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The Guardian’s Dave Hill, writing on his new blog, reports that another organisation has declared that its vote was improperly cast in last year’s mayoral trigger ballot:

A second organisation whose vote helped Newham mayor Sir Robin Wales go forward unopposed as Labour candidate for next year’s mayoral election in the borough has effectively substantiated a complaint by local party members about an aspect of the candidate selection process.

Inquiries by national officers of Bectu, the media and entertainment union, have concluded that a branch affiliated to Labour locally had not paid the required fee for 2016, the year the vote took place. In a letter to Labour’s governing National Executive Committee (NEC) sent in January, 47 Newham members had argued that the Bectu vote be declared void partly on those grounds.

Last month the national Fabian Society informed its Newham branch, which also voted “yes” to Sir Robin automatically becoming the candidate for 2018, had breached the society’s own rules for determining how votes in Labour affirmative nomination or “trigger ballots” should be cast.

The Bectu delegate that cast the vote in Sir Robin’s favour was Cllr Susan Masters, the secretary of the Labour Group of councillors. The signatory on the letter purportedly from Newham Fabians was Cllr Tahmina Rahman, mayoral advisor for New Media and Finance. Are we spotting a pattern?

Sir Robin “won” the trigger ballot by 20 votes to 17. Less these two it’s now 18-17, though arguably if the Fabians had held a proper members meeting they’d have voted No, making it 18-18. 

Whatever shaky mandate the mayor had to claim the nomination unopposed has now entirely vanished. Labour needs to cancel the result and run an open selection. It’s what members want and what they deserve.

Tags: Labour, newham, Sir Robin Wales, Trigger ballot

The Newham Labour party Trigger Democracy campaign has sent out a powerful email to local party members, telling them that Sir Robin has no mandate to continue as the mayoral candidate without a proper, open selection.

On Monday, you’ll have heard media reports about the Labour Party Newham Trigger Ballot result in which the current Mayor is claiming victory. What you won’t know is that his ‘victory’ is on the back of shady affiliate organisation votes. While 11 out of 9 Labour Party branches voted decisively for NO, the vote of those Newham Labour Party members don’t count because the Mayor has ‘gamed’ the process through 11 secretive (including some very small) affiliate organisations. 

So the Mayor can only claim a false victory. He has lost the confidence of Newham Labour Party members and has #NoMandate.

#NoMandate Charge Sheet

Charge #1: Newham Fabians co-chaired by GLA Member Cllr Unmesh Desai and Mayoral Advisor Cllr Tahmina Rahman, didn’t hold a meeting with all its eligible members and in line with the Fabian Society’s  constitution. It is unclear if they are even a paid up affiliate of East Ham Constituency Labour Party! The Fabian Society’s General Secretary is now investigating this breach of their rules and voting irregularity. 

Charge #2: The Christians on the Left affiliate organisation didn’t even hold a formal vote at their meeting. They thought a discussion chaired by Mayoral Advisor Cllr Clive Furness  to ‘canvass opinion’ was sufficient . 

Charge #3: The BECTU affiliate organisation made up of one (that’s right, ONE) member unilaterally voted to reselect the sitting Mayor. That one vote cancelled out the votes of the entire East Ham Central Labour Party branch where 59 members voted. @BECTU HQ is also investigating, as they weren’t aware of the vote either. 

Charge #4: A GMB representative with no connection to Newham signed all four of the Newham GMB affiliate votes while no meetings were held with local Newham GMB members. So while the current General Secretary was happy to endorse the Mayor openly and the GMB is campaigning against LIDL for not respecting the voice of its workers – they clearly can’t be bothered to respect the voice and votes of local Newham GMB members. 

Charge #5: The national TSSA Trade Union have no record of an eligible TSSA branch affiliate in Newham and are currently investigating where this mysterious TSSA vote for the Mayor has actually come from. 

