Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Labour Party Selection Fraud in St Ann's
After it was discovered at the St Ann's Labour Party selection candidate selection meeting that there were people present and voting who should not have been, I came home from the pub (where I'd heard about it) and wrote this article. It has subsequently been edited by site admins to remove the names of people who were embarrassed or in the final case where a journalist said it was potentially libellous. Well here I will attempt to summarise what we have subsequently found out and hopefully take people's attention away from my original appalling rant.
Back in May (The Ward AGM):
- The St Ann's Ward AGM was convened on Thursday the 23rd of May instead of the usual first Wednesday of June by the then Ward Secretary, Barbara Blake.
- Protests were made by members about this but they were rebuffed by the Ward Chairman.
- At this meeting The current Ward Secretary resigned and there was bloc voting to decide the new Ward Secretary.
- A person in the bloc opposing John Blake turned up late and was prevented from voting despite there being nothing about this in the Labour Party rules.
- John Blake was elected Ward Secretary by one vote.
The Selection Meeting:
- The meeting was run by The Secretary of the St Ann's Labour Party , and Steve Hart from Hornsey & Wood Green.
- A candidate who arrived early noticed the five members arrive with Ali Gul Ozbek, sensed that something was up and mentioned it to Barbara Blake. When the other candidate seemed unhelpful they mentioned it to Steve Hart. Then the candidate went looking for the five people but was barred from entering the room (3o minutes before the selection) by the Ward Secretary.
- By the time one member I have spoken to arrived, the five members were seated at the back of the room. Four men and one woman (who works in Ali Ozbek's Pharmacy).
- A blonde woman turned up before anyone had started speaking but was barred from entering the room by the Ward Secretary, despite remonstrating with him.
- Barbara Blake won in the first round (to select a female candidate) against Zena Brabazon and Emine Ibrahim by two votes. It was 11/1/14. Everybody voted.
- It is alleged that one candidate knew the questions in advance and had prepared answers.
- At the appropriate point in the meeting the secretary asked if everyone was OK with the others in the room and everybody laughed.
- There were various factions voting together in the room; the five new members, Charles Adje's family, Zena and David's people and the Ward Secretary's people.
- In the final round Ali Ozbek and Peter Morton were selected, beating Zena by one vote.
- Ali is a local chemist and businessman on Green Lanes who seemed very passionate about what should be done with St Ann's and spoke eloquently about the need to reduce business rates. He is also a property developer.
- At the time Peter worked as head of press for the Labour Party.
- Barbara is a trade union official and ex Ward Secretary.
After the Selection Meeting
- A fellow councillor calls David to commiserate with him.
- David Browne and Zena Brabazon did some investigation using the St Ann's Labour Party membership list and the electoral roll.
- They discovered that nineteen new members signed up that year did not actually live in St Ann's and that they had either given Green Lanes business addresses when they signed up or claimed addresses in the ward.
- Not one of these new members, many of whom were recruited on the 8th of July gave an address in the ward at which they are eligible to vote, which is required by party rules.
- Five of these members were "eligible" to vote because they signed up before the cut off date of the 30th of April, however they should have been barred from voting because they do not actually live in the ward.
- Zena and David wrote to their local Labour Party officials who sent their evidence on to the London Labour Party.
- Nobody can tell me for sure where Ali Ozbek lives but he claims an address in Finsbury Park Avenue.
- Ali Ozbek has donated money to the Labour Party.
- According to a twitter exchange with a Labour councillor in another ward, the membership list should have been gone through before the meeting by the person running it to make sure this kind of thing did not happen, it was certainly done in their ward.
- When one of the five members who voted was called at his home his partner informed the caller that he had been in Turkey for a while and was not due back yet.
- In Harringay several new Labour Party members were registered using Green Lanes business addresses but not before the cut off date.
- Barbara Blake has told local traders that it is OK to register as a member in the Labour Party from a business address (it is definitely not) and the Tottenham Membership Secretary has expressed a similar view in a meeting, only to be corrected.
The "Corruption in Haringey Labour" article.
- After I wrote the original article, in which I also made some allegations against Claire Kober, the only phone call to site admins was to remove the Secretary of the St Ann's Labour party's name from the discussion.
- There was a lot of comment on the original thread and as of Saturday the 12th of October it appears to have been viewed more than 7000 times, although I dispute that as a useful metric (I think the actual figure is much lower).
- After some badgering it was picked up by an overworked Stephen Moore at the Tottenham Journal, here.
Trying to get a re-run
- I have pushed the councillor who commiserated David on his loss on Twitter to join calls asking for a re-run of the election but they have resolutely refused, to the point where it's all a bit weird and "la la la, I can't hear you".
- As it stands the London Labour Party have agreed that the five people were not eligible to vote but they say that this was not picked up before or during the meeting so the result stands. Their investigation consisted of speaking to the Ward Secretary and Steve Hart. Steve Hart lied because someone did speak to him before the meeting.
