and independent councillor for Hollinwood ward, discovered his black sports car had been damaged at around 2am on May 8 while parked on Union Street, a short walk from the count.
'I thought some idiots had just smashed up my vehicle because we gave them opposition. I automatically assumed it was a political vendetta,' the 49-year-old told the Daily Mail.
'I do believe I am a target. There are a lot of nutters out there, and because I am quite vocal in what I believe, and how I think Oldham should be run, I have become a target over the past two years.'
The incident in The Loom area occurs against a backdrop of racial tension in the town, alleged intimidatory threats, links to grooming gangs, and social media disinformation campaigns. Oldham's white population has decreased from 91 per cent to 68 per cent since 1991.
This demographic shift was reflected in last week's local elections, where despite a clean sweep by Nigel Farage's Reform Party, Mr Ghafoor's breakaway Oldham Group—which campaigns for a Muslim cemetery—garnered significant support.
Harnessing backing from former loyal Labour Muslim voters, the party gained two councillors while Labour lost nine, prompting Oldham Council's Labour leader Arooj Shah to step down.
The local authority, once a Labour stronghold since 2011, is now more fractured than ever. Out of 60 seats, 31 are needed for decisive control. Labour holds 18 (down from 26), Reform has 16 (up from three), the Oldham Group has 10, the Liberal Democrats six, and the Conservatives four.
Reform claimed seats in many of Oldham's white working-class areas, including Failsworth East, previously held by Brian Hobin's Failsworth Independent Party, which campaigned heavily on grooming gangs.
Oldham has been at the centre of multiple investigations into child sexual exploitation and rape by gangs of men, a disproportionate number of whom were of Asian heritage. Numerous reports suggest the scandal was not fully explored for fear of stoking racial tensions after the 2001 race riots.
In 2024, when rape victims and councillors called for a statutory inquiry, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said the Government would not intervene, prompting Elon Musk to call for her imprisonment.
The Oldham Group has three main pledges: increasing council bulk waste removals, stopping Labour from introducing fines for parked cars on pavements, and building a Muslim cemetery.
Mr Ghafoor, who previously stated he is 'a Muslim first', believes tensions from the electoral campaigns—though he refuses to believe they are racially motivated—have made him a target.
He added: 'I felt threatened in TikTok videos by people who wanted to stand, quite a few from the Labour Party and from Reform.' The councillor felt his character was attacked with claims he was trying to make money from being a councillor. He said: 'People attack me personally not my politics.'
The father-of-four strongly denies gaining financially from his position, saying he donates his £12,000 councillor allowance to charities.
While not naming potential perpetrators, Mr Ghafoor acknowledges he is the only person in Oldham who drives a black Ferrari with a private registration plate he has had since the age of 18.
The councillor, who 'enjoys' his cars, bought the vehicle in August last year using personal wealth from his property business, which owns around 100 properties. He now awaits repairs, including a smashed windscreen and dented bonnet, estimated at £10,000.
The incident follows previous car targetings in Oldham, including those of Oldham Group candidate Shah Bahram and Labour councillor Jeremy Charters. In 2021, then-council leader Arooj Shah's car was set alight.
The vandalism has raised fears for his family's safety. Mr Ghafoor said: 'I don't believe people understand how far this goes and the toll this has on my children. Other children in their school see these videos and they try to bully my children. Thankfully they are stronger than most, but obviously it probably does affect them.'
This comes months after a building on King Street in Oldham, owned by KKS Investors, run by Ghafoor and colleague Sameer Zulqurnain, collapsed, injuring five people.
The 'Oldhamer born and bred' councillor, whose father came from Kashmir to work in a local mill, became a student activist at college. He later became one of Manchester's youngest councillors on a Labour ticket, stepped away from politics to build a property business, and returned as a Conservative councillor.
He was a keen fan of the Cameron coalition but fell out with the Conservatives when they required him to attend 'diversity training' after attending a pro-Palestinian march in London in 2023.
Now aligned with far-left firebrand George Galloway, he describes himself as 'a Muslim, a family man and a conservative in mindset—a capitalist but with a social conscience'.
