Newham are, by some distance, top of the LOBO league.
(Via Debt Resistance UK)
Open sesame!
13 FebThe Labour Party has announced details for the selection of its candidate to be the directly elected mayor of Newham.
Voting will take place from 1 March to midday on 16 March. It will be an online ballot, with no fallback option for those without internet access.
You’re also out of luck if you joined Labour after 1 July 2016 or you are in arrears with your subscriptions (so pay up if that’s you!).
There may be hustings, but no details have been provided yet.
Anyone thinking of standing must have been a member since at least 1 January 2016. They must submit their application form by 12pm on Monday 19 February.
Interviews will be held in central London on Tuesday 20 February. The shortlist will be announced shortly after that.
What’s Next?
12 Feb
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:
- No more ugly, expensive developers’ gold-rush skyscrapers in Stratford
-
100% social housing on the Carpenters Estate
-
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
London stadium enquiry
12 Feb
At the Council meeting on 4th December, Sir Robin announced a review of the decisions that led to the “investment” of £40m into the former Olympic Stadium, which part-funded its transformation into a new home for West Ham United. The review would also cover the due diligence undertaken (or not) and advice provided to the Council.
Daniel Fenwick, Newham’s Director of Legal and Governance, has now written to councillors to announce the appointment of a senior QC to lead the enquiry:
The Mayor and Chief Executive instructed me as Director of Legal & Governance to lead on the review for the Council and I write to announce that I have appointed Peter Oldham QC to undertake the review of the Council’s decisions to invest in the former Olympic Stadium. The decision to instruct a QC provides the Council with senior and independent scrutiny of the Council’s decision-making and an expert legal analysis of the decisions made. It will also enable to obtain legal advice on any rights or remedies the Council may have in respect of the decisions made. Mr Oldham is a leading QC on local authority matters and his details can be found here.
He will be assisted by Peter Lockley, a junior barrister at the same chambers and will, if required, have access to support from the Council through myself and external expert advisors, if he requires.
It is anticipated that Mr Oldham will complete his review by the middle of March for submission to the Mayor and members. It is the Council’s intention to make as much of the report as possible publicly available but I will need to consider whether any legal advice provided to the Council must be kept confidential to protect the Council’s interests at this time. If this situation arises, I will consider the ways in which such information may be shared with members whilst remaining confidential.
I am in the final stage of agreeing the Terms of Reference with Mr Oldham and will circulate these as soon as they agreed and they will also be a public document.
The draft terms of reference, which are due to be finalised today (12 Feb), outline the purpose of the enquiry:
…to produce a report for submission to the Mayor and members, addressing the following issues:
4.1.1. A narrative of the Council’s Decisions (and related activity) to invest in the Stadium;
4.1.2. A review of the Council’s rationale for the Decisions and whether or not the Decisions were reasonable to make in all the circumstances, including:(a) the financial and operational projections that underpinned Newham’s original investment;
(b) the due diligence conducted by and on behalf of the Council and Newham Legacy Investments during the time period stated and whether or not any liability to the Council may arise;
(c) To identify further steps to be taken with regard to any matters identified at b.
4.1.3. To identify any lessons that the Council can learn for future investments and decisions and what further steps the Council may take.
Although this is not a public enquiry, and the expectation is that meetings and interviews will take place privately, it appears Mr Oldham has the option to decide otherwise.
Included within the scope is the original decision to invest £40m in a joint venture with West Ham, which was aborted when Boris Johnson cancelled the procurement. Newham could have walked away at that point, so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, turns up to explain Sir Robin’s utter determination to throw £40m at the stadium come what may.
The final report is due to be delivered on 23 March and, as Mr Fenwick says, the intention is to make it public. However, this is Newham, so I expect that as many FOI exemptions as possible will be applied to prevent anything seriously embarrassing from being revealed.
Data warning
7 FebSelection meetings for the 20 ward Labour parties to select their candidates for the council elections in May have been confirmed for 17/18 and 24/25 February.
Martin Tiedemann, regional organiser of the London Labour Party has written to all of the long-listed candidates – rumoured to be more than 100 people – to remind them of the code of conduct and rules for selections.
Membership lists are only available to short-listed candidates… and we will therefore not be providing lists to any candidates, given sort-listing and selection will happen at the same meeting in Newham.