- The London Labour Party have the attendance list and will not release it, presumably because it shows that people were not identified correctly and that at least two of the five were imposters.
- Appeals to the NEC have all been rebuffed, even with the full acknowledgement of what went on.
The Labour doorstep in Harringay
- The St Ann's Labour Party have a great deal of trouble getting members to help them out with canvassing. A photograph has been tweeted showing more than 20 people out in Harringay Ward above the same session in St Ann's, with just two.
- When David Lammy, after a lot of badgering apparently, stepped out in St Ann's for the Labour doorstep he was met by a picket of local men calling on him not to support the St Ann's fraudsters. As I understand it he will not be going out with them again.
The Police are involved
- On Monday the 10th of February Haringey MPS made a visit to me on behalf of the secretary of the St Ann's Labour Party and his partner.
- It was alleged that I had called him filth on Twitter (which I have not, that was someone else) and that I said "I know I'm hassling you but...". I was served with a Notice of Harassment Letter which will now appear in extended CRB checks.
*An individual has asked that their name be replaced with their function in this post on the grounds that they are not seeking public office. This has been done.
Tags for Forum Posts: election2014, labour, st ann's labour, stanns
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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John, there were some splendid photos of the St Ann's candidates with Cllrs Claire Kober and Joe Goldberg posted on Twitter this evening.
But frankly I just hope K & G don't show-up knocking on doors in Tottenham Hale ward. Until now it's been the second safest Labour ward. I'd hate to see their presence start to lose Labour votes.
As for rumours about "personal vendettas", I can't believe that has any substance whatever. As well as being the Mayor, Sheila Peacock is - as I recall - the Membership Secretary for Tottenham Labour Party. In the latter capacity she has vitally important tasks. One is to move St Ann's and Harringay ward "members" into the correct wards and constituencies where they actually live. Perhaps she has even done so already?
Or maybe these hasn't happened. Because to re-allocate them could mean at least implicitly admitting they didn't live where they pretended to.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor until May 2014)
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Permalink Reply by Keith Waterhouse on
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Is this the same Sheila Peacock who used her potty mouth language against protesting pensioners and got into all the papers for her foul mouthed tirade? She insulted many of my elderly neighbours. She is a Mare alright.
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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Dear All
A number of people have asked me for an update.
As I said in my posting on December 8th 2013, I’d written to the Labour Party’s Compliance Unit explaining that Emine Ibrahim had confirmed that she had indeed challenged attendance of some members who were at the St Ann’s selection meeting.
Also on December 8th I explained how the so-called 'investigative report' to the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) was factually wrong in several respects. I wrote that the investigation was shoddy and perfunctory. In my view it was designed to get the answer: no action and justification for covering things up.
Even now, Emine has never been contacted with a request for her evidence. But she wrote toMr Kennedy who chairs the relevant committee on the NEC pointing out the errors in the 'investigative report'. He did reply to her and said he was passing her email to the Compliance Unit. They would amend their internal records which suggests they accept they’d got the facts wrong. Presumably any amendment would correctly state the fact that Emine did challenge some of the participants brought to the Selection meeting who were not resident in the ward - the basis on which they based their refusal to rerun the selection as well as correcting other erroneous statements. But even though they say they will amend the report their position is that none of this is 'material to the findings of the report'.
Did they correct it? I have no idea. Because neither I nor Emine have seen such an amended report. Nor have I heard that anyone in the Tottenham Party has had a copy of it.As the holiday season is over, on Monday January 6th I decided to write to Alan Olive, Director of the London Region of the Labour Party and to Jim Kennedy, Chair of the sub-committee of Labour’s NEC, which oversees selections. They were both sent Emine’s emails about the original report being factually incorrect. I asked Mr Olive and Mr Kennedy to send me a copy of the amended report.
I also asked them to confirm if either the London Region or the party's membership department have begun an investigation into the 21 people registered as members in St Ann's Labour Party ward branch who, from the researched information David Browne and I sent the Labour Party, do not live in the ward, but gave business addresses. And were nearly all signed up as reduced/unwaged.
As far as I know, nobody from the Labour Party’s London Region or National Office has actually disputed these basic facts.
In my email on January 6th I also asked what action is being taken to establish how these non-residents were admitted as members of St Ann’s ward. How were they recruited? How come so many of them joined on the same day? Why are people shown as unwaged when in a number of cases this is clearly not the case?
I believe that action must be taken by the Labour Party if it is to have to have any chance of retaining the trust of local residents.
Well, a week has gone by and I’ve received no response from the Labour Party on any of these matters. Not even the courtesy of a formal acknowledgement.
