Ask me no questions

14 Nov

Could the gagging order sent down from chief whip Steve Brayshaw this week be in any way connected to the investigation into Sir Robin’s behaviour at the Newham Show and the report of the standards committee?

The last thing the mayor wants is to be publicly embarrassed by questions about the findings – whatever they turn out to be. Much better for a response to be agreed in private at Labour group, then have the report ’noted’ by council on a whipped vote without further ado.

The standards committee is scheduled to meet on 10th December – 2 days after council. The next full council after that isn’t until late February. If Brayshaw can keep his troops on message it will be all-but-forgotten by then.

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Gagging order

12 Nov

At the last council meeting, in late September, two backbench councillors – John Gray and Rokshana Fiaz – took the opportunity to ask the mayor questions about the Focus E15 mothers’ campaign and the future of the Carpenters Estate. These followed on from his statement and half-hearted apology. They were doing no more than their constituents would expect of them.

In any other local authority, councillors asking questions at a council meeting, in public, would have been unremarkable. It is what should happen. But in Newham it was exceptional.

And Sir Robin has, predictably, taken exception to it.

This email was sent yesterday to all Newham councillors by the Labour chief whip, Cllr Stephen Brayshaw (via the group secretary Cllr Susan Masters): 

From: Susan Masters [mailto:xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.com] 

Sent: 11 November 2014 15:02

Subject: Message from our whip  

A MESSAGE FROM OUR LABOUR GROUP WHIP TO LABOUR GROUP MEMBERS 

Dear Comrades,

Concern has been expressed among group officers relating to the growing appearance of cracks within group and the use of Council meetings rather than Labour Group as a platform for airing disagreements and debate. 

When arguments are played out in public there are only losers: The Labour Party and our constituents. 

The officers agreed that we should draw a line now and move forwards towards a more cohesive group. Disagreements, questions and motions should be put to group and discussed at group. We are one Labour Party and we should show respect for the group and our colleagues. It is polite and proper that this should be the case. 

Moving forwards; where people break the rules or behave in a way that could embarrass the group, executive, party and leadership in a public forum we feel at such a key time that we have no option but to push  for the highest sanctions possible within the rules. 

Let’s move forwards and ensure that we are working for our constituents, our party and our group. 

Best

Steve Brayshaw

It is a clear and unambiguous attempt to muzzle councillors and stop them publicly raising serious questions at Council meetings. Debate can only happen in private, behind closed doors.

The “highest sanctions possible within the rules” means expulsion from Labour Group and – if the councillor were not later reinstated – automatic deselection at the next election.

Ironically, this threat is itself a breach of Labour Party rules: 

Labour recognises that individual members, to fulfill their representative duties, may without consultation speak and ask questions in meetings of the council on behalf of their constituents or other community interests. (chapter 13, clause XI, sub-clause 1)

Any councillor expelled from Newham’s Labour Group on these grounds would be entitled to appeal: they’d have an unanswerable case for immediate reinstatement.

But the more important point for ordinary Newham residents is that Sir Robin and his cronies are using heavy-handed threats to stop councillors doing the one job we elected them to do: publicly scrutinise the executive mayor and hold him to account for the decisions he makes. It is undemocratic and unacceptable.

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Trying to think

6 Nov

NewImage

via Wired

Sir Robin talks Red Doors

5 Nov

On Monday Sir Robin Wales appeared on Radio 4’s You and Yours, talking about Red Doors Ventures.

It was a lot of what we’ve heard before, but one new piece of information emerged: residents who like their Red Doors home so much they want to keep it will be allowed to buy. Indeed, Sir Robin will encourage them to buy. There won’t be any ‘Right to buy’ style discounts, they won’t be allowed to rent them out and, when they move, they’ll have to sell the house back to the council. I’m not sure how that’s enforceable. And I’m not sure Sir Robin has really thought it through: it looks like a sure-fire bet for the resident, who is guaranteed to make a tidy profit at the councils expense.

A litany of complaints

4 Nov

The Guardian gets an earful 

Eric Pickles, the secretary of state for communities and local government, published today PwC’s report of its ‘Best value’ inspection of Tower Hamlets council.

One of the things the inspectors looked at was the authority’s publicity budget: 

The value of publicity expenditure relative to the overall Authority budget is modest, however it is by definition a high profile area of expenditure and potentially controversial in terms of the demarcation between that which is genuinely for the benefit of the Authority and that which is of a party political nature pertaining to the Mayor or other elected Members as politicians.

That line of demarcation is – at best – blurry here in Newham.

As well as the Newham Mag, soon to return to fortnightly publication despite the threat of legal action from Mr Pickles, and the raft of non-news stories fed to the ever-compliant Recorder there is also a concerted effort to crack down on any whiff of bad publicity.

The Guardian alone has received over 100 complaints from the Newham officials in the past couple of months over its coverage of the Focus E15 mums. 

Obviously it’s in the job description of any modern media manager to hassle journalists if they think it will have a positive impact on coverage of their employer, especially if you think they’ve been misrepresented. But the sheer volume of complaints launched at the Guardian in such a short space of time suggests that this is more than just making the authority’s case or correcting a few facts; this looks like an organised campaign.

And in the context of PwC’s findings in neighbouring Tower Hamlets, it is worth asking on whose behalf this campaign was being waged – residents, the local authority, or the mayor personally and his reputation in the Labour party? 

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Another matter of interest

20 Oct

From the minutes of the standards advisory committee meeting held on October 6th, which considered a complaint that the Dear Leader had breached the code of conduct:

It was questioned whether, as a Mayoral Advisor Councillor Laguda should declare a pecuniary interest in item 6 (Investigation of complaint of breach of code of conduct by an elected member). Following advice from the Monitoring Officer Cllr Laguda decided that she need not declare an interest.

