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 | TottenhamEmails 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.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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Had you not wasted your time on Labour, you could have been something, Alan. Perhaps in Academia?
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Luckily for me, Justin, we don't share the same values.
And it's a such shame when - having written several sensible and helpful things - you can't resist adding a few little drops of poison.
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Poison? It's a compliment, dear boy. As the author of the "Real Haringey Tories", you would know all about Warfarin and the like. You are many things, ex councillor. An Angel, you are not! I suspect we do share the same values - we just have different ways of supporting them.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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No it's poison and you're being a nasty young man. Apologise please.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Erm, Justin, weren't you sacked from your post less than a year ago for not following the party line?
http://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2015/03/the-conservative...
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Permalink Reply by Lydia R on
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That's a very beautiful piece Alan. Thank you, I shall watch it more than once--although I seem to have ended up as the one at the loom.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Episodes like this remind me of the stories of the Stalin Clapping Test.
Allegedly, loyalty was measured by the first Comrade who dared to stop.
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Another YouTube video seems to show that Tovarishchi Stalin solved the problem by having a bell ring.
The latest twist in fine mess of the Bull/Peacock "disciplinary" is now online in the Haringey Independent.Cllr Liz McShane is now presenting herself as the kindly nanny figure who will bring these two naughty children back into the Labour fold. Such nauseating hypocrisy.
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demonstrated uncomradely behaviour and a disregard for the principles of collective responsibility
IN my opinion, the suspension of Cllr. Bull for the stated reason was wrong and in the circumstances, verging on the immoral.
The offence was not that his speech was made per se, but rather that it was made in the open, in public.
The public could actually hear what the Councillor wished to say, without any form of PR pre-processing.
The punishment, is that Cllr. Bull will for a quarter year, not be allowed to attend his Group's Meetings, i.e. (not be able to speak, in private).
I am given to understand that the Comrades' Vote to Suspend the Councillor was 25 to 20 (implying three absences) that suggests a minor mutiny was averted, relatively narrowly.
Fortunately there still exist channels for a genuine, open exchange of views.
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Funnily enough, I have just finished watching episode one of Deutschland83 :)
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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I am filled with a deeply ethnic embarrassment that a soi-disant 'London based Irish person and Big Hispanofile"(sic), sporting so Irish a surname as McShane, should stoop so low as to think that guarding the Kober-Groupthink against such uncomradely behaviour as worrying about the fate of the elderly is a noble occupation worthy of an Irishwoman let loose in London. Jaysus, what are we sinking into? Remarkable what the passing of a generation's elderly will do to (a) people! On the contrary, I am filled with admiration for John Bull's boy, Gideon.
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