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 Hugh on
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No, Ant, your posts would never have "ended up" the Latest Posts by HoL section. You can see which posts were in that category by clicking on the link I supplied. You may be getting confused with an earlier design when the new posts section was at the top. There may even have been a featured posts section for a short while. To be honest I don't remember, but for the 18 months or so up till September it was as I described and its removal had zilch to do with John or St Ann's.
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Permalink Reply by ant on
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I'm pretty sure the NHP UFO one was there for ages, and some others, perhaps when you're away the cats do...?
I really liked your 2010 election coverage, and just the other day was watching some of the candidate interview videos. Really hope you do the same for this election...spot quiz, who in 2010 said they were "particularly incensed by the way the council runs rough shod over the residents" and that if elected they would "drive what residents want rather than what the council has decide for them"?
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Thanks for the feedback on the election videos, but I think it was a minority sport.
It may be that Liz categorised the NHP post as a HoL story. I don't think so, but you'd have to check with her. She can also explain to you how the section worked. The only time I used it for a non-HoL originated post was for the Banksy story by Ant K. Otherwise, it was a purely automatic feature which only shows posts by HoL Admins. John's posts would never have been in the section whether it was there or not.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Yes I did put the NHP one up when it picked up by the national press as it would have been daft to write a new post when one with pics was already available and that was while Hugh was away. Other than that the latest posts were mainly his and sometimes mine. As it ground to a halt because for various reasons Hugh and I aren't able to put our full effort into it I think it's right to ditch it. If people click on most popular or latest activity on the forum they can easily find the 'hot' topics
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NHP, Banksy, "several others", the 2013 Lantern procession. The point is if you ask we all can help, get a take down request then post it, we'll pick holes and ridicule it before you've even had a chance to read it, and if you'd ask us to help choose the featured posts we'd do that too.
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Permalink Reply by PinkHeartSticker on
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Hi Hugh,
Id like to understand how HOL can be about the community and NOT be political? This issue John is raising is entirely about democracy.
I am wholly grateful for the work that Liz and yourself do and respect that there are and should be house rules. I wouldn't wish undue grief on either of you.
I do applaud John in his efforts.
Thank you John, Hugh and Liz for your ongoing commitment to the community.
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Exactly what I'd say about politics in your position, PHS. You weren't a member in 2010 at the time of the last local elections. No one could have tried harder than I did to cover the local elections thoroughly. This included something like 20 video interviews with candidates from our local wards and urging parties to post their local manifestos.
For me a good part of the original intention behind HoL, as reflected by the 2010 election coverage, was about opening up local democracy, both through what we've written and the platform we provide.
Believe me, I do understand. However, if you'd taken the grief that I have over PARTY politics on HoL, after seven years you might well understand the temptation to draw a line. I had no idea quite how nasty it gets.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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I think we all knew party politics is a vicious game not suitable for all but the very very determined, this example has just confirmed that. Snake pit or rat's nest? Choose your favourite species. Thick skin a necessity.
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I have no problem with politicians or would be politicians sniping at each other as long as it remains contained among themselves and they are professional enough not to let it spill out to residents. This is different. There are no signs or evidence that the selection process was acceptable or legitimate other than a Labour Party at national level who say they are anti corruption but do not support a re run with proper stops, checks and balances. No one has been to our block in Avenue Road canvassing or even left a leaflet to say sorry you were out, they did in South Grove. Perhaps they look at the electoral register and recognise the names of some of us who will question them about the selection process used to make them candidates. In the meantime St Anns Ward is no longer smoothly run. The local Labour Party have ruined this community with their in fighting.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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It seems to me that a well-run website needs a few essential rules. But most of them consist of variations on: "A decision by the Admins is final". Which with HoL, has an unspoken sub-clause which says: "... after listening fairly and carefully to your viewpoint. But even then it's still final".
I agree with Liz that if people are interested in a particular discussion thread they can find it. Nobody has to read anything they don't want to.
A confession: from time to time I've been one of the people raising concerns about something posted on HoL. As far as I can recall, this was never because I disagreed with someone's view. But because I thought it was possibly libellous. Lawyers are splendid people; many have families to support. But I'd rather money was poured away on something more useful than libel cases. Especially if it resulted in shutting down HoL and inflicting a huge bill on Hugh and Liz.
In 2010 it was an excellent idea for local democracy when Hugh and Liz filmed (!) and posted (for free!) a short video of every local candidate who agreed. My partner Zena was one of the candidates who took part and I thought that she and every other candidate was treated equitably. They all got considerably more chance to put themselves and their ideas forward than in the usual dumbed-down Party leaflets or doorstep canvassing.
Please let's not divert time and energy into criticism of this website. I know of nowhere else which offers an invaluable publicly available local space like this. Whether for exchange of views; ideas; information; and a host more purposes. Including just helping to get to know a little about other people who live round here. And that particular "round here" goes far wider than the streets in Harringay.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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More parallels between Falkirk and St Ann's in the Daily Mail here. False addresses, family members and "la la la, I can't hear you".
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