After the four ward meetings last night – all of which voted No – I tweeted that the trigger ballot score stood at 9 in favour of automatically reselecting Sir Robin and 11 for an open selection.
I was then told by a couple of people that a mysterious and unnamed affiliate organisation had also cast its vote in favour of the mayor, so it was actually 10 to 11.
It turns out that the mystery affiliate was Christians on the Left – an organisation previously known as the Christian Socialist Movement.
The Newham chapter met on Sunday 20 November at the Cornerstone Café. You might think Sunday was an odd day to choose, given that Christians have other commitments that day but, as we know, there’s no rule against it!
There were 14 people at the meeting, most of them councillors and many from the mayor’s payroll vote. Cllr Clive Furness, mayoral advisor on Adults and Health, chaired the meeting.
Among those who spoke in favour of Sir Robin were Terry Paul (mayoral advisor – Skills and Adult Learning), Joy Laguda (chair of council and ‘associate cabinet member’) and Aleen Alarice (not yet a paid advisor, but ever-hopeful). Cllr Furness also spoke for the mayor, despite being in the chair.
The agenda for the meeting said it had been called simply to canvas opinions on the affirmative nomination. No ballot papers were distributed and no vote was taken, but Cllr Furness announced that as the majority were in favour he would write to the local campaign forum to tell them.
The lord moves in mysterious ways.
Despite frequent requests, the ‘procedures secretary’ running the trigger ballot process, Cllr Pat Murphy (mayoral advisor – lead councillor for Royal Docks), has refused to disclose the full list of affiliate organisations entitled to take part. I doubt the Christians will be the last surprise vote in Sir Robin’s favour.
forestgatedotnet 
Why are these people even bring considered are eligible it is out of order .what do they have in common apart from attending the evangelical church across the road.They do not pay subs to the Labour Party.I hope the lord Jesus won’t forget this when he judges them.
That must have been after he dropped 4/5 yes voters at the Hub for the Canning Town North Trigger ballot vote
All l can say on the matter is that Cllr Clive Furness must really have a sore arse from all the beating dished out by this holyness Robin Wales. This is not the first time this runt sorry Furness has caused controversy if l rightly recall at the last trigger ballot meeing in 2010 he and Cllr Terry Paul were the only members from CTS Ward, a ward that had 100 members at the time, who turned up and voted yes. THIS IS NOT ABOUT KEEPING WALES IN POWER ITS ABOUT THERE WAGE PACKETS THE THOUSANDS THEY EARN FOR SCRATCHING THERE BUMS Low life scumbags. Even recently at the CTS trigger he changed the date fixed the ballot, the thing was that he realise that six members turned up out of the blue and voted no. Even at the COOP he forgot to check if aunite Joy was a member she turned up with discount card thinking a vote would give her extra points at the tills (l don’t think she eats her five a day) what it did give was Cllr a back hand from Wales. All l can say is this the LAST SUPPER for FURNESS and this disciples.
the newham budgie smugglers club and the custom house pigeon fanciers association must be up next .i know the east ham royal ancient order of the grouse shooters are behind with their subs .i told you its panto season and all the jokers are out and about trying to garner favours in exchange for promises in the next election ,probably 400 candidates for 50 seats not including their seats of course .look sir robin wales they are still making a mockery of you .
I suspect something similar will be sprung on the Fabians meeting the Mayor is addressing on Tuesday 6th!
It has been cancelled