Where are they now? More Corbynistas leaving office.
Haringey Council and former Newham councillor, Joe Ejiofor, has run into a bit of bother with the ombudsman. And the courts. And the police.
According to a Local Government Ombudsman’s (LGO) report, it appears that “Mr Ejiofor took a “flawed” decision over a controversial Muswell Hill development.”
This is how Ham&High reported on the background. “In 2014, residents of Woodside Avenue were informed that Haringey was considering demolishing their houses and the nearby Cranwood Care Home, to facilitate a new estate.
“In 2020, one homeowner filed a formal complaint with the LGO.
“He said that after his family had endured years of stress and uncertainty, he had been close to finally agreeing a sale price with the council when Mr Ejiofor announced a u-turn over the demolition.”
In a financial decision that might cause some of the current members of Newham Council to be concerned, Harringay paid £2.15m for a property that is valued at £850k. They didn’t do the same for a homeowner nearby.
Members of the Budget Working Commission might reflect upon the costs of purchasing the last properties in James Riley Point!
The Corbynista council came to power having defeated former leader, Claire Kober. Kober quit Haringey politics (amid accusations of sexism and bullying from her Momentum colleagues) when she lost a dispute over how to build more local homes. Kober championed a private sector partnership which would have built some 6,500 homes for Haringey residents.
Four years later, they left under a cloud facing a Met Police investigation for fraud in respect of a regeneration plan.
To be fair, they have built some new homes, we reckon about 450-completed or under construction- though the figures are a bit opaque. This is out of 3000 planned for the decade. They include a number at the Rosa Luxemburg Apartments. No kidding! The German communist from the early twentieth century clearly had hidden links with the oppressed people of Haringey.
Poor Joe was deselected by the Labour Party, a decision greeted with sadness by the Morning Star. Skwawkbox went further denouncing his deselection as a “racist coup”. It is possible that he might simply have become an embarrassment.
Does this have any echoes for someone living locally?