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 Keith Waterhouse on
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Sorry about that, I was about to ask "when can you start"
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If you get the candidates I'll voluntarily donate both time and money to their campaign. I do not support the ideoligical right-wing policies of the Tories and their opportunist LibDem partners in crime. But cynical Labour is doing so much damage! they have been in charge of Haringey Council since before world war 2 and that has has catastrophic results on the area! Labour needs to learn a lesson! At present the line between left and right is too thin.
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One never knows but Haringey Labour needs a spanking. For too long they have been making excuses and now they are selling the residents out in intellectual desperation. That includes the local MP who has no idea of what will bring advancement to those who most need it. Their solutions are the same ready made ones foisted by colonial types on so-called developing countries. They aren't prepared to do the harder work to empower people and ultimately alllow them to fend for themselves. Such a lack of self confidence. They perpetate he dependency syndrome.....it gives them power and advances their own personal agendas.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Don't you think that this is what the Labour Party think that they are doing? Riding roughshod over their own rules so that they can get some right wing candidates in to "clean the place up". When our Dear Leader (Claire Kober for the benefit of Google) runs one of the most dysfunctional organisations I have ever heard of. This is not boardroom politics it's student politics.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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They are holding firm on one rule only: the opportunity for members at Selection Meetings to challenge the eligibility of other people in the room. But how odd that they seem so unobservant, unconcerned or incurious about observation of several other rules. Such as the need to live in and to be on the Electoral Register in the ward you join.
There are a few more interesting rules one of which, John, you highlighted yourself. Who should pay full and who reduced membership rates? These rates are publicly set out on the Party's website as follows.
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If you want to see a crazy ranting nerd throwing his toys out of his cot and hopefully hitting some high ups in the Labour party, check out Twitter.
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So the letter from the Labour Party to the "losing candidate", yes they do make that distinction, says that it's all tickety-boo with the selection because they rang John Blake and Steve Hart and they said it was all right and proper, apart from the people who didn't live where they said they lived. The solution to that is to ensure they they change their addresses, for next time.
I'm torn about publishing the actual letter because it says "private and confidential" but I've spent ages typing it in from the copy I found lying in Jam in a Jar tonight so if anyone is interested just say and I'll publish. I think John Blake (history teacher and runner of dodgy selection meetings) would agree that the above paragraph is a pretty good paraphrasing of it though.
I can't wait for the first picture of Barbara, Peter and Ali from the #labourdoorstep feed on Twitter.
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#labourdoorstep feed on Twitter? Someone recently pointed out to me the comically upbeat tweets of all doorstep canvassers.
Fantastic response on Transylvania Ward doorsteps this pm. LibDem betrayal on blood bank issue say residents at Castle Dracula.
So didn't the canvassers meet a single resident with something even mildly critical to say? Apparently not.
"Residents praising Haringey parks to the skies. Though a few comments about shade of begonias. Haringey listens. Cross-pollination soon."
Meanwhile LibDem Canvassers are out meeting the same residents yet getting a similar message.
Cheering crowds turn up on Haringey LibDem action day. Residents sprinkle rose petals & lay down cloaks in my path. Landslide predicted. -lf
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Alan-I have lived in St Anns Ward for seventeen years and I can honestly say that ONLY the lIb Dums have rang my entryphone. They have leafleted three times leading up to all elections. At the last by-election Labour leafleted once. The Tories on all accounts have not bothered. Canvassing is anathema to the lot! That is why at a crisis time such as this in regards to selection/de-selection the community needs Claire Kober and others to come out of the white tower and meet and greet and listen. All this stodge about rules and regulations is getting monotonous. Time to get out and meet the people, time for street meetings in St Anns ward, especially at weekends. One hour in a public library is rubbish.Motivate.
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Thanks, Keith, I assume "one hour in a public library" means what's called an "advice surgery" where people can go along and talk to their local councillors about confidential personal issues. You're right that this is not the appropriate forum to discuss St Ann's ward selection.
Whether or not this whole issue will be taken into the wider public arena as you suggest, depends entirely on the Labour Party's NEC (National Executive Committee). Zena Brabazon and David Browne, along with some other members of St Ann's ward branch have put in complaints. They are doing what the Party expects them to do: taking it though the formal machinery.
The NEC still has an opportunity to do the decent thing and order a rerun of this selection. Or they can do nothing and endorse the view of the party's paid staff who'd like it all to go away. I'd guess these apparatchiks are counting on people thinking that it's some technical issue - "stodge about rules". Hoping that six months is long enough for people to get bored and forget it. Expect to read phrases like "line in the sand" and "the need to move on".
But the issue is not about technical rules. It's whether people have a moral compass. And whether or not they'll condone a cover-up. To say there’s nothing to investigate because members should have challenged this at the selection meeting, is smoke and mirrors. And it's not what the Labour Party’s rules actually say.
Keith, you may have missed the analogy I gave in Part 1 of this thread. (Apologies for repetition if you did see it.)
Imagine you turn up to Gatwick and your airline says your luggage is over the weight limit and you owe them £20. So you pay - making a mental note to buy new bathroom scales. Six months later you read in the paper that "75 of a total 330 weighing scales at Gatwick Airport were inaccurate or broken for up to three years". You contact the airline and ask for £20 back. Do they:
(A) Refuse, saying you should have challenged the £20 charge at the time?
(B) Ignore your letter or email?
(C) Send you a cheque for £20 with an apology and an assurance they've fixed all their scales?
Response (C) Shows a reputable company which values its customers and doesn't behave like a dodgy trader at a car boot sale. (A) and (B) show the current position of the London Regional Labour Party.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor. My partner Cllr Zena Brabazon is one of the deselected candidates for St Ann's ward.)
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Alan- still I look for a commitment to communicate with the community and still I see none. Street meetings are long overdue. I see no leadership but only a figurehead. I see brick walls being built and not bridges, I see red tape strangling the ward, I see baggage in the shape of old grudges and bad feeling. I do not see multi tasking where needed to promote confidence and still fight the battle over the buckled and distorted selection process.
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