More Gossip and Rumour
The stories of dissent in the local Labour Party continue to leak out. While Labour leads nationally with a lead of nearly 20 points in opinion polls, locally, Labour continues to be dogged by internal discord.
We hear that Sadiq has been approached and has agreed to find a place for Fiaz in his administration. This is remarkable, if true, because Khan and Fiaz have a difficult relationship, not helped by Fiaz publicly calling Khan a liar. However, we could not resist a smile when contemplating Fiaz having oversight of the construction of the Silvertown Tunnel.
The back story is that the Labour Party are now heartily sick of Fiaz and the problems that Newham present to the Labour Party. They intend to instruct Fiaz to resign. Of course, they have no legal power to force her, so they will offer a carrot that will sound like a promotion. This will save her humiliation and ensure that her income is not adversely affected.
We are told that Khan has unofficially agreed to reshuffle his Deputy Mayors, (there are currently eight of them) and slot in Fiaz. The Labour Party will then choose a candidate for the role of mayor in a by-election, (yes, another one!).
It’s a fascinating story, as to how true it is, we don’t know. It's sort of plausible, but it could be the product of wishful thinking.
We’ve been looking at the canvassing photos for some of the parties, (some don’t seem to have started yet). Labour is an interesting case study.
In East Ham, a long-standing and respected candidate who has spent decades building up links in the community; one who has the home phone numbers of members and activists has drawn large numbers to his campaign.
Contrast this with the turnout for the “brilliant” James Asser, where almost all of those attending (and there weren’t many) were people elected to the council.
The gossip surrounding candidate Asser has revealed a falling out with some of the comrades. For those in the know, the complete absence of certain councillors in any campaign pictures is telling. Asser, it is said had indicated to local parliamentary hopefuls that he would be seeking a seat outside of London, one of the Brighton seats was mentioned.
His safe delivery into the Beckton seat meant that several local parliamentary hopefuls were denied a chance. This has left them all feeling a little betrayed by Asser.
Newbee candidate Uma Kumaran appeared to do better with the arrival of star attraction, Sadiq Khan, but we’re not sure that the majority of people in the pictures are Labour canvassers; they appear to be local residents corralled for a photo-shoot. Moreover, there seem to be precious few Labour Party activists from Newham engaged in support of her campaign.
