Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Councillor Gideon Bull Suspended

Below is the email sent to party members. His crime? He asked questions about the risk to old people if the Haven Day Centre closes.

Democracy is officially dead in Haringey.

Dear redacted

Re: Suspension (removal of the whip) of Councillor Gideon Bull

Please see below emails (verbatim) from the Chief Whip of the Haringey Labour Group regarding the suspension of Councillor Gideon Bull.

I am conscious that the Tottenham CLP has many new members and there maybe confusion about what this means. By way of a brief explanation and foresee questions you may have:

  • The CLP only deals with the disciplinary of members if the case they have been accused of is in regards to their membership of the Labour party.
  • All Councillors belong to a Labour Group (as well as a CLP), in Haringey they belong to the ‘Haringey Labour Group’ as Councillors are borough-wide based on the geographical boundaries of Haringey Council. (i.e. there is no such thing as a Tottenham Labour Group as Tottenham is a Parliamentary Constituency boundary not a Local Council Boundary).
  • If a Councillor is subject to disciplinary based on their role as a Councillor (not as a member of the party), then the case is dealt with by the [Haringey] Labour Group.
  • The Labour Group can impose action on the membership of Councillors to the Labour Group and not his Labour Party membership.
  • As Councillor Gideon Bull’s case is about his role as a Councillor it has been dealt with by the Haringey Labour Group.
  • Councillor Gideon Bull’s suspension is a suspension from the Haringey Labour Group and not from the Labour Party. Gideon still remains a full member of the Labour Party.
  • A suspension from the Labour Group means he is still a Councillor for the London Borough of Haringey as he has been elected to serve for 4 years.
  • The technical term for this action is called the “removal of the whip”.
  • The ability to remove Councillors from their role is covered by the Local Government Act and Representation of the People Act which has specific rules when Councillors can be removed from their role as Councillors.
  • The decision to ‘remove the whip’ (suspend) is not an action that can be taken by one person, it is subject to a vote by the whole of the Haringey Labour Group. In this case the vote concluded to suspend Councillor Gideon Bull.
  • The local MPs, the Assembly Member and MEPs have no vote and no decision making powers over the removal of a whip of a Labour Councillor.

As Gideon is still a full member of the Labour Party, he remains the Vice Chair of the Tottenham CLP and Secretary of the White Hart Lane Labour branch.

Councillor Gideon Bull has the right to appeal the decision to London Regional Board. If Councillor Gideon Bull decides to appeal and is successful then the suspension is withdrawn and you will be informed.

I hope my attempt to explain has helped.

As this is a decision by the Haringey Labour Group and not by the Tottenham CLP, I cannot not respond to any questions about the decision and I am writing to you solely to share the information.

Regards
Seema Chandwani
CLP Secretary | Tottenham

Emails from Liz McShane - Chief Whip of the Haringey Labour Group To Be Shared With Members.
(Please note there are two emails)

Dear Seema

This is to formally notify you that the whip has been removed from Cllr Gideon Bull, following the Special Labour Group meeting on Thursday 21st January,  where the Labour Group voted for the recommendation.

The period of suspension is for 3 months,  from 21st January 2016  to the end of the day on 21st April 2016.

I have written to Cllr Bull to confirm this and to formally notify him of the terms of his suspension.

Regards
Liz

Second Email [Following Request for Reason]:

Dear Seema, 

You can say it's because of Gideon’s intervention at the Cabinet meeting on 10th November, where he spoke out against an agreed group decision, that the Labour Group voted  on a recommendation to withdraw the whip based on  concerns about comradely behaviour and collective responsibility in accordance with the Party’s rules and our own group standing orders.

Regards 
Liz

Link to the meeting http://www.haringey.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/191461 the relevant part is 1 hour and 22 minutes.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Antoinette on February 2, 2016 at 12:09
Let them eat cake as my famous (real) namesake was purported to have said
Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on February 4, 2016 at 9:01

And the difference is?

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on February 2, 2016 at 22:30
Well, I've now listened to the meeting in question (thanks for the link Clive). While Cllr Bull came over as a bit annoying, talking over people and not waiting for his go at speaking like other backbench councillors did, I couldn't see that it merited anything more than a bit of a telling off after the meeting about the rules of debate and having some manners.
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on February 2, 2016 at 22:51

In my view Michael the charge of uncomradely behaviour was vague and was nothing more than unjustified suppression. Meanwhile, an associate recently made the following calculation on the rate of signature accretion to the petition:

… 485/hour, so (assuming steady rate for this now global campaign) 45,000 in about 6 hours (4am tonight), 50,000 in about 16 hours (2.30pm tomorrow afternoon) …

There will of course come a point when the total stops increasing, but it's another matter if notice is taken of it. Perhaps by Mayoral candidate Mr. Sadiq Khan?

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on February 3, 2016 at 7:14
I agree, the response to the online petition seems a little, well, hysterical. It's about a badly handled local spat that has turned out as an embarrassment to an adminstration in a part of London that I doubt most of those signing abroad have ever heard of, let alone care about.
Permalink Reply by Gordon T on February 3, 2016 at 7:25

And about as relevant to the rest of the world as are discussions (two of them, so far) about Donald Trump relevant to Harringay.

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on February 3, 2016 at 7:33
Except that DT has the potential to become the leader of one of the largest military powers in the world!
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on February 3, 2016 at 7:36
And to exclude people, including citizens of of this country, from entering the USA on the grounds of their religion.
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on February 3, 2016 at 7:38
And to build a wall to exclude people solely on grounds of their ethnicity
Permalink Reply by Lydia R on February 3, 2016 at 16:21

In response to Billy's nervousness about the choice between Trump and Cruz, I thought subscribers to this thread might be interested to know that one of Cruz's favourite breakfasts includes Machine Gun Bacon. 

This culinary delight is made thus: wrap bacon around the barrel of an AR-15 rifle.  Fix it with aluminium foil, then fire your rifle at a victim of your choice until the bacon is cooked.  Eat straight off the gun.  Yum.

(If you are the sort of person who thinks this is a pretty neat idea, I feel it might be necessary to give you one additional piece of advice.  Before eating the bacon, take the foil off first.)

Permalink Reply by Gordon T on February 3, 2016 at 8:14

All extremely well-known and disagreeable facts about a demagogue, yes. Trump's position isn't weakened by them being rehearsed on HoL - he's been notorious world-wide for 30 years. I won't go on about him, Cruz, Rubio, Clinton, Sanders etc etc any more because I didn't and don't want to drag the discussion off-topic - which is local democracy not global politics.

Permalink Reply by Gordon T on February 3, 2016 at 14:56

And the cover of Private Eye has it down pat.

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