Cllr Godfrey in the News Again, for all the wrong reasons.

Readers will note that we took down an article regarding Cllr Godfrey. This is rare and in this article we outline why.

There was a dispute about whether Cllr Godfrey or supporters of the Independent Group had behaved inappropriately on the day of the byelection.

One niggling element of the account by Cllr Godfrey has been clarified. Why was it that a councillor from Green St West was responding to a report of intimidation in Plaistow North, from a resident (of Green St West), who was not even a voter in the by-election?

Voter intimidation is a serious matter which goes to the heart of the ability to hold free and fair elections. ‘Somebody’ walking by a polling station, (and because Cllr Godfrey is an honourable man, we accept that there was ‘somebody’ walking by; as you will see below, that is not everybody’s belief). A person “feeling” intimidated does not necessarily meet the basic standards of an offence.

You can “feel” intimidated by the fact that the person on the street corner is male, or of a different ethnic group or is wearing the opposition football colours. “Feeling” is not the appropriate test.

The allegations about Godfrey’s behaviour appears to have taken off as an issue following a report published on this website. His response on Twitter/X follows.

Cllr Godfrey got in touch with Open Newham and was adamant that it was factually incorrect. That being so, and because we could not verify everything, although our correspondent was adamant in their account, we took down the post and reserved the right to revisit the topic later, should circumstances change. And change they have.

We learned that a formal complaint regarding Cllr Godfrey’s actions has been lodged with the monitoring officer. This comes from the “woman” in the Independent Group who was monitoring the polling station. This is reproduced below.

To Satish Mistry 

I am writing to you, to make a formal complaint against Cllr Lewis Godfrey the councillor for Green Street West Ward.

Cllr Godfreys actions towards me on the 23/11/2023 fell well below the expected level of behaviour of an elected representative.

I believe he has subsequently lied about the events of that day and I will lay out the evidence to substantiate that in greater detail. 

On the 23/11/2023, I was standing outside the polling (sic) station with reminder cards to vote for Sophia Naqvi. I had been at the Selwyn Primary School polling (sic) station since 7am and was made aware by the polling station staff that I could stand on either side of the fence but not in front of the station. I abided by these rules and had no issues.

I was speaking to another volunteer when a man said hello to me, I turned to face him and see who it was and he had the camera in my face and was taking photos of me. His actions were extremely creepy and quite frankly he was acting in a weird way. He told me to continue what I’m doing and he’s just taking photos to report this to the electoral agency. 

Why was he doing this when there were council employees and police to ensure a free and fair election, it was in my opinion an intimidation tactic being deployed by Cllr Godfrey. 

I asked him why is he taking my photo and he told me I am wrong and that I should continue. I asked him once again to stop taking photos of me and he moved to the other side of the fence to take photos of other volunteers. He then came back and continued taking photos of me. I found this extremely intimidating and told him that I feel uncomfortable. He told me this is public and he has the right to take my photo. I told him that I am not public property and he should stop and delete my photos. He was speaking to me in an extremely passive aggressive manner and refused to delete my images.

After feeling uncomfortable with his presence and continued harassment by taking pictures I decided to go inside the polling station. The police officers were there and I told them that I felt uncomfortable and he was not stopping. The returning officer was also made aware and they told me that he cannot take photos of me if I’m not happy with it. The officers came and took him to the side to tell him to delete my images.

The officers made him delete my images and told me that this person was Cllr Lewis Godfrey. I was the only female volunteer present and he continued to intimidate me and raise his voice despite me asking him to stop taking pictures. After the police spoke to him, he left the area.

Cllr Godfrey has subsequently claimed on a whatsapp group that he was contacted by a resident of Green street west ward that had apparently “felt intimidated by the behaviour of people support Sophia at the polling station” 

Green street west residents were not taking part in the election, I believe councillor Godfrey is making up a lie to back up his intimidatory behaviour. Cllr Godfrey has transgressed in my opinion the Nolan principles by acting dishonestly by not being transparent. He has shown a lack of integrity by his unethical behaviour towards me.

As Councillor Godfrey has claimed that he was there at the behest of one of his residents, it is my belief that he was there in his councillor capacity to carry out the actions I have detailed earlier. It is this belief that has made me write the complaint to you. 

He is seeking to evade accountability for his actions by making up spurious claims about residents being intimidated, he is seeking to defame me through his actions and words. 

Cllr Godfrey wrote the following on a public forum about me 

“The woman who people felt had been intimidating residents” sic 

This is a lie, I would like the council to investigate the veracity of Cllr Godfreys claims. I do not believe this resident exists, he needs to provide proof or he is just defaming me to others.

I am young and this experience was my first time interacting with the election process. I felt the council staff and police were very good and the rest of the day was very peaceful and pleasant. 

I have attached the police reference number as I have reported this to the officers present on the day. CAD 1208/23NOV23

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Cllr Godfrey has responded that the complaint is vexatious.

To add a further level of complexity, we understand that Cllr Godfrey has announced that his WhatsApp account has been hacked. Curiouser and curiouser.