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 John McMullan on
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I am sad to report that our protests seem to have stopped just short of Ed Milliband and I am quite sure he knows that there is something dodgy around the St Ann's candidates. However this does not stop him being photographed with Ali Gul Ozbek at a £100 a plate dinner last night (see my Twitter timeline, I doubt HarringayOnline will let me publish the photo here).
Why am I said? Because someone I thought was a good guy, who is talking a lot about getting real people back into political discourse and saying that selections must be run fairly is doing the exact opposite of what he says.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I heard about this. But I wouldn't jump to conclusions.
Being close to the famous and (potentially) powerful is part of the deal at these £100 or £150 a pop fundraisers. And you might get the chance to be in a photo with them. If I haven't deleted it, I may have a snap from former councillor Sheik Thompson showing him with arm around Gordon Brown. And when Ed Miliband came to Tottenham after the riot there was a slight scuffle as people tried to get themselves into the frame next to Ed.
Some people take it to extremes. Did you see Woody Allen's film Zelig?
Personally, for all my public appearances I hire a body double.
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I don't suppose anyone went to the St Ann's Labour Party Ward meeting last night and wants to dish? As I understand things it was inquorate and discussion of addresses of members was somewhat glossed over by the chair and secretary.
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Apparently tonight I am to receive a visit from the Haringey MPS at home. They will make an accusation on behalf of the Secretary of the St Ann's branch of the Labour Party that I have been using social media to harass him. They will ask me to sign something saying that I promise not to do it again and that if I do I may be liable to arrest.
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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You must film this madness.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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John this sounds intimidatory. Does it not parallel the attempted treatment of Cllr. Alan Stanton by the former Labour Chief Whip over the questions Alan raised on his Flickr account about Cllr. Adje's conduct?
Questions that have never been satisfactorily answered?
By publishing Cllr. H. Lister's emails, Alan brought a spotlight to this shady corner. I seem to remember just before the 'high noon' showdown, Cllr. Lister was removed as Labour Chief Whip.
You may be able to turn the visit to your advantage.Suggest you have a witness(es), record everything and/or video as TW suggests.
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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John* this from Crown Prosecution Service website 'Although harassment is not specifically defined it can include repeated attempts to impose unwanted communications and contacts upon a victim in a manner that could be expected to cause distress or fear in any reasonable person'. Have you caused 'distress or fear' ? No i thought not. However, ironically, your being accused of harassment could be deemed harassment on their part.
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Permalink Reply by ant on
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Well that doesn't sound very pleasant. Can you arrange for it to happen in a public place so we can come give you moral support, or would you like some of us to come be there with you?
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The local Labour Party have reached the pits of the earth. They will now make John a martyr and therefore give him more credence than them and they are acting like people with something to hide. And as for the police, no wonder St Anns Ward is lawless - do you have nothing better to do? John has my full support.
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John Blake is the branch secretary of St Ann's ward Labour Party. It appears from John McMullan's post above, that Mr Blake’s complaint of harassment refers to John McMullan's tweets about the St Ann's Ward selection of its Labour candidates for May's Council elections.
It is certainly nothing posted on Harringay Online. John McMullan, I, and other people have taken pains to keep posts factually based. People may disagree with some of the opinions expressed, but, to my knowledge, nobody has challenged the facts which have emerged about the St Ann's ward selection.
There are fundamental issues here. As the financial position of local newspapers across the country has worsened, their traditional role of holding powerful people and organisations to account is very seriously weakened. Newspapers have shed staff; some ceased printing and widely distributing their paper editions. Some closed.
But we still need journalism and journalists. Perhaps now even more, as corporations, councils and political parties increase the volume and sophistication of their PR machines.
Many journalists are using blogs and Twitter. We're seeing the development of websites, campaigning blogs and social media where ‘citizen journalists’ make a valuable contribution to filling the gap. In the best examples, they too challenge the powerful. "Speaking Truth to Power" as the Quakers say.
So it's a huge irony that this evening 10 February 2014, John McMullan was visited by the Police. For challenging power.
It's the very same evening that a Party Leader gave the annual Hugo Young lecture, named after the outstanding and independent minded Times and Guardian journalist. This year's lecture was by Ed Miliband as leader of the Labour Party.
I haven't yet seen or read the lecture as delivered. But much of it was released in advance. Ed Miliband was due to talk about the need to move towards “people-powered public services”: He wants a departure from "old-style, top-down central control, with users as passive recipients of services." "Giving them voice as well as choice.”
Ed plans to tackle the “unresponsive state” , in the same way he wants to tackle the private sector. He says that: “Unaccountable concentrations of power wherever we find them don’t serve the public interest and need to be held to account”.
Ed will say that “Information is power”. That access to information should no longer be: "when the professionals say it is OK or when people make a legal request for it." "We should move to an assumption that people get access to the information on them unless there is a very good reason for them not to."
Ed Miliband wants to see “Devolving power down”: And not "[...] hoarding power and decision-making at the centre [...] "
So where does the internal democracy of the Labour Party fit into this brave new world of making the powerful more accountable to ordinary citizens?
Well, we know the reality of "hoarding of power" in St Ann's branch Labour Party. 26 people met in a room to vote for the three candidates in what has been a "safe" Labour ward. Until now.
At the best of times this is a shaky and dubious way to conduct local democracy. But then we learned that five of the 26 "members" of the ward don't actually there. And participation of these five changed the result of the ballot.
“Unaccountable concentrations of power wherever we find them don’t serve the public interest and need to be held to account”. Ed, that's what people have been complaining about on Harringay Online. Except that John McMillan did act. He did not do so harass anyone but to express legitimate, strong and justifiable political concerns.
“Information is power”. Dead right, Ed. Which is why some of us get angry when Labour Party professional staff and elected branch officers say that not even the Chair and Secretary of Labour's Tottenham Constituency Party are allowed to see the signing-in sheet for the people who took part in the St Ann's selection meeting.
So what's your solution, Ed? "We should move to an assumption that people get access to the information on them unless there is a very good reason for them not to." So in this case, what's the "very good reason" not to? Well, it's because John Blake thinks it is harassment.
Maybe someone close to Ed Miliband can quietly mention that from this corner of Tottenham it all looks pretty much like the same: "old-style, top-down central control, with users as passive recipients of services". Or in this case lack of service from the local Labour Party. Business as usual, in fact.
So what about local people and: "Giving them voice as well as choice?"
You see, Ed, I agree. Fundamentally and whole-heartedly I agree with what you were billed to say this evening. They were very fine words. But it seems you can't even carry this through in one ward in Tottenham. Perhaps other people will only take these ideas seriously when you and I can both point to Labour taking your words seriously inside our Party – in our own ‘backyard’. The Labour Party practising what you preach.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor 1998-2014. Labour Party member over forty years. Former ward branch secretary and former Tottenham Constituency Secretary. My wife Zena Brabazon is one of the deselected councillors for St Ann's ward.)
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