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
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.
Fabians a-go-go
25 Jan
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
Open it up
15 JanThe 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.
TSSA trailer
7 Nov
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.
Time after time
15 AugBy the time next year’s election rolls around 15 current members of the council will have held their seats continuously for 20 years or more.
The table below shows exactly how long they’ve been around
| Name | Date elected | Years to date |
|---|---|---|
| A SINGH | 04/05/1978 | 39.31 |
| C McAULEY | 06/05/1982 | 35.30 |
| R WALES* | 09/07/1992 | 25.12 |
| I CORBETT | 09/07/1992 | 25.12 |
| L HUDSON | 05/05/1994 | 23.30 |
| E SPARROWHAWK | 05/05/1994 | 23.30 |
| N WILSON | 05/05/1994 | 23.30 |
| C FURNESS | 01/05/1997 | 20.30 |
| Q PEPPIATT | 01/05/1997 | 20.30 |
| U DESAI | 07/05/1998 | 19.30 |
| R CRAWFORD | 07/05/1998 | 19.29 |
| J LAGUDA | 07/05/1998 | 19.29 |
| W VAUGHAN | 07/05/1998 | 19.29 |
| P SATHIANESAN | 07/05/1998 | 19.29 |
| P HOLLAND | 07/05/1998 | 19.29 |
*Robin Wales was also previously on the council from 1982 to 1986.
When local branches meet this autumn to select their candidates, one thing they should consider is the urgent need to freshen up the Labour group.
NOTE: The original version of this post stated that 16 members will have held their seats for 20 years or more and the table included Cllr Bryan Collier. It has been pointed out that Cllr Collier was defeated at the 2006 election and returned to the council in 2010, so his current continuous service is just over seven years; first elected in 1994, his total period as councillor is more than 19 years. The same is true for Cllr Alan Griffiths.
Letter to the Editor
8 AugA reader writes
Dear Sir,
What on earth is going on at the Newham Mag? I had always thought it was the Mayor’s personal publicity freebie, distributed fortnightly to the adoring masses, and a snip at just £20,000 per issue.
But in the current edition there are only seven (7!) photos of our Mayor (compared to 20 in the previous edition) and of those, in only 4 is he wearing the Mayor’s ceremonial chain of office. In one photo, he is not even wearing a tie and looking very much the worse for wear, but possibly this photo shoot was carefully crafted to blend in with a very messy dwelling whose landlord the Council is aiming to prosecute.
And what’s worse there are more photos of the Deputy Mayor (Statutory) and Cabinet Member for Community Neighbourhoods, Ken Clark – he has eight.
Has there been a midnight coup?Has Clark seized the Mag as part of his own ruthless drive to succeed the man who has created his Deputy (Statutory)’s political career out of nothing? I think the people deserve an explanation before disllusion and consternation start to take a grip as election year approaches.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Mansell
All excellent questions.
To which can be added, when will the council comply with the direction issued by the secretary of state for Communities and Local Government last December and reduce publication of the Newham Mag to just four times a year?
Come dine with me
26 Jul
Last night the Meydan Sofrasi restaurant on Barking Road excitedly tweeted that
THE MAYOR OF NEWHAM, SIR ROBIN WALES visited our restaurant today.
As you can see from the accompanying picture, the mayor was taking refreshment with some of his nearest and dearest.
Fellow diners included councillors Unmesh Desai, Andrew Baikie, the Corbetts, Lester Hudson and, er, Ahmed Noor.
That’s the same Ahmed Noor who broke the council’s rules on landlord licensing, who’s currently suspended from the Labour party and who was accused by the standards committee of abusing his power to stifle complaints against him from tenants. The report to the standards committee about his conduct makes for hair-raising reading.
With councillor re-selections coming up in the autumn, is this a sign that the disgraced Noor may make a comeback? Even by Newham standards that would leave a nasty taste in the mouth.
UPDATE (13:30): the restaurant has deleted the tweet.
Massive attack
24 JulAt the last full council meeting Sir Robin launched an unprecedented attack on a small number of chairs of governors of Newham schools. Although it was a repeat of his performance at the Labour Group AGM a fortnight earlier, that was a private meeting and this was in public.
A number of councillors were absolutely appalled. Forest Gate South councillor Dianne Walls has written to the mayor to complain about his behaviour (copying all the other councillors into the bargain):
Robin,
I was very shocked and surprised at the last group and council meeting when you publicly named the chairs of governors of schools in the borough requiring improvement, following Ofsted inspection, in a way that was designed to humiliate.
This is an unprecedented move in my experience and cannot possibly inspire members or anyone else to take on the challenging task of being a school governor.
This cruel and unusual treatment has not been demonstrated towards other councillors who have served, in the very recent past, on one of those governing bodies you mentioned.
Indeed your own mayoral advisor for children and young people has served on the governing body of a number of failing schools / institutions (in some cases as vice chair), without receiving similar rebuke.
I am ashamed of sitting on a council where those in power use their position to bully and humiliate other members without all of the facts of the case being aired. I refer you to Cllr Scoresby’s email on the subject of Monega school.
We all want the best for our children, and you know that many members give up a lot of time and commitment to governing bodies on which they serve (some for many years) and try to do their best in the face of relentless political interference from this government. Your attack on chairs of governors puts that commitment in jeopardy.
So members of governing bodies need support and encouragement (and yes constructive criticism) but not public humiliation when things go wrong.
I have to say, in conclusion, that an attack on a female member in this way was particularly shameful, when we want to encourage more women to participate in public life. We are all diminished by such behaviour.
Regards, Cllr Dianne Walls OBE
The mayor is clearly feeling the strain when it comes to schools. He’s been forced to back down over funding his free school meals “promise” and a dozen secondary school heads are up in arms about his proposal to spend almost £30 million on expanding two local academies, a plan which will put other local schools at risk.
As so often before, Sir Robin’s response to his own mistakes is to lash out at others.
Disclosure: I was one of the chairs that Sir Robin named in his attack.
Election 2017 – your candidates
12 MayThe lists of candidates standing in the general election for the two Newham constituencies have been published.
- Choudhry Afzal – Friends Party
- Kirsty Finlayson – Conservative
- Chidi Oti-Obihara – Green Party
- Daniel Oxley – UKIP
- Stephen Timms – Labour
- Glanville Williams – Liberal Democrats
- Mirza Zillur Rahman – Independent
- Rosamund Beattie – UKIP
- Lyn Brown – Labour
- Paul Reynolds – Liberal Democrats
- Kayode Shedowo – Christian Peoples Alliance
- Patrick Spencer – Conservative
- Michael Spracklin – Green Party
forestgatedotnet 