Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Voter fraud discovered in St Ann's, technicalities mean the result stands.
After the recent St Ann's ward Labour party selection meeting we lost our three standing councillors. Nilgun Canver stood down, and Zena Brabazon and David Browne were deselected. In 2009 this was the site of the rather startling deselection of the illustrious Brian Haley. Considering the quorum at the Harringay Labour party meeting to select three candidates in 2010, St Ann's have an active and diligent Labour Party.
Or do they?
The three candidates selected this year in St Ann's were Barbara Blake, Peter Morton (Head of Press at the Labour Party), and a local shopkeeper.
It was remarkable in 2009 when Brian Haley was deselected but what happened here was unprecedented. All three councillors in a safe Labour ward were replaced. It now transpires that the election to select these candidates was not as straight as it should have been. Nineteen people who were both outside the ward and had joined the Labour party after the cut-off date at the end of April had joined on one day in July. Just imagine if St Ann's councillors had to be mindful of Harringay traffic concerns to be selected? Would those bollards exist? Why was this allowed to happen?
The meeting was stacked with Haringey Labour members, not necessarily from St Ann's (26 in total) but loyal to Councillor Kober and perhaps other factions. Five people from outside of the ward voted in the election, this is all it took to swing it and come May next year your vote will be nearly worthless because this is a very safe Labour ward.
There are two things that bother me about this. The obvious and wilfully ignored corruption in the candidate selection - these people WILL be elected, just because they are the Labour candidates - these meetings are important, and the apparent barring from standing of a local Labour activist, Seema Chandwani.
To be allowed to stand in a selection meeting in Haringey you must go before a panel to be judged on your suitability as a candidate. In Haringey the panel was chaired by Luke Akehurst. Apparently he thought that Ms Chandwani would bring the Labour Party into disrepute, presumably because she embarrassed them over youth services in the borough (and I bet he was one of the people clapping loudly when Ed Milliband talked about lowering the voting age this week). Luke denied us the opportunity to vote for Seema as a councillor. As a keen follower of local politics I think this was quite nasty, I would have dropped leaflets and knocked on doors for Seema, and I'm not even a member. I wonder what he made of Charles Adje whom I see he allowed to stand for selection?
The second thing that bothers me is that rules in place to protect us from vested interests taking over our representation as residents were completely ignored in this selection process. As I've said, just imagine if a bunch of angry Harringay citizens could join the Labour party and go over and deselect anyone in St Ann's who supported the gating of the Gardens? I have looked into this myself and I know it's completely against the rules. Labour central office were alerted to this but were too busy planning their conference this week to care about it. The GRA are in shock.
Labour in Haringey do not deserve our votes because they are careless with the selection process.
Next week, on Monday the 30th, the selection meetings come to Harringay and I urge all Labour Party members to attend the meeting and vote for the best candidates, not to mention keep an eye on the voting. As much criticism as I level at the local Labour Party, at the end of the day it is up to members to take an active part in the selection process.
(Edited by site admin following legal advice)
Tags for Forum Posts: election2014, labour
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Keith Waterhouse on
-
Too many grudges and personal agendas. Until some people become a bit more responsible and update certain procedures this will happen again. At a time such as this with cutbacks and hardship in our communities a stable set of councillors is needed to at least give confidence to the public. Clearly there are those in the position to do this who choose not to and pursue their own goals.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Cheers done. Not only that but I just realised that Douglas Alexander follows me on Twitter so I DM'd him too.
-
-
This absolute shambles means that those of us who live in the Ward have seen five councillors in four years disappear. It has done nothing for public confidence or support. As an ex union convener I was taught to help with a head count and keep my eye on irregular faces i.e. people who were not regular attenders. They also had to produce i.d and membership cards and proof of the right to vote.
-
-
If one wanted to write an email of complaint regarding the process, is there a specific email address/contact name for each of Labour Party London Region and National Office?
As someone in this thread commented, this can only pave a path for further corruption.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
- Alan Olive - Labour Party London Regional Director, alan_olive@labour.org.uk
- Iain McNicol - General Secretary of the Labour Party, iain_mcnicol@labour.org.uk
- I suggest copying Len Duvall who is the the Chair of London Labour Party. len.duvall@london.gov.uk. And also David Lammy MP. mail@davidlammy.co.uk
Following the events in St Ann's ward - with similar moves to join-up people who don't live in Harringay ward - I'm learning quite a lot about my Labour comrades. Including who is principled; honest and courageous. And some who seem to prefer ignorance. Or perhaps to pretend nothing is happening.
I've also come across a book by an Australian professor named Brian Martin called "The Whistleblowers Handbook". You can download it for free from the link I've given. It has some useful practical advice for people who raise their concerns about various types of misconduct in organisations. But find when they blow-the-whistle that they're either ignored or squeezed out.
Prof Martin says that "there is no single reference that gives a comprehensive description of how and why official channels fail so often". But he suggests further reading which deals with aspects of the problem such as bullying and harassment.
He has some interesting things to say about mistakes he thinks whistleblowers often make. Usually, he says, falling into one of seven categories: • Trusting too much • Not having enough evidence • Using the wrong style • Not waiting for the right opportunity • Not building support • Playing the opponent’s game • Not knowing when to stop.
The subtitle of his book is: How to Be an Effective Resister. Plainly that's badly needed in Haringey; both for Council staff and, we've now learned, members of the majority Labour Party.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor until May 2014. My partner Zena Brabazon is one of the two St Ann's councillors deselected. The other is David Browne.)
-
Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
-
...and it seems that Alan Olive is on Twitter and presumably aware of this debate, since he's just followed HoL.
-
-
Excellent. I hope Mr Olive learns something fresh. And perhaps enjoys dipping into Professor Brian Martin's free downloadable book.
-
-
No, he's decided that the rules are the rules. So nothing is to prevent me signing up a bunch of people and going along to Seven Sister's next time there's a selection meeting there. If they don't spot it at the meeting then the result will stand. Fantastic precedent in the digital age.
You guys will pay for this in the election where a sufficient number of households will ask them where they got their mandate from. Pictures of the three candidates will have the fakest smiles you could ever see on a politician and become immortalised on the internet. I hope Peter and Barbara don't have any ambitions to higher office with this muck to be googled up one day.
-
-
I've never met Alan Olive. And I always begin by expecting the best of people when I know nothing about them. So, John, let's assume that Mr Olive is a decent man who is as disgusted as you and I about the extent of what's called "entryism" in this selection process.
He may also be deeply embarrassed. Because at exactly the same time Ed Miliband is standing up to the Daily Mail and defending not just his father's reputation, but the need to conduct politics: "in a way which is true to the decency of the British people". It is he said, "about responsibility and right and wrong".
A few days ago Ed Miliband asked people to write supporting his stand. Within a few hours 15,000 people did so. I was one of them.
On 4 October Iain McNicol, General Secretary of the Labour Party emailed to thank us.
"Alan", he wrote, "I wanted to write to say thank you. On Tuesday Ed Miliband asked you to speak out for decency in our politics – and I'm so pleased you did."
Iain McNicol's email ended:
"Ed refused to be silent. He stood up for his family, for what he believed in, and for a better way of doing politics in Britain. And you didn’t let him stand alone.
This isn’t the end of working for more decency in politics - we’re just getting started."
-
-
Nicely done!
-
-
many thanks Alan, have written.
I do hope others who feel invested in their community, can spare 10 minutes to do the same.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