Zena Brabazon
Cllr, St. Ann's ward.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Now those 21 people have had their party record amended so they are at their correct addresses, that must mean they are now party members in another constituency. Do you have any connections there that can check (a) that this transfer has happened and (b) that they are paying the correct rate of sub? Or might their membership have lapsed?
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Hi Pam
I think there are a couple of misunderstandings here. The amendment which we were told was going to happen was to the report by the Compliance Unit. This contained a number of serious factual errors about what happened at the selection meeting when Emine Ibrahim raised her concerns about people who had been brought to the meeting as 'branch members'.
As far as I know the 21 people who gave business addresses in St Ann's on their application forms when they were recruited are still on the St. Ann's membership list. I may be wrong, in which case Sheila Peacock who is the Membership Secretary for Tottenham Labour Party can correct me. Of course, they shouldn't be on the list because they don't live in the ward , which is a requirement for membership.
As well as the 21 in St. Ann's who should not be on the membership list, there are also 14 people in Harringay ward branch who were signed up from business addresses but who also don't live in the ward. So this is an issue for both wards.
Apart from the fact that the party, neither nationally or locally, seems not to have done anything to investigate how these people were recruited, should any potential candidate stand down, and a new selection process organised, it may be that some of these 'non-resident members' may be able to take part.
If these people are genuine supporters and members of the Labour Party they should be allocated to the branches and constituencies where they really live so they can take part in that branche's activities, campaigning and fundraising.
When David Browne and I researched this we found that the 21 people signed up (mostly on 8 July 2013) were on electoral registers elsewhere.
What a travesty of local democracy this is.
Zena Brabazon
Cllr, St. Ann's Ward
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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David Lammy will be out campaigning with the St Ann's #labourdoorstep people on Sunday. I presume that this is an endorsement of their candidacy and has therefore just gone down considerably in my estimations. Please take this up with him if you see him on the doorstep. I have become aware that some of the more politically vocal people in Harringay are deliberately ignored in this respect so don't be afraid to accost him in the street.
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Message to all
I don't usually comment on this thread, other than to state I agree the selection should be rerun. I do follow the thread though, but even though I'm highly interested, and concerned, and active as I can be in opposing what's happened, I and others like me are likely to unfollow if the comments get personal and unreasonable in demands on the volunteers who run the site. I know I've currently no idea what the latest spat is about in terms of the deleted posts, and of course I'm curious, but I agree with Liz that there are other methods of finding out eg Twitter and I feel it's reasonable as volunteers for Liz and Hugh to decide what to publish.
I am also nervous of posting anything here as I particularly do not want to receive blasts of invective about what I've written.
I feel desolate about what's happened in our ward, and the behaviour of the Labour party nationally in not agreeing to the rerun, and still haven't worked out how best to make one happen, but I will keep talking with neighbours about what we can do together. It's so crazy that the Labour Party is not doing a rerun - it could even be done without too much loss of face, ie they wouldn't even have to acknowledge the fraud, but say they are rerunning because of the widely held suspicion of fraud!
I'm posting this on the final page of this thread, as it's getting confusing finding out where the latest comments from today's conversation are appearing.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Election date set for May 22nd. Four months of joyous campaigning from the local candidates. But who and which party will win ... is even more intriguing the last two elections.
Maybe the St Anns ward will finally join Harringay in throwing up a mix of party councillors. Last election however Harringay stood alone within the borough in producing this outcome. We were with Bounds Green and one other ward with giving a mix of party councillors in 2006 but in 2010 they went fully Labour.
So come on St Anns residents, are you a little quirky or just down right predictable?
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Mmmm who to vote for? The Lib Dem's, sexual harrasment apologists and the party that famously stiched up the students, or Labour, the party that likes to bash it's biggest donar, the unions [surely one of the last democratic avenues left to ordinary working people]. Shame David Lammy never knocked on my door last Sunday, but then i'm sure the addresses were carefully selected in advance to prevent awkard questions like "Where were you at the Mark Duggan vigil....and where were those imaginary anarchist groups you mentioned in your excuse for non-attendance"....you could also ask him about his position on the Iraq war !
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The poor guy has done a load of things right for Mark Duggan's family and he doesn't attend one potentially charged vigil and he's a demon. I'm upset about how he behaved towards us on Sunday (mostly because it shows him up a bit) but really, really, he's done more than enough here.
Can we try to stay on topic? Fraud in St Ann's (which David Lammy endorsed at the weekend).
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Well it didn't stop Diane Abbott from turning up at the "potentially charged vigil" !
If 'Lammy' has backed the wrong horse in St Ann's perhaps you could leak the story to the 'Daily Mail'....i'm sure that would provoce a response from Labour H.Q !
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Really don't understand this sympathy for Lammy, especially after last Sunday ! This is the man who if he had taken more of an interest at the time could have acted as an mediator between the Duggan family and the Police, thus avoiding the riots.....but he didn't !
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