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What’s Next?

12 Feb

Copwatcher 2018 Feb 12

On Twitter, Kevin Blowe asks the obvious question:

If Sir Robin Wales is ousted as Mayor of Newham, what happens next?

Ideas please for unraveling the legacy of hard-right Labour council. Some suggestions:

  1. No more ugly, expensive developers’ gold-rush skyscrapers in Stratford

  2. 100% social housing on the Carpenters Estate

  3. Ending the council / police / immigration enforcement operation to harasss and disperse homeless people in Stratford

Off the top of my head:

  • Abolish the directly-elected mayoralty and return to leader & cabinet
  • No more ‘jobs for the boys’
  • End the out-placement of council services into arms-length companies

And Newham Co-op Party secretary Gill Hay adds:

A re-commitment to use all possible empty housing in the borough for housing people in need.

Feel free to add your own suggestions on Twitter or in the comments.

UPDATE:

Some suggestions from Twitter:

  • No pensions for Mayor or council
  • End of Mayors special advisor payouts
  • A sponsor to cover costs of Under The Stars etc.
  • Sell Building 1000
  • No more photos of the clowns in the Newham Mag
  • Proper independent scrutiny
  • A realistic policy for Council tax to avoid more cuts
  • Instigate a thorough forensic examination of ALL the authorities finacial dealings over the past 16 years
  • No giving away council buildings to hipster developments from outside the borough that speed gentrification
  • No turning music venues into trampoline parks
  • No more donkey & sand posters for the mayor’s £4 million gigs
  • Limited terms for mayors/council leaders

Thanks to Sites of Newham, Mike Law, Damnably Records, Kevin Mansell, @iainaitch and @StopCityAirport

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You need wheels

4 Feb

Sir Robin's new wheels

When Lutfur Rahman was swanking around Tower Hamlets in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz, Sir Robin took great satisfaction in pointing out that he drove his own car – a used Toyota.

But judging by the car currently sat on the mayoral driveway, the Wales household has recently opted for a major upgrade.

A shiny new Range Rover may be a bit less ‘man of the people’ than his dusty old Toyota, but at least Sir Robin can arrive at the open selection meetings in comfort and style. I’m sure Labour members will be suitably impressed.

Hat-tip to the reader who spotted this and sent the photo

UPDATE 9/2/2018

A reader left a comment on Wednesday (see below) saying the car belongs to Sir Robin’s neighbour. Yesterday Alan Olive, a retired Labour Regional Director and Elections Officer living in Hemel Hempstead, reached out on Twitter to say the same thing. And the reader who sent the original tip-off confirms that, as of yesterday evening, the car is indeed parked next door.

Maybe these aren’t Sir Robin’s wheels. If anyone has anything more definitive, one way or the other, I’d be very grateful.

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Triggered

1 Feb

West Ham

Plaistow South

Plaistow North

Custom House

CT North

FG North

FG South

Stratford NE

GS West

CT South

West Ham Women

All ten West Ham wards and the Women’s Forum voted NO.

And on Saturday all ten East Ham wards voted NO as well.

That’s 21-0 with the affiliates still to declare. The formal result will be announced shortly.

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Trigger dates

28 Jan

Here are the dates for the Labour Party branch meetings to re-run the trigger ballot.

Branches in West Ham CLP are first between 29th January and 8th February

  • Mon 29th Jan – 7.30pm – WEST HAM – 306 High Street E15 1AJ
  • Tue 30th Jan – 7.30pm – CANNING TOWN NORTH – Neighbourhood Centre, 18 Rathbone Market E16 1EH
  • Tue 30th Jan – 7.30pm- CUSTOM HOUSE – Main Hall, Ascension Church, Baxter Road E16 3HJ
  • Wed 31st Jan – 7 pm – PLAISTOW SOUTH – Barking Road Centre 627 – 633 Barking Road E13 9EZ
  • Wed 31st Jan – 8 pm – PLAISTOW NORTH – Harold Road Community Centre, 170 Harold Rd, London E13 0SE
  • Thur 1st Feb – 7.30pm – FOREST GATE SOUTH – Durning Hall, Resident’s Lounge, Earlham Grove, London E7 9AB
  • Thur 1st Feb – 8 pm – FOREST GATE NORTH – Durning Hall, Earlham Grove, London E7 9AB
  • Thur 1st Feb – TBC – GREEN STREET WEST – venue TBC
  • Thur 1st Feb- 7.30pm – STRATFORD & NEW TOWN – 306 High Street E15 1AJ
  • Thur 8th Feb – 7 pm – CANNING TOWN SOUTH – Cafe Eat 16, 89 Tarling Road, E26 1HN (Old St Luke’s church)

