A special meeting of the cabinet was called on on 2nd April 2024.For some reason, when you click on the video link, it goes to a special meeting of the cabinet in February. Because of this we have had to rely upon the accounts that emanate from those present.

At the weekend, members of the Labour faithful turned out to campaign for Sadiq Khan and the Assembly candidates, Unmesh Desai and James Beckles.

They were supported by some of Newham Labour’s party big-wigs.

We have had a response to the inquiry about the publication of the Report for the Standards Advisory Committee. Readers will recall that the mayor and Cllr T Paul had an exchange of words back in December 2022. This resulted in cross-complaints and the local authority spent, we are told, a sum in the tens of thousands of pounds to investigate and make recommendations.

Readers will recall that Cllr Mirza and the Independent Group campaigned for a change of policy regarding the Stratford Village Market. They introduced an amendment to the budget to that effect.

In a process that any remaining members of the Labour Party in Newham will be familiar with, the members of the Ilford South Labour Party chose to have an open selection in deciding who would represent them on the ballot for the next general election.

We reported on the hissing directed at a Jewish councillor when he got up to speak at council. The hissing came from the public gallery. It is not unknown for members of the public to express their disapproval of their elected councillors by means of gestures, heckling and rude noises.

It seems that there are moves afoot to make some changes in the Whip’s office.

Sources tell us that early in March, the mayor met with her ‘political cabinet’, (cabinet members without council officers present). Amongst the things they discussed were two related issues. Firstly, the forthcoming AGM and secondly the discipline, or lack thereof in Labour Group.

We hear that West Ham MP, Lyn Brown is no longer quite so keen on representing Labour in the north of the borough. The cosy relationship she had with the members of the West Ham party seem unlikely to be replicated with Tower Hamlets party members in Bow. It is our understanding that she has no desire to leave politics just yet and that she has set her eyes on the new seat of West Ham and Beckton.

While the mayor is recovering from the failure to get the Borough of Culture Award, the residents of Newham are still occupied with their everyday problems.

It was all high drama at the council meeting on 18th March 2024.

The Independent Group had submitted an emergency motion. The officers of the council, not apparently the politicians, took the view that the demand to publish the report into the behaviour of the mayor and councillors at the Budget Working Commission in December 2022 “was inappropriate and out of order”.

In the wake of the Report for the Standards Advisory Committee, which focused on the behaviour of the mayor at Scrutiny in December 2022 and the subsequent clash between her and Cllr Paul, the Independent Group have tabled an emergency motion seeking to have the report published. Details available on their Twitter/X page.

One of the issues that this website has repeatedly returned, is the mayor’s obsession with pursuing her pet projects, regardless of the costs or the benefit to the residents of Newham. This is an issue that both her internal and external opposition have alluded to.

We know that the party machinery is somewhat defunct, but you would have thought that Newham Labour might have done some editing of their website, it has been months since Cllr Gulamussen defected to the Independent Group.

We have chosen to reflect upon the Peer Review 2023 and note that it illustrates a sea change when compared with the review undertaken a decade before. 

It seems that Mayor Lutfur Rahman has got himself into hot water again in neighbouring Tower Hamlets.

It’s so hard being a dinosaur. Keeping up with the changing trends in what is and is not acceptable is tiring. We have learned and internalised that the sexual objectification of women, at least by men is a modern sin. It seems that the sexual objectification of women by women is quite ok.

At the February council meeting, Cllr Josh Garfield stood up to speak on the budget debate. It is difficult to hear on the video, but it is very apparent that members of the audience saw fit to hiss and jeer at him.

A by-election is not a general election. Turnout is typically low. Only 31,107 voters bothered to cast a vote in the Rochdale by-election, (compared to 46,476 in the 2019 general election). It is a chance to give the government a bit of a kicking without disturbing anything too much.

Newham Council have agreed, after much internal dissent, a budget. Central to the budget is the plan to sell £16m worth of capital assets.

On the same day as the council meeting that agreed the budget the BBC disclosed that 19 English councils had been given permission to sell their capital assets in order to subsidise their revenue costs (see list below).

Amongst the changes at the cabinet meeting in February, the threatened cuts to the commissioned youth work were reversed. My London reported the U-Turn which will restore the money to commissioned youth work budget.