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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Thanks for posting the link, John. Some local Labour Party members had sent it to me. (And I won't let-on that they're Daily Mail readers!) I can't imagine the Mail is Cllr Sheila Peacock's cup-of-tea. But if you happen to see Sheila, please show her their helpful box with some of the Party Rules broken.
Just to be clear, I don't think anyone has said any St Ann's or Harringay ward candidates had family members signed up at an address where they didn't live. (That was probably in another Tottenham ward.) However, you're right that the parallels with Falkirk are getting stronger. I really wonder how much longer Party apparatchiks can maintain their eyes-shut fingers-in-ears, la-la-la.
On the radio at the weekend a Labour member from Falkirk spoke of their scandal as a "boil which needed lancing" with publication of the full investigation report. As people know, in St Ann's there hasn't yet been such a full report.
I also hear on the grapevine that up to last Monday no steps had been taken to expel those St Ann's and Harringay branch "members" who claimed false addresses and are on Electoral Registers in other wards or constituencies. They haven't even been quietly and discreetly moved into their correct wards. Which is what the Party's Complacency Compliance Unit advised. Though it's fairly obvious why the London Region apparatchiks held back so far. To do this before the elections in May would be to admit the truth!
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor. Former Tottenham Constituency Secretary and ward branch secretary. My partner Zena Brabazon is one of the deselected councillors for St Ann's ward.)
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Permalink Reply by Julie on
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Can somebody point me to anything, anywhere, where those running the selection and shortlisting meetings have said 'It was all open and above board. I am happy that those selected were selected by voters in the room who were all eligible under the rules.' It was their job to check, after all. It's a job I've done in the past and with hindsight, after all this nonsense, I realise that a selection can be hijacked by one or some of the candidates. The system does rely on honesty.
All I can find is, 'It's been to the highest authority in the party and they can find no reason to rerun it.' That's not the same thing as coming out and saying, once and for all, that it was fair and square.
If I'd been ward secretary or chair, or LCF observer, I would be very keen to be able to say, 'I checked everybody. The voters were all real party members living at addresses in the ward.' Or, if not, 'I might have made an error. Maybe I took people on trust more than I should have done. Now that there's a problem, we should look at it carefully and I will add my voice to those who have concerns.'
Or am I missing something?
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Yes you're missing something. This was deliberate. No mistakes were made. A shame nobody at all in the Labour Party is prepared to admit that fact.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Normally the DM talks a load of old COBblers, but I'll let them off this time - there's some ingenious, even beautiful solutions here on how Labour might get back to basics! (or, get its house in order). These are the sort of solutions that excite people (note the number of 'shares' the article has & it's growing by the second!).
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The solution is for more people to join the Labour party and go along to these selection meetings. There's nothing in the rules about having to vote for them.
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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First I want to say thanks to John and everyone for pursuing this issue on Harringay on Line. The story as John sets it out is accurate and reflects clearly what transpired.
I have been pursuing my own complaint through the Labour Party. As a member for over 30 years with time, energy and belief invested in socialist values, I thought that was the right thing do, and had some optimism that the party would properly and fully investigate the issues which have come up in St. Ann’s. Sadly that hasn’t happened.
John has criticised me for being too loyal to the party and for pulling my punches, and there is some truth to this. On the other hand, I have persistently raised all the issues regarding the management of the meeting; the participation of ineligible people; the spike in membership of people not resident in the ward; the fact that the promised investigation was brief and superficial, and failed to include interviews or conversations with anybody other than John Blake and Steve Hart.I’ve set it all out in detailed letters to the Labour Party’s London Region, to the Chair of the London Labour Party and to the relevant member of the National Executive Committee (NEC). I wrote a detailed summary email finally to Angela Eagle MP, Chair of the NEC as an appeal for a full investigation into the whole process. Cllr David Browne, the other deselected St. Ann’s councillor, wrote to the Labour Party on September 18. We sent evidence regarding people who were signed up but not living in the ward taken from publicly available internet sources. David has not even had the courtesy of an acknowledgment and the evidence we’ve provided of ineligible people joining the ward appears not to have been investigated.
I wrote to the Labour Party’s Compliance Unit when a witness came forward to say she had challenged the attendance at the meeting. I gave them her contact details. She was never contacted, even though lack of challenge was the basis for the party’s excuse for inaction. The rules which require residence in the ward and being on the electoral register have been ignored.
We have never seen that attendance list for the meeting and the constituency chair and secretary haven’t been allowed to see it either, despite asking for it. The only concession from the Party has been to say ‘the Regional Office will take action to ensure that members are registered at the correct addresses. However, this does not impact on the result of the St. Ann’s selection’.
So despite every effort on my and David’s part, complaints from party members and evidence from other witnesses, and obvious principles of Natural Justice, the Labour Party line remains the same. Meanwhile St. Ann’s ward currently has 21 ‘members’ who neither live there nor are registered electors there. That’s around 20% of the ward branch membership. Of these 21 people, a block of 16 members signed up on 8 July 2013, almost all from business addresses. We have asked the obvious questions about how they signed up and why they are almost all from business addresses but to no avail.