Some candidates, including sitting councillors and CLP or branch officers, may have existing copies of membership lists in relation to the roles they hold. These lists must not be used to canvass for support fore the upcoming selections.
Improper use of membership data, including passing on to other candidates, may be a breach of law or of Labour’s rules, and may put your position on the longlist at risk.
Given that membership data has so recently been mis-used in Newham, this is pertinent advice. But it really hands an advantage to sitting councillors and branch officers. They almost certainly don’t need to use the data to talk to their members – they already know who they are and how to reach them if they want a chat. And I’d be hugely surprised if they resisted the temptation.
You need wheels
4 Feb
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.
Triggered
1 Feb
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.
Sir Robin says NO!
29 JanSir Robin has finally had to confront reality. He cannot win the trigger ballot if it isn’t rigged by his mates.
But he is putting a brave face on it.
In an email sent to local Labour members this evening he is calling on them to vote for an open selection at the branch trigger ballot meetings:
I am writing to ask you to vote no in the upcoming trigger ballot meetings so that we can have an open contest for Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Newham.
I have also written to all the organisations affiliated to the Newham Labour Party thanking many of them for their support and asking that if they do take part in the up-coming trigger ballot, that they vote no.
Over the next couple of months I want Newham Labour Party members to give their mandate to a Mayoral and 60 councillor candidates, so that we can unite as a party and focus on the Labour-led values and manifesto that we take to residents in the May local elections.
It is important we have an open debate about the vision that we present to the people of Newham.
We can be proud of our achievements that have changed peoples lives for the better:
- Council Tax frozen for nine years without making cuts to vital frontline services.
- The largest increase in employment in London, with over 35,000 jobs filled with Newham residents through our jobs brokerage service Workplace.
- Initiatives such as universal free school meals and Every Child a Musician with 1.2 million musical instrument lessons delivered that have contributed to Newham having some of the best school results in the country.
- A ground-breaking private-rented sector licence, that has allowed us to prosecute more criminal landlords than the rest of London combined.
- The creation of council-owned small businesses, protecting jobs and services and innovating with public-sector reform.
That is the radical agenda that we have been following since I have been Mayor and continues to drive my vision for Newham in the future. It is this record and vision that I want to proudly defend and promote in an open selection.
That is why I am calling on all members and affiliates in Newham to vote in favour of an open selection if they attend their branch meetings to cast their vote on the trigger ballot.
So please vote NO to result in an open selection.
Of course, this could be a huge fake-out and he hopes the email will keep the No voters at home and his friends can all turn up to automatically re-select him. But let’s take him at his word. Labour members should turn up in droves to vote No and win the open selection they wanted in 2016.
You have to wonder why Sir Robin didn’t say this to the NEC or the press a month ago, rather than just at the point the trigger ballot meetings are starting. The open selection, which he now says he wants, could have started sooner and allowed alternative candidates to organise their camp… oh, right.
Challenger
29 Jan
Councillor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE has announced that she will challenge Sir Robin for Labour’s mayoral nomination should the trigger ballot result in an open selection.
She broke the news in an interview with the Newham Recorder over the weekend, which they published this evening.
The Custom House councillor has thrown her hat into the ring ahead of the first wards casting their votes tonight in the re-run of the process.
She said: “I’m putting myself forward for this because I want to offer a fresh start for this council and a new ambitious alternative for Newham.”
Cllr Fiaz, who was born and brought up in the borough, was first elected as a councillor in May 2014 and currently sits as chair of scrutiny as well as a member of the council’s audit board and strategic development committee.
She explained that she was passionate about the issues facing a lot of people living in the borough, including affordable adult social care, the safety of young people and investment in early years education.
“I’m passionate about making sure there are genuinely affordable, quality homes for people,” she added.
“I’ve been working closely with an organisation called Peach, who are in my ward of Custom House, to allow residents to have their say during the regeneration.
“Uniquely, I’m also the only councilor who does regular youth surgeries for young people to come and meet me.”
The trigger ballot, also known as the affirmitive nomination process, is being held to decide whether to automatically select incumbent mayor Sir Robin Wales as Labour’s candidate for May’s election or whether to open it up to other prospective candidates.
Ward meetings in the re-run trigger ballot start tonight.
forestgatedotnet 