All the East Ham CLP branches will all meet on Sat 10th February at East Ham Town Hall, 328 Barking Road E6 2RP at the following times:

  • 10.00am – BOLEYN
  • 10.30am – BECKTON
  • 11.30am – EAST HAM CENTRAL
  • 12.30pm – EAST HAM NORTH
  • 1.30pm – EAST HAM SOUTH
  • 2.30pm – LITLLE ILFORD
  • 3.00pm – ROYAL DOCKS
  • 3.30pm – GREEN STREET EAST
  • 4.00pm – MANOR PARK
  • 4.30pm – WALL END

West Ham Women’s Forum will meet on the deadline day of Sun 11th Feb at 18.30 at Vicarage Lane Community Centre, Govier Close E15 4HW

If you are a Labour member, please attend your branch meeting and vote NO, which is a vote for an open selection. You are advised to arrive in good time (half an hour early) as late-comers will be turned away. You need to take your Labour Party membership card or another form of ID.

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Downfall

28 Jan

Hat-tip to @newhamlabourwtf on Twitter for linking to this.

The uploader calls himself Ken Clark, though I suspect that may be a pseudonym!

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Re-triggered

25 Jan

Newham for an open seelction campaign leaflet

Branch meetings for the re-run trigger ballot start next week. To avoid the (ahem) ‘problems’ with the original process in 2016 this is being managed by the London Labour Party rather than the local campaign forum.

Wards in West Ham are organising their own meetings, while those in the other half of the borough are under the direct supervision of the regional party because East Ham CLP is in ‘special measures.’

I understand that the agreement between the Labour party and the members who took legal action over the 2016 process includes a full list of affiliated trade union branches and others able to vote. Newham Fabians, the Co-operative Party and Bectu won’t be taking part this time.

Sir Robin has been in power since 1995, as leader of the council and as mayor. It’s time the Labour party gave itself the chance to consider an alternative. If you have a vote, vote ‘No’ to automatic re-selection.

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Fabians a-go-go

25 Jan

Amna Abdul addresses the Newham Fabians AGM

The recently re-formed and reinvigorated local branch of the Fabian Society held its AGM last night at Durning Hall.

It was, by Newham standards, a warm and comradely affair. Perhaps that was due to the presence of national Fabian officers supervising proceedings. Or perhaps it was down to the absence of Team Robin. 

During discussion of the annual report it was disclosed that there had been a very large influx of new members just prior to the AGM – as many as 150 people had signed up in the past month or so – coincidentally around the same time as the Labour party announced the mayoral trigger ballot would be re-run. Those applications are being processed by the national Fabian Society and they decided to impose a freeze date to prevent these recent joiners from voting or standing for election. In any event, Newham Fabians won’t be participating in the re-run trigger.

The officers who have run the local society so successfully this year were all re-elected unopposed. They will be joined by new treasurer David Gilles. He replaces Lester Hudson, who declined to either re-stand or provide any report of his activities over the past year. Judging by the mood of the meeting, he won’t be missed.

The new executive in full: 

  • Chair: Anita Pollack 
  • Vice Chair: Rokhsana Fiaz 
  • Secretary: Rohit DasGupta 
  • Assistant Secretary: James Beckles 
  • Treasurer: David Gilles
  • Women’s Officer: Moniba Khan
  • Events & Fundraising Officer: Jeanette Dye

 

 

 

 

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Open it up

15 Jan

The chair of West Ham CLP, Cllr Charlene McLean, has written to Labour’s general secretary asking that they skip the re-run trigger ballot and move straight to an open selection:

As Chair of West Ham CLP and on behalf of its Officers, I am writing with regards to the statement issued by Sir Robin Wales on the 21st December 2017  accepting that the original trigger ballot process for the Newham Mayoral candidacy held between October and December 2016 should be re-run, following widespread criticism and continuing concern amongst Labour Party members in Newham members affiliates about the democratic and accountability issues arising from this process.

You will be aware that in January 2017 West Ham CLP passed a motion of no confidence in the trigger ballot process and this was re-affirmed at the General Committee meeting on the 23rd November 2017.

In addition to concerns raised by the CLP, a number of members and affiliates have lodged multiple complaints about the way the Newham Mayoral trigger ballot was run. Since the outcome of the trigger ballot in February 2017, there has been no constructive engagement with West Ham CLP on these issues raised. 

We are now less than four months from the date of the local elections and are concerned that there is no longer sufficient time in which to re-run the trigger ballot and then potentially hold an open selection process, if that is what the trigger ballot determines. We would note that it is the Labour Party’s delay in addressing our concerns which has created this urgency.

