With this year’s Under the Stars coming up at the weekend, a timely Freedom of Information response has revealed the true cost of the mayor’s ‘free’ events for residents.
Over the five years covered that’s a total of £4,314,409.
Imagine what else that money could have been spent on.
Yet more shenanigans at “the Mayor’s” Newham Show.
Just as they did last year. the Focus E15 campaign decided to use a Sir Robin’s publicly funded propaganda fest to draw attention to his less-than-enlightened housing polices. As the event is paid for by residents and held in a public park they have every right to attend and talk to who they want to. But the council’s security people took a different view. Leaflets were confiscated and the campaigners were physically ejected from the site.
As the picture above shows, things got a bit physical.
And there was no shortage of swearing either, though this year it wasn’t directed at the public.
Cabinet member for ‘building communities’ – and Sir Robin’s new best friend – councillor Ken Clark spotted Ahmed Noor wearing a Newham councillor teeshirt at the community tent. He demanded to know who gave “that bastard a fucking teeshirt.” Although Noor is currently suspended from the Labour party he is still a councillor, but this nicety was beyond our Ken. He then directed a volley of four-letter words at Noor and his friends, leaving no-one in any doubt that the Plaistow councillor should depart post-haste. And anyone that’s a “fucking friend” of Noor is now Clark’s “fucking enemy”: he would “fucking get him.”
The whole extraordinary tirade was witnessed by members of public and several other Newham councillors. Given that Ken Clark is about twice the size Ahmed Noor – who is also fasting at the moment – they were for once sympathetic to Noor.
Once again it seems that Sir Robin and his cabinet believe they have they have the right to scream at, abuse and threaten who they like, especially at the Newham Show.
Sir Robin being restrained by councillor Obaid Khan
I was going to blog about the Standards Committee’s verdict on Sir Robin’s conduct at the Newham Show back in July, but I can’t improve on this excellent account in the Evening Standard, other than to point out that Sir Robin was not restrained by a member of the council’s staff but by a Labour councillor, Obaid Khan.
Nor could I give more insight into what happened than Kevin Blowe, who made the formal complaint.
Not titling his post Sir Robin Wales, My Part in His Downfall was definitely a missed opportunity.
“The Mayor hailed the [Newham Show] as a spectacular success and a demonstration of how important these types of free activities are in bringing Communities together.”
– Minutes of Newham council meeting, 14 July 2014
“The Chair advised those present that the Standards Advisory Committee had decided to recommend that a formal investigation should be undertaken into the complaint of a breach of the Code of Conduct […] The complaint concerned the Mayor of Newham.”
– Minutes of the Standards Advisory Committee meeting, 31 July 2014
A spectacular success indeed!
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