Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Former leader of Haringey Lib Dems announces switch to Labour
Article from Ham & High published today:
http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/former_leader_of_haringey_lib_dems_an...
Cllr Sarah Elliot, leader of Haringey’s Liberal Democrat group from 2014 to 2015, is joining the majority Labour group in Haringey.
This means there will now be just eight Liberal Democrat councillors against a working majority of 49 Labour councillors making key decisions for the borough.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Nobody actually makes key decisions outside Haringey's ruling clique.
I saw this news in the Camden New Journal and offered Cllr Sarah Elliot some friendly advice.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Sarah Elliot discovered a "black hole" in Crouch End schooling in September 2014. Rather someone else discovered the black hole. Sarah, like a former Prince of Wales, declared that "something has got to be done".
This qualified Sarah to become Leader for some months in 2014-15, just after she had discovered politics.
Now in 2016 she declares that she believes "passionately" in things. But she can find no outlet for her "passion" from the sidelines.
If only she had discovered that James Ryan had discovered his own black hole she could have disappeared there with him so they could now be indulging their incredible passions together.
Politics, bejasus!
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Apparently there's a much longer version of Sarah Elliot's leaving note. Richard Osley the Deputy Editor of the Camden New Journal said that it "... goes on and on and on… " so the extracts made me curious to learn more. I found her tweets mildly informative.
We learn that she is an active member and supporter of the Women's Institute and there are lots of photos of cake sales. Sadly - or perhaps just as well - I missed these. (I wrote down the recipe for Goat's Cheese, Honey and Cinnamon Cheesecake.)
I noticed that Sarah also enjoyed The Melange Restaurant "located right in the heart of London’s buzzing Crouch End, ...one of the areas chicest [not my typo] offerings with its opulent decor and long list of handcrafted cocktails alongside a range of breakfast, lunch and dinnertime options." (From its website).
There's also the arts side of Crouch End. In November 2014 Sarah took a smiling photo of the Chief Executive pleased to have discovered a fly-tipped piano. He wasn't actually playing it.
"How Crouch End" was Sarah's comment.She made strong criticism of Labour. There are photos of fly-tipping and not just pianos. With justified protest about the cost of cleaning this up; and about Haringey's prominent position in the fly-tipping stats table.
In 2015 we find Sarah retweeting one of Lynne Featherstone's leaflets condemning Labour's: "tough new approach to immigration". Claiming that "bizarrely, Labour ... turn their fire on nurses and care staff, implying there is a major problem with their language skills". Also that "Shockingly, Labour have only put this leaflet out in areas where immigration is higher – Bounds Green, Noel Park, Wood Green and Tottenham. They have decided not to tell voters in the far West of Haringey what they really think. Disgraceful."
It seems this shocking and disgraceful behaviour is now water under the political bridge.
In May 2015 Sarah was celebrating the news that the LibDem membership "surges past 50,000" . Sarah wanted people to "join us and help spread opportunity". She retweeted that four times.
In November 2015 she was at the Stroud Green Winter Fair,
In May 2016 she was appointed Haringey Disability Champion by Claire Kober.
Then in August she applied to join Labour.I hope it's not unfair to suggest that the "passion" she wants to express as a Labour councillor is a little under the radar.
On the back of my own Labour Party membership card it says "the Labour Party is a democratic socialist party". So is Sarah Elliott a socialist? I know a couple of people in Haringey who are democratic socialists and passionate about their politics. They aren't Trotskyists or so-called entryists. Nor were they members let alone activists for any other Party.
I gather that their applications were turned down. Perhaps because they'd been publicly critical of the Kober regime. Maybe in similar ways to Sarah Elliot. It seems that somehow their energies, ideas and passions were not wanted.Obviously it's a 'coup' for Claire Kober to sign-up a former temporary leader of the Haringey LibDems.
I've never met Sarah and if I do, may well enjoy hearing her views, and grow to like her as a person and a politician. But it seems to me that there's a glaring double standard operating.[Political declaration: I was a Labour councillor until May 2014. My wife is Cllr Zena Brabazon]
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Alan, you're a very kind man. Unfortunately Ms Elliot's leaving note is unlikely to be the longest suicide note in history. She may yet rise to leadership of the Melange Party. Enjoy the cheesecake!
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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Here's Sarah's statement:
I have lived in this area and been a part of our community for 30 years. I chose to get involved in local politics to make a positive difference. I am proud to live in Haringey, proud to have raised my family here and am now incredibly proud to serve our community.
It has become increasingly clear to me that the Liberal Democrats on Haringey Council have been too fast to talk our area down and too slow to put together an alternative sensible, strategic and relevant policy platform for local people as we fight against this Tory government.
That is why I have resigned my membership of the Haringey Liberal Democrat group with immediate effect and joined the Labour administration.
Our three Labour Cllrs: Jason Arthur, Sarah Elliott and Natan Doron
I am someone who cares passionately about social justice and I was very proud to have been appointed as Haringey’s disability champion earlier this year. But the truth is that I cannot put that passion into practice on the Lib Dem benches.
