Carleene Lee-Phakoe Resigns from Cabinet
A second cabinet member has resigned. Mayor Fiaz would seem to have more chance of keeping water in a colander than she does of keeping members in her cabinet. Carleene Lee-Phakoe is the second cabinet member to resign this week.
There was some speculation about her future when husband, Daniel, stood down from the council. Daniel Lee-Phakoe had been a thorn in the side of Mayor Fiaz for the past five years.
He orchestrated the complaint to The Labour Party, along with several other councilors, about the bullying behaviour of the mayor; he was key to organising support for Group Officer candidates opposed to Fiaz in the last Labour Group AGM.
Throughout all of this Carleene trod her own path and remained loyal to Fiaz.
We understand that the turning point came some weeks ago. Not only was she shunted from a post into which she had invested much political capital, but the mayor, in effect threw all of her work back in her face.
In a volte face Fiaz decided to abandon the policy that she had previously agreed, and that Lee-Phakoe had been working on for months. Prior to this change of heart, Newham and the police had been seeking to reduce the effect of prostitutes plying their trade along the Romford Road. Lee-Phakoe had championed the use of Public Space Protection Orders, (PSPOs). These did not cure the problem, but they did offer relief to the families and residents who lived in the north east of the borough. Newham had sought to give recognition to the wishes of residents.
The whole PSPO incident exposed deep divisions within the Labour group, divisions which were not resolved in open debate, but in manipulation behind the scenes. Cllr Lewis Godfrey, we are told was the de-facto leader of the anti PSPO campaign in the council.
We are told that Godfrey pretty much single handedly got the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) and pro-prostitution campaigners to pressure Fiaz and by extension Lee-Phakoe.
We are reliably informed that Lee-Phakoe was ready, willing and able to stand up for the beleaguered residents along the Romford road who have had to endure years of ASB related to street-based prostitution.
However it would seem that the wishful thinking won ahead of enforcement when Fiaz sided with them over the views of the residents, her cabinet members and councillors. The English Collectiove of Prostitutes went as far as to thank Cllr Lewis Godfrey and Mayor Fiaz for a job well done. One councillor put the position like this. “It seems that the mayor preferred the advice of the English Collective of Prostitutes to that of her own cabinet member.”
Don’t take our word for it
Fiaz and her cabinet member for Adults, Cllr Neil Wilson, decided that rather than use enforcement, they would be taking a “Public Health” approach. No-one is quite sure what this will look like, yet. Nor will we before the report is produced some nine months hence.
Little wonder that Manor Park and Little Ilford residents feel abandoned, but that’s ok, because there isn’t a by-election planned there, (yet).
The last cabinet reshuffle saw Lee-Phakoe moved into a brief that included but was not limited to Temporary accommodation.
Regular readers will be aware that Temporary accommodation is a regular financial strain on the council’s budget and something of a poisoned chalice, in fact it was seen at the time by many in the Labour group that Fiaz was seeking to slap down Lee-Phakoe for two reasons.
1. Exacting retribution on Lee-Phakoe for the actions of her husband , and
2. Fiaz was quietly troubled by the rising stock of Lee-Phakoe and saw her as a potential rival to securing a third term.
This, according to our sources, are the issues at the heart of her decision to resign. It was abandoning residents in favour of a currently fashionable political agenda; and the insult of a demotion; and on top of this, the way in which her husband was treated by Fiaz.