Charge #6: The Procedures Secretary, Cllr Pat Murphy  who oversaw the rigged Trigger Ballot process is a paid Mayoral Advisor, depends on the mayor’s goodwill for his livelihood and highlights a fundamental conflict of interest. He’s the one that’s tried to stop Labour members in Green Street East branch from even holding a trigger ballot meeting. 

Charge #7: The vast majority of Newham Labour Party members who took part in the Trigger Ballot process voted for an open selection not the automatic reselection of the Mayor. But because of the dirty tricks by some of the Mayor’s supporters and fraudulent actions of some dubious affiliates, their vote has been disregarded.

So how can Sir Robin Wales claim ‘victory’ when he clearly has #NoMandate. 

Campaigners are asking party members to email Sir Robin, asking him to respect the votes of members and agree to an open selection, and to sign a petition calling on the Labour party to do the same.

Tags: Labour, newham, Sir Robin Wales, Trigger ballot

The Executive Committee of West Ham Labour Party agreed on Wednesday to submit an emergency motion to the London regional conference tomorrow (Saturday).

As you can see from the text, party members believe that Sir Robin and his cronies have been playing fast and loose with the rules in order to rush through his re-selection:

This Regional Conference notes:

1. The Labour Party Rule Book states that all Local Campaign Forums (LCF) must hold annual AGMs after May each year at which an executive has to be elected. Where a LCF fails to elect an executive, the Rule Book implies that the entire LCF makes executive decisions.
2. That the Newham LCF did not hold its 2015 AGM until March 2016, and failed to elect an Executive at that delayed AGM.
3. Since the last meeting of the Newham LCF on the 31 May 2016, new delegates to the LCF have been elected by West Ham and East Ham CLPs.
4. That a trigger ballot timetable on re-selecting the current directly elected Mayor of Newham to be the Labour Party candidate at the May 2018 local elections was approved at meeting with the London Region Director on the 25th October 2016 and some members of the Newham LCF.
5. That the whole of the current Newham LCF members weren’t notified about this meeting taking place.
6. That London Regional Board members were not notified by the London Region Director of the planned meeting with the Newham LCF or the proposed trigger ballot process.
7. At the meeting on the 25th October 2016, a procedural secretary was also appointed who is a is paid mayoral advisor to the current Labour Mayor of Newham seeking re-selection. This potentially creates an unacceptable conflict of interest.
8. Based on the Trigger Ballot timetable agreed by the London Region Director and some members of the Newham LCF, only members of the Labour Parties in Newham who joined on or prior to the 25th April 2016 will be eligible to participate in Trigger Ballot meetings held by eligible branches and affiliates. This freeze date will mean that hundreds of new members in Newham will be disenfranchised
9. Branches and affiliates in Newham will have to meet and vote on a ‘affirmative nomination’ to re-select the current directly elected Mayor Sir Robin Wales between the 14th November 2016 – 4th December 2016 and there is emerging evidence of procedural abuse happening where NEC guidelines are being ignored. For instance, officers in one branch in West Ham CLP had the date of the branch’s Trigger Ballot meeting determined by the Procedural Secretary without their knowledge.

This Regional Conference resolves:

1. That the current Trigger Ballot timetable in Newham be suspended and withdrawn;
2. The London Region Board oversee an investigation of alleged procedural abuses in conjunction with the NEC Organisation Committee;
3. That the Newham LCF calls an emergency meeting where all new LCF delegates elected at the respective East Ham and West Ham CLP AGMs to elect its new Executive. Where possible this should be constituted as the Newham LCF’s 2016 AGM which hasn’t taken place;
4. That resolves 3 should be followed by a new Trigger Ballot timetable, set and circulated before 31 December 2016.

If the motion is carried the current process will have to be stopped and a new timetable agreed. This may allow hundreds of new party members a say in who gets to be the mayoral candidate. And that’s a good thing.

Tags: Labour, newham, Sir Robin Wales, Trigger ballot