We therefore do not feel that a re-run of the trigger ballot is the practical response at this time and request that the Labour Party immediately hold an open selection for the mayoral candidate.

Furthermore, we have additional concerns about the continuing delay with Newham Local Government candidate selections and would like clarity around when the intended timetable for that will re-commence.

The call has been backed on social media by other councillors, including Julianne Marriott:

I’ve just emailed #Labour NEC asking that #Newham goes straight to an open selection. I don’t believe a re-run of a trigger ballot is in best interests of Newham residents.

Regardless of Labour’s internal politics there is a practical reason for going straight to open selection: with the election being held on 3rd May, the deadline for nominations is 4 pm on 6th April.

In 2016 the original trigger ballot process took about 6 weeks, from late October to the declaration of the result in early December. Even if Labour started the re-run by the end of January (and there’s no sign of that happening) it would be mid-March before the outcome was known. Getting an open selection done in three weeks would then be a challenge.

The answer is clear. Sir Robin has been mayor for 16 years. He has a record to run on. Neither he nor the Labour party should be afraid of an open selection.

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TSSA trailer

7 Nov

Salim Patel 121

Cllr Salim Patel, mayoral advisor and TSSA delegate

London blogger and ex-Guardian journalist Dave Hill has an intriguing account of how one union affiliate’s vote ended up in Sir Robin’s pile in the trigger ballot.

It’s well worth reading the whole piece, but the nut of it is here:

The TSSA [Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association] branch in question is its Euston one. That branch had had previous ties with the East Ham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in Newham, and in May 2015 became affiliated to it again. A letter from the branch, which I have a copy of, informed the CLP’s then treasurer of this, said that affiliation fees and a donation of £50 had been paid by credit transfer from TSSA head office, and stated: “Our delegate will be Councillor Salim Patel.”

Councillor Patel represents Manor Park ward in Newham. His Labour Party profile describes him as a train manager with Virgin Trains. He is also one of Sir Robin’s appointees as a “community lead councillor” with additional children and early years responsibilities. For these duties he received in 2016/17 a special responsibility allowance of £8,433.39 in addition to his standard councillor allowance of £10,842.

The person in charge of running the trigger ballot was Councillor Patrick Murphy, chosen by  Newham Labour’s Local Campaign Forum in conjunction with the party’s London region for the task of procedures secretary. His duties included distributing trigger ballot papers. Councillor Murphy too was a mayoral adviser at the time, receiving a special responsibility allowance of £7,871.50. He is still on Sir Robin’s team, currently as a “delivery lead” councillor, with responsibility for environment policy.

My information is that the TSSA Euston branch received no direct communication from Councillor Murphy, unlike other unions entitled to vote in the ballot. Rather, Councillor Patel in person brought the ballot paper to a Euston branch officer, who signed it off without really appreciating what it was or giving it more than a moment’s attention. A vote was eventually added to the pile favouring Sir Robin’s automatic re-selection. The final result was 20-17.

Hill says he has contacted Cllr Patel for his side of the story and promised to update his story if he’s got anything wrong. He has not yet had any response.

If Salim Patel won’t talk to Dave Hill he should at the very least explain himself to local Labour members.As with everything else connected to the affiliate votes in the trigger ballot, this absolutely stinks.

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Man overboard

11 Oct

Council CEO Kim Bromley-Derry has been re-arranging the executive deckchairs at Newham Dockside:

A few weeks back I announced my new executive leadership arrangements which took effect immediately. The executive team includes myself supported by Nick Bracken, Grainne Siggins and Deborah Hindson. 

The executive leadership is supported by a wider team of current and new Directors. This new Strategic Leadership Team provides us with the skills and experience necessary to drive through our transformation agenda, the principles of our new operating model and deliver the savings required of us this year and in the years ahead. Details of the full leadership arrangements are attached. I would like to offer my congratulations to Jane Sherwood in her new role as Interim Director of Regeneration and Planning to replace Deirdra Armsby who has joined Westminster City Council. 

I have every confidence in our Strategic Leadership Team to continue delivering the services that matter most to our residents and achieving the political outcomes and priorities of our Mayor Sir Robin Wales and Members. The strategic leadership team will meet on a regular basis.

One notable absentee from the ‘Executive Leadership Team’ is Douglas Trainer. Mr Trainer previously combined the role of Assistant Chief Executive (Strategic Services) with being the Labour group’s part-time PR flak.

Now he appears on the organisation chart with the reduced title of Director of Customer and Strategic Services, reporting to former plod Nick Bracken, the COO. How odd.

What has the poor fellow done to deserve demotion?

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