A Scurrilous Rumour
It seems that there are moves afoot to make some changes in the Whip’s office.
Sources tell us that early in March, the mayor met with her ‘political cabinet’, (cabinet members without council officers present). Amongst the things they discussed were two related issues. Firstly, the forthcoming AGM and secondly the discipline, or lack thereof in Labour Group.
It seems that there is some disagreement inside the Labour Group as to the source of their problems. There is a faction that believes that Mayor Fiaz can be reformed, if she just begins to understand the gravity of the situation. And there are those who believe that she, and with her the Party, are a lost cause if she remains in control.
It seems that Deputy Mayor, Cllr James Asser, is one of the former. The problems is not the mayor, it appears, it is not revelations of the ‘Peer Review’ and the breakdown in relationships between the mayor and members and the mayor and officers; it is not her behaviour and the Standards Advisory Committee report that Newham are still trying to withhold; it is not the allegations of bullying; it is not the collapse of her authority amongst the members of her own Labour Group; it is not the embarrassment of spending (hundreds of?) thousands of pounds and failing in the Borough of Culture bid; it is not her obsessive need to manage a plethora of portfolios and her inability to delegate.
No, apparently, we understand, Cllr Asser has identified the problem of lack of Group discipline as a problem of the Chief Whip. Cllr Anamul Islam, is, it seems, the problem. Get rid of Islam, get rid of the problem.
A second problem is who to replace him with? We understand that the front runner amongst the political cabinet is Cllr Steve Brayshaw. Brayshaw was a Whip in the Wales administration, so he has some experience of the role. His ability to play to both sides might make him a less attractive candidate if Fiaz is feeling a little unsure of her position.
The prospect of Islam getting the Spanish Archer should not alarm anyone. But his inability to manage the Group when the mayor is doing everything in her power to undermine Group unity, is perhaps a little unfair.
If Brayshaw comes in anew, he may well experience a bit of a honeymoon period. Quite how long that will last when the reality of the dire situation that Newham is in really bites, is anyone’s guess. Is he going to start suspending Group members? The Group is currently split on ethnic lines and in terms of attitude to Fiaz. So which faction is he going to go against? Perhaps it doesn’t matter, maybe he’ll just go for the faction which seems weakest in order to make an example of some prominent individuals. A ‘suspension’ on their record would sour the chances of some of the parliamentary hopefuls.
But he still needs to be elected and Fiaz is currently losing votes in the Group with a ratio of 2:1 against.
Our expectation is that the AGM will see an expansion of special responsibility posts. These won’t cure the problem, but they might buy sufficient votes to save Fiaz further political embarrassment.
On a side note, we understand that London Labour Party Regional Director, Pearleen Sangha was in attendance at the last meeting of the Labour Group. This follows on from an earlier visitation from Regional Officer, Larry Culhane. Is this a sign that London Labour are now concerned about Labour’s prospects in Newham?