Given the situation in Falkirk I find it all truly disturbing. I’ll conclude by saying this isn’t about me or David, it is about doing things properly and transparently and abiding by the rules. In my letter to Angela Eagle, the Chair of the NEC I quoted Ed Miliband. "The Labour Party I lead will select its candidates in a fair and transparent way. We will act without fear or favour”. I said in my letter to her ‘I support this principled stance and ask that this standard is applied to the St Ann’s selection meeting.’
Finally a real thank you to Hugh and Liz for their hard work in setting up and maintaining HoL, providing such an essential forum for people to express their views.
Zena Brabazon
Cllr, St. Ann's Ward
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This is now the most viewed article on HarringayOnline ever. It has beaten "The Great Flapjack Scandal" although I doubt that had 20 people in Labour Party head office clicking on it every half hour to see what else had been put up.
David Lammy will be on the #labourdoorstep in Harringay this weekend, perhaps he would like some feedback. As far as I can tell the #labourdoorstep in St Ann's is not running at the moment.
I have nothing more to add other than to reiterate, by all means mention this on the doorstep in Harringay ward but the three candidates running for Labour here were nothing to do with it and one of them has even spoken out within the party against what went on at the St Ann's ward selection meeting (and was ignored).
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The selection system relies on honesty. Yeah right! It relies on vigilance.
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I posted before that there are people in and outside Haringey Labour Party who have spoken up against the entryism and vote-rigging. I’ve now talked to several people who, out campaigning across the borough, have met residents angry and disgusted because of St Ann’s.
John McMullan posted that one of the Harringay ward candidates:"has spoken out within the party against what went on at the St Ann's ward selection meeting (and was ignored)".
I’m very glad to make it clear that to the best of my knowledge Emine Ibrahim is one of the "good guys". She was one of the people shortlisted by St Ann's Labour Party ward branch. And, so I'm told, Emine stood a very strong chance of being selected — but for the votes of five people who don't live in the ward and aren't on the Electoral Register there. So she is in the same position as David Browne and my partner Zena Brabazon. (Except Emine was subsequently selected as a Labour candidate in Harringay Ward.)
As I've said before, I wasn’t there. But the account I’ve been given is that Emine Ibrahim arrived some thirty minutes before the candidate Selection Meeting was due to start. And that outside she noticed five people. She thought something was not right and spoke to Steve Hart. Emine said that St Ann’s Ward Secretary John Blake then prevented her from entering the room where these people were sitting. (Still well before the meeting had begun.)
Emine was the person referred to by Zena Brabazon (in her post on Monday 25 November) as: “a witness [who] came forward to say she had challenged the attendance at the meeting”. I was told that, like several other people, Emine formally complained to the Labour Party London Region. I also gather that she was never contacted by the Labour Party’s staff to give evidence; not even getting an acknowledgement.)
I am personally delighted that Emine Ibrahim is a Labour candidate. If you meet her, please shake her warmly by the hand. By all means give her a hard time asking questions about the party's policies. But remember that she is one of the people caught up in this scandal who has shown a moral compass; and the backbone to speak out for the decent politics Ed Miliband has called for.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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The St Ann's ward Labour Party are looking for help from other wards this Sunday for their canvassing. From the grapevine:
SUPER SUNDAY Campaigning - This Sunday at 11.30 am. We will be continuing with our canvassing sessions in St Ann's, talking to residents, finding out about the issues affecting them and campaigning for Labour. We're hoping to get a big turn out this weekend so we can cover a lot of ground and speak to as many residents as possible, so if you've never come canvassing before now is a great time to give it a go. We will be meeting at 11.30am outside St Ann's Church. If you'd like more details or if you're running a bit late on the day, please let Peter Morton know on REDACTED.Many thanks and hope to see you there.-------------------------------------------------------------------So further west in Harringay David Lammy will be working on his thighs doing the ladder #labourdoorstep but I've seen no sign of any MPs or consituency candidates willing to help out in St Ann's. It even looks like they can't get enough people in the ward to help. Funny that.
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Permalink Reply by Keith Waterhouse on
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What a poor plan to cover St Anns Ward this Sunday, bad management and poor choices again. Why? This Sunday the local football team have lunchtime kick off at home to Manchester United so the traffic will be horrific throughout. The game is also on tv (BT Sports) so a minimal amount of people will turn out to help and the rest wont answer the door when they are watching the game. As it is the 1st of December the shops begin their Christmas Sales until Christmas Eve. What a bunch of plonklers! Poorly managed and supervised with no forward planning or in sight as to what is happening locally that could effect their plans. HO!HO!HO!
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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In their defence, every Sunday at this stage of electioneering is #labourdoorstep day, and the different ward members all pile in to share the knocking up. Prospective and existing candidates all have to go doorstepping, it's part of the Person Spec., and there are 60-odd of them plus their cheerleaders. The footie calendar is probably not considered, as believe it or not, only a minority is interested. Sadly frantic shopping is a majority sport, but there will be more opportunities before next May.
Meanwhile, do they sell rubber chickens down Green Lanes?
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