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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Sorry to read of your nervousness about posting on HoL, Ceri, but perhaps not surprised. As is the case on most forums, some authors are far more robust than they need to be. We deal with the most serious issues, but for the rest, it seems to be rather the nature of the beast, I'm afraid,
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Permalink Reply by 1sc9rygewokvc on
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Reply by John McMullan
"Start your own thread if you're so inclined".Thanks for that suggestion John, I just might do that, but perhaps a bit nearer to the election to remind voters what the politicians 'actually' do for the people who pay their wages.....in my case not a lot, and the person concerned is Dave Browne !
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Well he's been deselected in #stanns, so don't waste your time.
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It's come to my attention that Haringey Labour were aware of mass entryism in the borough of the kind seen in St Ann's ward as far back as July last year with none other than Alan Olive urging wards to take action and clarifying the freeze dates. This was seen as an especially bad problem in Seven Sisters, Northumberland Park and West Green. It was dealt with appropriately in every ward in the borough (as far as I am aware) but certainly not in St Ann's.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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John, I hadn't spotted this particular bit of information. Nor realised the implications. I did hear that at one time Kober and others were trying to bring forward the "Freeze Date" for members being eligible to take part in candidate selection by ward branches. But it seems that Alan Olive at the London Regional Office sensibly said 'no'. (If only he'd been equally sensible since then.)
Plainly it's going to be a large task turning all this into a short pamphlet version (both downloadable and paper) so every St Ann's elector and anyone with internet access, can read details of what happened. But that's clearly essential if voters are to go to the poll having an opportunity to get accurate facts.
Are the apparatchiks at Labour's London Regional office still following you on Twitter? I assume they've noticed the steady increase in hits on HoL. Right now 26,000+
Vaneska, we have many Labour-voting friends in Crouch End and other wards in Hornsey Wood Green whose confidence in the Labour Party has been shaken by the party's failure to tackle vote-rigging in St Ann's. I particularly regret how the Party's duplicity in excusing and covering it up, now risks damaging the electoral prospects of some excellent candidates.
In your Crouch End ward, I don't yet know about Labour candidate Natan Doron. But I'm hearing good things about Jason Arthur. I do know Lourdes Keever and she was also shortlisted in our own Tottenham Hale ward. Lourdes will make an outstanding councillor. I recommend her without reservation.
My strong recommendation to anyone wondering who to vote for is to refuse to take part in the silly nonsense of doorstep "voter ID". It's a condescending, scripted, tick-box game; mandated by robotic party apparatchiks.
Instead, insist on speaking directly to a candidate you're thinking of voting for. There are 118 days left which is time enough. Sit them down. If the candidate can't give you say, 15 or 20 minutes for a grown-up conversation about real issues then don't waste your vote.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor 1998-2014)
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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After a couple of years of sitting through many ward meetings, I have realised that all that matters is the last year of every term, especially the month up to the cutoff date. Then it all gets packed - entryism everywhere. I'm sure this has happened since the dinosaurs gave up in despair.
One interesting exercise would be to look at membership graphs through the electoral cycle, if any such records are ever kept.
Falkirk just did what they all do. So did StAnns, they just blew it on the day. £40-odd a year is a lot to keep paying if you're only needed for ten minutes.
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I live in Crouch End where Labour have been putting some effort (more than I remember previously) into sticking questionnaires through our doors with pointed questions asking us to tell them anything that might be bothering us, and also doorstepping quite thoroughly - scenting the chance to remove Lynne Featherstone, I guess. Having missed me before, they managed to collar me tonight and I told them that as a natural Labour voter but with minimal interest in the political machine, the one big thing that was making me reconsider was the St Anns Ward issue. The guy didn't pretend not to understand exactly what I was getting at and clearly agreed that it was a big problem that touches on everyone. To my surprise he told me that I was the first person on a doorstep who had mentioned this issue to him. I assured him that people may not have mentioned it but not to imagine that people around here aren't reconsidering their votes.
v
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I lived in Crouch End for over twenty years, in the days of Sir Hugh Rossi! What you say about voters thinking is true. Some of us, myself included, have already made it clear we will not vote for the Labour Party in St Anns Ward because of theis scandal. The local labour party have lost our confidence because of this and I do not see them upping the anti to get things back on track They will get what they deserve if there is any justice in this world.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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I HOPE that the Labour Party will examine more carefully the reports of fraud in the selection of their St. Ann's Ward candidates.
The shady dealings described, would have required pre-meditation – apparently, now followed by a cover-up. Is the local leadership involved?
It tends to give all politics a bad name. It's surprising that the official candidates – who've been selected in such circumstances – are content to begin their political careers with the appearance of taint. The people behind this know who they are. They ought to examine their consciences. Do they not understand that the matters to which they are connected will not go away?
The Labour Party has allowed this to fester for more than three months.
Do these characters appreciate that in the Internet age, these associations – to what appears be electoral fraud – will remain, able to trawled up indefinitely?
I hope that David Lammy MP might lead in sorting this out: it would demonstrate principles.
The dearest wish of the perpetrators is that this would all go away and be forgotten ASAP. Congratulations to John McMullan for his fight to clean this up. Happy to yield the title of most-ever-viewed thread (26,000 and climbing) to a fellow Kiwi ...
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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Im surprised the Lib-dems aren't making more of this.
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Perhaps, but the Lib-Dems should be going for the jugular. They love getting news out about Labour's failings, but have been pretty damn silent on this matter. It makes me wonder if the others have one or two skeletons in closets as well.
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I hope it's no worse than festering. Clive. Because with proper treatment, a suppurating wound can be healed.
Did you see the Independent's story on the row about Tory MP Anne McIntosh being deselected in Thirsk and Malton? There are allegations - as the independent puts it - that "local activists played fast and loose with party rules in their determination to sack their sitting MP".
I think that "playing fast and loose with party rules" would be an accurate if over-polite way to describe what happened in St Ann's. One difference is that the Tories' rules now stipulate a postal ballot for all the members of the Thirsk & Malton Constituency.
The Labour Party doesn't have such a procedure for its ward branch selections. But it would be fascinating if it did. Not least because they'd face the problem of where to send the ballot forms of all the "members" who live outside the ward.
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