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One man, four parties
16 Apr
Former councillor Abdul Karim Sheikh
Tributes were paid this week to Abdul Karim Sheikh, former councillor and ceremonial mayor of Newham, who has sadly passed away at the age of 82 having contracted Covid-19.
On Twitter Newham Jack (who he?) asked ‘Is he the only person to have stood for election in Newham representing four different political parties?’
While I don’t know the answer to that I can confirm his political career did indeed span standing for four very different parties.
He first stood for the council in Plashet ward in 1986 for the Independent Newham Broad Alliance. He finished in last place with 401 votes.
By 1990 he had joined Labour and was selected to contest Kensington ward, where he romped home with a majority of 1,300. He switched to St Stephens ward in 1994, winning re-election easily. In 1998 he was selected for Upton ward; as no other party put up a candidate the Labour slate was returned unopposed.
2002 saw him stand for the last time on the Labour ticket, this time in Green Street West. He defected to Respect in 2005.
In an interview with Socialist Worker he explained
The new system of a directly elected mayor, brought in four years ago, has changed the council into a dictatorship. The mayor, Robin Wales, was originally against the mayor plan, but changed his mind after the referendum.
I left the Labour Party and joined Respect last year, partly because I felt councillors were no longer listened to.
The system takes power away from even elected members of the council. That’s why Respect is talking about trying to reverse this system.
Cllr Sheikh was narrowly re-elected in Green Street West for his new party in 2006 alongside Hanif Abdulmuhit, who has since returned to the Labour Party.
He left the council in 2010 after Respect were heavily defeated.
2014 saw him try again in Green Street West. This time for the Conservatives. He was unsuccessful, trailing the winning Labour candidates by more than 1,500 votes. He contested the 2018 election for the Tories again and, completing the circle started 32 years before, he came last.
One man, four parties. Perhaps a unique contribution to local politics.
Suspended?
22 Feb
Mehmood Mirza (right) with Peter Willsman in September 2018
Alternative ‘news’ site The Skwawkbox is reporting that West Ham CLP membership officer Mehmood Mirza has been suspended from the Labour Party after a compliant about his conduct. Mirza is currently running for a seat on the party’s national executive committee as the BAME representative.
According to The Swawkbox
Mehmood Mirza, who received 75 nominations from local parties, would be unable to publicise the nature of the complaint because of Labour’s confidentiality requirements. However, while the precise nature of the complaint is unknown, a Labour source has told the SKWAWKBOX that parts relate to Mirza applauding a speaker’s comments at a Labour Party meeting and walking around a meeting after members were asked to remain seated.
The SKWAWKBOX also understands that Mirza’s supporters allege that the complaint was lodged by a figure on the left of the party.
Two hours before Mirza received notification from the party, he received a call from the right-wing Telegraph newspaper asking him to comment on the complaint.
The story has indeed reached the Telegraph, although it is less certain about his suspension
Mehmood Mirza, the frontrunner to become the next BAME representative on Labour’s ruling body, was reported for posting an allegedly anti-Semitic cartoon on Facebook.
The member of public who reported Mr Mirza, the vice chair of the West Ham Labour party, has not heard back from the party despite the complaints being initially made in October last year.
The cartoon in question, which Mr Mirza shared on his Facebook page, depicted a sticker with the words “anti-Semitism” being placed across the mouth of a man who has a “free Palestine” band around his head.
The cartoon was created by Carlos Latuff, a Brazillian artist who has previously been accused of creating anti-Semitic content by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the human rights organisation.
… Mr Mirza still appears as a candidate on the party’s official website, though The Telegraph understands he may have been suspended.
Whatever the outcome, this will be an embarrassment to those who have endorsed him.
West Ham CLP’s general committee meets on Thursday. If Mirza has been suspended he won’t be able to attend.
Election 2019 Results
16 Dec
No surprises in Newham, as Labour easily held both of the borough’s Parliamentary seats. The party’s share of the vote declined slightly, but neither Stephen Timms nor Lyn Brown will be losing any sleep over that.
East Ham
Stephen Timms (Labour) – 41,703
Scott Pattenden (Conservative) – 8,527
Michael Fox (Liberal Democrat) – 2,158
Alka Sehgal Cuthbert (Brexit Party) – 1,107
Mike Spracklin (Green Party) – 883
Kamran Malik (Communities United Party) – 250
Labour majority of 33,147
West Ham
Lyn Brown (Labour) – 42,181
Sara Kumar (Conservative) – 9,793
Eimear O’Casey (Liberal Democrat) – 4,161
Danny Keeling (Green Party) – 1,780
Emma Jane Stockdale (Brexit Party) – 1,679,
Paul Jobson (Christian People’s Alliance) – 463
Humera Kamran (Communities United Party) – 143
Labour majority of 32,388
Maryland Point
30 Oct
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has published its draft proposal for re-warding Newham and it represents a major victory for local campaigners in Maryland. They argued that their community deserved direct representation on the council and the Commission agreed.
When I wrote about the council’s own proposals I expected them to be accepted. I was mostly right – but also quite wrong.
The Boundary Commission has adopted the majority of Newham’s recommendations, but re-drawn the map in the north of the borough to accommodate a new Maryland ward, which extends from Leyton Road in the west to Field Road in the east and takes in the roads around UEL’s Stratford campus in the south. If adopted, it will elect three councillors.
As a result three other wards have significant changes. The proposed Stratford East Village ward is now smaller and renamed Olympic East Village; it will have two councillors. Forest Gate North is also smaller, having lost almost all of the streets off Forest Lane west of the community school. But it gains the parts of the Woodgrange Estate that currently sit in Forest Gate South. The redrawn FGN will elect two councillors. Forest Gate South, shorn of the Woodgrange Estate, the area around the UEL and streets west of Water Lane, is also reduced to two councillors.
Stratford Olympic Park ward will simply be known as Stratford.
For what it’s worth, I think the boundary between the proposed new ward and Forest Gate North is absurd. Even if you accept that Maryland is a distinct community (I am personally unconvinced) there is no way it extends almost the entire length of Forest Lane. A more sensible boundary would be the western edge of Forest Lane Park and the cemetery.
forestgatedotnet 