Ministers to oversee Tower Hamlets council amid concerns over leadership

Exclusive: inspectors raise alarm about mayor Lutfur Rahman, who previously served a five-year ban from office

Ministers are to intervene in the management of Tower Hamlets after inspectors raised the alarm about the leadership of the east London authority's controversial mayor, Lutfur Rahman.

Sources have told the Guardian the government has decided to appoint an envoy to monitor management decisions at the council, which has been dogged by a series of controversies about public spending and senior-level appointments.