Newham Labour Group. Four Positions that No-one Wants and Twelve Positions Unopposed.

One of the marks of a healthy political party is that they share a general outlook about the way a society should be organized. The other is that there is healthy competition for posts of influence.

Alas, neither seems to be true of Newham Labour Group.

Arguably, one of the most important posts is that of Group Secretary. Prior to the AGM, not a single councillor was prepared to stand for the post; nor for that of Assistant Secretary.

It's rather like they have given up.

One of the positions that is contested is that of Group Whip. As we predicted some time ago, Mayor Fiaz is seeking to get rid of the sitting Chief Whip, Anamul Islam. We predicted that he would be challenged by former Chief Whip, under Robin Wales,  Cllr Stephen Brayshaw. And so the scene is set.

We understand that the Labour Party has so little confidence in Newham Labour Group that the London Region of the Labour Party will be running the AGM tonight, (16/05/24).

Statement

It appears that councillors have received an email purporting to be from Open Newham, endorsing Cllr Terry Paul for the position of a scrutiny chair. Needless to say, it wasn’t from us. It came from an Outlook account and our only email address is info@opennewham.co.uk. 

It would appear that somebody is engaging in an attempt to either promote (or besmirch) Cllr Paul. We suspect the latter. Either way, it wasn’t us.

We have not promoted any candidates for their roles in the elections to be decided by Labour Group, nor do we have any intention of doing so.