Tag Archives: Obaid Khan

Gaining Momentum

22 Aug

Newham Momentum members with Chris Williamson MP

Newham Momentum members with Chris Williamson MP in Ilford

Chris Williamson MP will be in Forest Gate next month to address the Newham branch of Momentum, as part of his Democracy Roadshow. Although ostensibly a call for mandatory re-selection of all Labour MPs, these ‘road show’ events are mostly being held in constituencies held by MPs on the centre left of the party, leading them to be dubbed by some as the ‘Deselection Roadshow.’ 

Earlier this month Williamson spoke in Ilford, whose two MPs – Mike Gapes and Wes Streeting – are noted Corbyn-sceptics. A number of Newham Momentum members attended, including the chair of the council’s Labour Group, Cllr Suga Thekkeppurayil and former councillor Obaid Khan. This resulted in the invitation to for Williamson to come to Newham. I wonder what Lyn Brown and Stephen Timms make of that?

The Derby MP previously courted controversy by suggesting that Labour MPs who agreed with Theresa May that Russia was behind the Salisbury poisonings were as much “political enemies” as the Tories. He suggested they should face de-selection (are you sensing a pattern here?). He has also shared a platform with Marc Wadsworth, who was expelled from the Labour party for haranguing Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth at the launch of the party’s anti-Semitism review in 2016.

Yesterday the Huffington Post reported:

A Labour MP has said it was a “privilege” to meet and listen to a talk by a controversial pro-Assad blogger, who has previously described murdered MP Jo Cox as a “warmongering Al Qaeda advocate”.

Vanessa Beeley made the comment in a tweet almost a year after Cox’s death, and has also written that “Zionists rule France”.

… She has written that the White Helmets, the volunteer group that rescues people from the rubble of Syria’s civil war, is a terrorist-linked organisation that fakes its activities to elicit sympathy in the West for a regime change plot against Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad.

Who you appear on a platform with and how their views then attach to you is a hot topic right now. Might councillors who are now so publicly embracing Chris Williamson come to regret it? It’s not just MPs who can find themselves in a re-selection battle.

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Spin City

15 Mar

Mayoral ally and ‘full-time’ councillor Clive Furness has circulated his Councillor’s Report for March to local members in Canning Town North. The headline item is the recent expulsion/long-term suspension of Cllr Obaid Khan.

After rehashing the Labour group statement he has a pop at his former friend and colleague:

He has begun a disinformation campaign supported by several councillors and members in which he claims to be the victim. We should have been put on notice after the last council elections when he was arrested for fighting with opposition members at the polling station.

That’s not quite how things went down at the time, when Khan was treated as something of a hero.

Sir Robin personally bought him a new shirt to replace the one that got ripped in the fight, which he presented at the Labour victory party after Khan had been released from police cells. The mayor praised him mightily for his commitment to the cause.

And who was it, just a few weeks later, that held the mayor back during his infamous confrontation with the Focus E15 mums at the Newham Show, saving him from making a bad situation much worse? Cllr Obaid Khan.

Even by Newham Labour standards, this is an outrageous bit of spin.

Furness rounds out his section on councillor misconduct by stating with a completely straight face (link added):

Two councillors remain suspended, one pending the outcome of criminal proceedings and one awaiting action from the [National Constitutional Committee].

I wonder how he will attempt to distance himself and Sir Robin from these two when the time comes.

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Wrath of Khan

10 Mar

Cllr Obaid Khan, who was handed a two year suspension from the Labour party last week, says that he has been the victim of a political witch hunt.

In a statement he says

“I believe that I am being victimised for having political differences with the local Labour leadership in Newham, as well as asking for processes to be democratic and transparent in the local Labour party.

“I continue to deny the charges and I am taking advise on what further action is available to me. I do not believe that I have been subject to a fair process by any reasonable standard of natural justice in the way the Labour Party has pursued the complaints made against me.”

Cllr Khan claims that although he was initially suspended in December 2015 on the basis of his “behaviour towards other party members at party meetings and in email correspondence” he did not receive specific details of the allegations until January this year – 14 months later.

He further says that the investigation report contained material that was irrelevant to the charges and “gratuitously negative commentary by the party investigators themselves” which was prejudicial to his defense.

Two of the three complainants did not attend the hearing and were therefore unable to be questioned by Cllr Khan or his representatives.

