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It therefore came as something of a surprise to learn that the Labour Party is contemplating the imminent suspension of the Newham Labour Group by way of putting the group into special measures.
The Housing Ombudsman has reported on the way in which councils handle housing complaints. This is the first report since a new Complaint Handling Code was strengthened by making it a statutory obligation.
Feedback from councils suggest that 92% of them find the code helpful in providing a consistent approach to complaint handling.
The report highlighted examples of good practice by some councils.
It also noted some failures.
It does seem that the mayor’s specially chosen councillors are hell-bent on embarrassing their leader. We understand that another councillor, this time Cllr Miraj Patel (Deputy Cabinet Member for the Environment) is the subject of a formal complaint.
Those who were around in Labour circles five years ago will recall that one R. Wales expressed concerns to the Labour Party about the Tower-Hamletisation of Newham Labour. For this he was predictably attacked for Islamophobia. And of course, the Labour Party under one J. Corbyn, chose to do nothing.
His concerns, however, were also shared by members of the Muslim community, including those in Newham Labour. They have ben instrumental in providing material for this piece. With this publication we reveal how key members of Tablighi Jamaat worked with the Fiaz campaign to oust Wales and how they have since been rewarded with positions of influence.
We note in addition that those in the Tablighi/Fiaz faction effectively created a party within a party.
The two Newham CLPs have subsequently been suspended; the council has suffered a defection to Lutfer Rahman’s Aspire party and has been riven by accusations of anitsemitism; and some eight members of the Labour Group are said to be under investigation by the Labour Party.
The root of the mess that Newham Labour is now experiencing lies in no small part with the Islamo-Leftist coalition that brought Mayor Fiaz to power. Roxi and the Tablighis tells that story.
A topical satirical/political website focussed on the London Borough of Newham. Stay informed, keep Newham council in check!
Local Elections
We pondered whether by-election results are an indication of the popularity of the council.
We have excluded the results of by-elections held on the same days as the general election (07/05/15; 04/07/24), because the turnout prompted by the parliamentary elections will skew the results.
On top of the victories in Maryland and Forest Gate North, Labour were successful in Beckton and Little Ilford.
This should take the immediate pressure off Fiaz, but the implications for the Labour Party are still not clear. It seems unlikely that the threatened defections by a number of councillors will now occur.
We may be forced to revise our predictions for the Beckton byelection.
With the general election over, thoughts are going to the two byelections scheduled for July 18th. Little Ilford still seems to be odds-on for Newham Independents.
They work for you?
The question of Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz taking her own council to court has caused some amusement. We understand that it is being whispered within the council buildings that there is no tribunal case, (which suggests to us, that Fiaz intends to drop the matter), but we are confident in our original assertion.
There was an old adage which went to the effect that Labour knew how to spend money, but not how to use it.
It didn’t take long.
The need to make massive savings did seem to have concentrated the minds of some of those on Newham Council. Amongst the savings they proposed was the reduction or abolition of facility time for trade union reps.
CUTS, CUTS, CUTS!
“Senior officers and councillors displayed a “collective corporate blindness” to the urgency of the council’s financial position and repeatedly failed to act to tackle spiralling overspends”
Not about Newham, but from the Auditor’s Public Interest Report on the financial crisis in Croydon. Newham, you have been warned.
It seems that ICT staff in Newham are currently taking part in a strike ballot. This is caused by “the council’s plan to outsource the service”, as quoted on UKAuthority website.
The coroner reported, “Omar Abdi Ahmed died on 20th November 2023 in hospital due to hypothermia. Mr Ahmed, an amputee who received domiciliary care three times a day, was found by carers, unresponsive at home on l5th November 2023.
Earlier this week, ( 06/08/24), the Overview and Scrutiny Committee met, together with Mayor Fiaz and Finance Czar, Zulfiqar Ali. These senior backbenchers continued to be concerned that the council’s finances might be a problem. In short, their concerns, which had been echoed on this website and in the press, were that Newham is heading for financial disaster.
What a Fiaz-co
It seems that Newham has adopted an alternative, sort of DIY, strategy towards homelessness. Small tent-villages are springing up.
The members of London Councils met recently for their AGM and to elect their executive for the new year.
This is an organization well known to Mayor Fiaz, as she was already on the executive.
Promises, Promises
The purpose of this series is not to support or challenge the policies that the mayor has reneged on, it is simply to remind readers that there were significant promises made to the electorate that have been ditched once she got into office.
We will touch on this only briefly because we have covered it at length elsewhere. However, we should note that within the space of 12 months, Mayor Fiaz had suddenly dropped the manifesto commitment to 50% social housing in all new developments.
Promises made three years ago are fast disappearing into the ether. And car drivers in Newham are understandably a little peeved about the number of parking tickets issued.
Labour in Newham
Various news sources have reported that the on-off mayor of Tower Hamlets is in trouble again. Not content with a ban for five years for “corrupt practices”, (what The Guardian summarises as “vote-rigging, buying votes and religious intimidation”), Lutfer Rahman has found himself in trouble again. In February 2024, government inspectors were despatched to Tower Hamlets because of problems.
We continue to dig into the story about Cllr Lewis Godfrey’s suspension from the Labour Party. We are confident in this assertion, although, he still appears on the council website (Nov 8th 2024) as a Labour Party and Co-operative Party member.
There was some surprise when Cllr Pushpa was reported to have migrated from Newham to Havering, less than one month after being elected to represent the residents of Plashet ward in East Ham.
Community News
We noted the change in the name of the Mayor’s favoured faith body, Newham Muslim Forum, noting that it was now to be known as Faith Space London.
This seemed a little unusual to us, given the particular support of some individuals connected to the Newham People’s Alliance Facebook page with the NMF, we submitted an FOI to understand the connection that this new organisation had with the council.
We reported on the hissing directed at a Jewish councillor when he got up to speak at council. The hissing came from the public gallery. It is not unknown for members of the public to express their disapproval of their elected councillors by means of gestures, heckling and rude noises.
We reported some years ago, that a small number of younger Tablighi Jamaat activists, had won favour with Mayor Fiaz for the way in which they had orchestrated the social media campaign in the race to get her selected as the mayoral candidate.
What Happens Next?
Only a few weeks to go and the mayoral statements from the various candidates have been released. We take a brief look at them in the order in which they appear.
From mayoral candidate Simeon Ademolake
“Thanks so much for your article about my Mayoral bid. Unfortunately, some of your information is inaccurate.
Labour has now decided upon its candidates for the 2022 local elections in May. It seems like a victory for Mayor Fiaz who has cleared out almost all of those connected to the ancien regime and imported a number who will be unfamiliar to readers, and to most of the local Labour Party!