I look at the Lib Dems in Haringey and I don’t see a party committed to delivering for local people, tackling inequality or furthering social justice. I know I share this experience with so many local people right across Haringey.
I have therefore concluded that I can no longer sit on the opposition benches as a Lib Dem heckling from the sidelines and failing to provide a positive alternative vision for the future for the people of Haringey.
I now believe that the best way to make a difference and deliver for the people of Crouch End is to join the Labour Party.
I’ve been inspired by the leadership and vision of Sadiq Khan, the new Mayor of London, representing the very best of an open, tolerant London where everyone can succeed. So many people in Crouch End and across Haringey will know how much this matters in the wake of the EU referendum result.
Furthermore, I’ve also been impressed by what Labour are doing in Haringey, taking tough decisions to move the borough forward and setting out a positive vision for the future. I’ve also witnessed the energy and commitment of my fellow Crouch End councillors Jason Arthur and Natan Doron as well as our colleagues in neighbouring wards like Hornsey and Stroud Green. I know my fellow Labour councillors are good, honest, hardworking local people who always put the interests of the community above petty politics.
I have worked closely with my colleagues Cllr Jason Arthur and Cllr Natan Doron in Crouch End. I watched them fight an honest and open campaign in 2014. They made pledges to the people of Crouch End that were rooted in their experience of what matters to Crouch Enders. And they’ve made considerable progress against those pledges. That’s the kind of politics I want to be a part of.
I’ve also worked with other Labour members on council committees and developed a close and effective working relationship with the Leader, Cllr Claire Kober.
I acknowledge that having served as Leader of the Lib Dem Group on the Council from 2014-2015, this decision may generate more chatter than most. I want to be clear that my decision to join the Haringey Labour Group is made with the people of Crouch End at the forefront of my mind. I tried as Leader of the Lib Dems in Haringey to build a strong opposition, focused on representing not just a narrow few but all of Haringey and in the end, I found little support in the Liberal Democrats for doing things differently.
I will be getting to work immediately as a member of the Haringey Labour Group, with Cllr Jason Arthur and Cllr Natan Doron, to make Crouch End and Haringey a better and fairer place.
Cllr Sarah Elliott, Crouch End Labour
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Crouch End has three Labour Cllrs now.
The 8 Lib Dem Cllrs are in the rich West:
Highgate (3), Muswell Hill (2), Fortis Green (2), Alexandra (1)
How can they possibly hope to make any difference?
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Anyone who protests at length that she is incredibly proud and passionate about anything invites us to give her no credence whatever about anything. She has, unfortunately, used a somewhat credulous Lib Dem party to climb their pole, then shite on them from a height of nonsense.
Antoinette and Chris Setz, no criticism whatever of Elliot - just chortles?
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You delight in adding nonsense to everything so it's hard to give credence. We're poles apart but I'll have a go:
It really doesn't matter what I (or most people) think. There's such a huge disconnect between voters and their reps that I guess nobody in Crouch End (or Harringay) is going to vote for any local Cllr without a specific reason: a track record. Even then, an excellent candidate with a great track record (Zena) only got 11% to turn out for her.
As she writes, the existing Lib Dems can't do anything. The only thing I can remember the previous Lib Dem (MP) ever doing locally was helping move a Muswell Hill bus stop. We seemingly vote (when we can be bothered) along national lines so it probably doesn't matter much what any individual Cllr does. Some previous local Lib Dems like Karen and David seemed exemplary and yet were easily unseated by (experienced) non-local newcomers.
We definitely need more women reps so she's already important. Hope she embarks on beneficial change but suppose she'll be denied 'promotion' for a good long while so will impersonally obey the whip until then.
So, OAE, if you were a local Cllr, what specific local changes would you bring about that would guarantee that the ward was best represented and thus bind people to the cause?
What's that you say, trumpet?
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I regret to have to tell you that your description of OAE's comments as "adding nonsense to everything" simply shows your own inability to understand his comments on this site.
Perhaps more surprising, given your criticisms of others, is your failure to check "facts" in your own comment. Here's a simple one. How long a "good while" do you imagine it was before former Lib Dem Ali De Merci was "promoted" to chair the Labour Group? And how much longer a "good while" before his further elevation as a "cabinet" member?How much of a "good while" will Sarah Elliot have to wait before Claire Kober promotes her to the bottom rung of the ladder, as a "champion"? Oh I forgot! Sarah's had that promotion already.
As for having LibDems "who can't do anything", well I'm not in the slightest a fan of Lynne Featherstone, but I think you will find many residents who disagree, having had her assistance as their MP. And from my personal knowledge the same is true about individual councillors, both in their wards and on Scrutiny and other committees where I was a Labour member.
I loathed the way the LibDems nationally kept the Tories in power. But credit where it's due locally.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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You loathe the LDs for keeping the tories in power, yet it was your own party leader who said outright he wouldn't form a coalition with them. What other choice did they have?
As still can be seen today, Labour is its own worst enemy.
Got all the talk, but don't/can't do the walk..
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