How jolly convenient. The special responsibility allowance she receives – which is entirely within the gift of the mayor and can be withdrawn by him at any time, for any reason – does not constitute a ‘pecuniary interest’!

Like so many politicians before her, Cllr Laguda has wrestled with her conscience and won.

Perhaps she should have thought a little harder about her decision, because the requirement to make a declaration also extends to non-pecuniary interests.

To quote from guidance issued to councillors (my emphasis added):

The Council’s Code of Conduct requires you to make a verbal declaration of the existence and nature of any … “Non-Pecuniary Interest”. Any Member who does not declare these interests in any matter when they apply may be in breach of the Code of Conduct.

You may have a … “Non-Pecuniary Interest” in an item of business where:

2.2.1 A decision in relation to that business might reasonably be regarded as affecting your well-being or financial standing, or a member of your family, or a person with whom you have a close association…

2.3 A person with whom you have a close association is someone who is more than an acquaintance, and is someone you are in contact with over a period of time, whether regularly or not. It is someone that a reasonable member of the public might think you would be prepared to favour or disadvantage when discussing a matter which affects them.

All of the councillors on the hearing sub-committee should also consider section 5 of the guidance, on bias and pre-determination (again, emphasis added):

If in relation to any decision, your outside connections may make it appear to a reasonable person that there is a real danger of bias, or predetermination you should seek advice as to whether it is appropriate for you to participate in any discussion about the matter and in the decision, regardless of whether or not you consider that you should declare an interest as defined above.

Given that councillors Laguda, Scoresby, Collier and Amarjit Singh all campaigned alongside Sir Robin in May and were photographed with him on their leaflets, a reasonable person might very well think there is a danger of bias or pre-determination.

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Steel, fibreglass & resin

16 Oct


via Instagram

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Oh, Alan

14 Oct

Last week Alan Craig, the former leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, declared he had applied to join UKIP. 

In my blog post I said it was a marriage made in heaven, but I now think I was wrong. Having read his party’s 2010 general election manifesto, Not by Bread Alone, it is clear that it is an extraordinary and almost inexplicable decision.

Amongst the bonkers stuff about the place of religion in civil society, the evils of gay marriage and abortion, and some unpleasant generalisations about muslims and jihad, there are some surprisingly liberal and genuinely progressive policies. Here are a few extracts:

A more equal society

Free market capitalism, if left to itself, does not produce a downward trickle from rich to poor. Over the past thirty years, under both Labour and the Conservatives, share of income and wealth has been transferred from the poor of Britain and the world, to the rich.

The experience of low status and low esteem that encourages violence, obesity, transient relationships or teenage pregnancy must also be approached by policies that go beyond forcing people into the workforce.

We will back measures to introduce a new 50p tax rates on earnings over £150,000.

A transaction tax, such as the proposed Robin Hood tax, will be introduced to generate funds for green and sustainable investment in both Britain and in the developing world.

Greening the global economy

The CPA seeks a global economy which operates within the ecological limits of the planet; eradicates poverty and tackles inequality; and ensures the human rights of all are met.

Carbon rationing is needed. We back an EU trading system which sets a control total for the industries within the regime and lets the market in carbon allocations chase down the most efficient ways of making cuts.

Unrestrained market forces are not compatible with care for the poor and stewardship of the earth.

Tackling the jobs crisis

The CPA will continue to act as the Champion of a Living Wage for all workers. We also want a better work and life balance for all, not just the well-off who can afford it.

The CPA will enforce the provisions of the Working Time Directive, which prevents working in excess of 48 hours per week. We will end the UK’s opt out option.

The CPA will also support a Living Wage for all workers of £7.40 an hour to ensure those on low incomes are not forced to work excessive hours to make ends meet.

Strangers into citizens

We would tackle discrimination and embrace the talents of asylum seekers, as many successful asylum applicants are highly trained and dedicated individuals. It makes no sense to leave them on the scrapheap, unable to use their professional skills to provide for themselves, their families, or contribute to the British economy.

[Asylum] applicants will be treated as if they were British citizens with full access to state support and the right to work.

We will tackle the problem of illegal immigration by an amnesty that brings irregular workers into mainstream society, paying taxes.

A time of jubilee for the world

Aid will be given in grants and not loans and not tied to poor countries opening up their markets to powerful multinationals from rich countries.

We want the unpayable debts of the world’s poorest countries to be cancelled in full without strings attached.

Alan Craig signature

I find it hard to comprehend how someone who led his party and signed that manifesto, made those promises, just four years ago can now find a home in UKIP. Because not one of the things I’ve quoted above would find favour with the Faragists.

If Alan Craig has really changed his mind so completely that he now rejects everything the CPA ever stood for and embraces the climate change-denying, isolationist, hard right turbo-Toryism of UKIP, he might as well announce his conversion to Satanism: it would be less of a surprise.

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A matter of interest

13 Oct

Despite only being in office for a month councillor Tonii Wilson has wasted no time in settling into the Newham way of doing things.

In the register of interests she declares that she has no ‘employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain’:

Tonii Wilson Interests

Yet, according to Companies House, she is director of a company called Virgen Limited:

Tonii Wilson directorship

The utter disregard shown by councillors – and the mayor – for openness, honesty and just straightforward accuracy in recording their interests is shocking. But it is still disappointing to see a new councillor treat their obligation for transparency with such contempt.

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Thought for the day

10 Oct

Louloudillon 2014 Oct 10

via @louloudillon

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