Mr Michael Sullivan, a local Labour Party member who helped Cllr Khan prepare his defence and who attended the hearing, said

“I have a lot of experience of representing trade union members at employer’s discipline hearings and of representing people at Employment and Welfare Benefit Tribunals. I also have a Masters Degree in Law that I undertook when I was a trade union officer responsible for members’ legal cases.

“I can say that the way the case against Councillor Khan was prepared and conducted including the material unrelated to the charges against him that was permitted to be included in the case papers would not be permitted in an employer’s discipline hearings or any Tribunal; and certainly not in any formal court.

“I believe that the conduct of this case reflects badly on the Labour Party, which has fairness and justice among it’s core values”.

Whatever the nature of the charges against Cllr Khan – which have not been made public – the conduct of the Labour party appears to be highly questionable.

And local members might ask why this case has been dealt with ahead of that of Cllr Ahmed Noor, who was the subject of a withering report to the council’s standards board. Cllr Noor’s party membership has been in ‘administrative suspension’ for close to two years.

They might further ask why Cllr Khan’s behaviour warranted his expulsion from the party when the mayor and his chum Cllr Ian Corbett remain members, despite being found guilty of breaching the council’s code of conduct due to their aggressive and bullying behaviour.

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Khan out

1 Mar

Statement from Newham Labour Group:

Councillor Obaid Khan has been found guilty of three charges of bullying, intimidation, and aggressive behaviour and his Labour Party membership has been cancelled with immediate effect.

This means Councillor Khan [a member for Boleyn ward] is no longer entitled to attend any Labour Party meetings or to be registered as a member of the Labour Group of councillors on the London Borough of Newham.

The decision was made by the Labour Party’s National Constitutional Committee following a two day hearing of three separate charges held on 25 and 26 February,

Labour’s chief whip Councillor Steve Bradshaw said:

“Following a long and detailed investigation by the Labour Party, the charges against Councillor Khan were deemed to be of sufficient gravity to be referred to the Party’s National Constitutional Committee.

“After a two day hearing Councillor Khan was found guilty of all three charges – two of which involved women members.

“We are pleased with the thoroughness of the investigation into Councillor Khan’s behaviour and the outcome of the NCC deliberations. Bullying and intimidation has no place in the Labour Party.”

NOTE:

Members of the National Constitutional Committee are elected by the Labour Party Annual Conference and are independent arbiters of internal Labour Party disciplinary matters. The decisions made by the NCC are final and not subject to appeal.

 

CORRECTION: this post originally said that the statement was from Newham Labour party. It is, in fact, from the Labour Group of councillors.

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#TeamObaidKhan

15 Dec

Team Obaid Khan

A small gesture of solidarity from West Ham Labour at last week’s Christmas quiz night.

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Three and out

10 Dec

Angry Robin

Cllr Khan was once very close to the mayor

Boleyn councillor Obaid Khan has been suspended by the Labour party.

That makes three local councillors currently on the naughty step.

I haven’t seen the email that was sent to councillors about this, but I understand Cllr Khan’s suspension relates to two separate incidents.

One involves the way he allegedly spoke to a councillor from Barking & Dagenham at an event. The other was a bit of argy-bargy at the Boleyn by-election count where he squared up to Cllr Forhad Hussain. Unfortunately for Khan, this was witnessed by ‘the leadership’, who wasted no time in reporting the matter to higher powers.

One might reasonably ask why either of these ‘incidents’ justifies a councillor’s suspension, when similar events involving the mayor (with the Focus E15 mums), Cllr Ian Corbett (to a receptionist at East Ham town hall) and Cllr Ken Clark (to Cllr Noor at this year’s Newham Show) did not. The Mayor and Cllr Corbett were found guilty by the Standards Committee of breaching the code of conduct, but the Labour party did nothing to reprimand them. Calls to discipline Ken Clark have been ignored.

Quite perplexing.

Except that Obaid Khan was instrumental in thwarting the leadership’s plan to have Cllr Hanif Abdulmuhit’s wife, Aisha Siddiqah, selected as the party’s candidate in the Boleyn by-election. He also kicked up a fuss about the shenanigans that resulted in Femi Alese being elected chair of East Ham Labour party. And, to top it all off, he’s joined the pro-Corbyn ‘Momentum’ group. Sir Robin, you will remember, was one of the 4.5% that backed Liz Kendall for the leadership.

Revenge, as they say, is a dish best served cold.

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