We have discovered that yet another Newham Labour councillor has resigned!

Cllr Liz Booker has chosen to stand down. Although the council website still shows Booker as a councillor for Little Ilford, we have it on good authority that there will be yet another byelection for Newham Council.

Uma Kumaran has been out and about, supported by the mayor and a handful of councillors.

We reported on the dirty tricks campaign that saw Redbridge Council Leader, Jas Athwal, suspended from the party and therefore excluded from the parliamentary shortlist in 2019. As a result, the nomination, which was expected to go to the popular local candidate, went to a reliable Corbynite and close personal friend of Angela Rayner MP, Sam Tarry. On this occasion, Tarry was imposed by the NEC.

We noted in an earlier report that “Holding all the elections on the same day is sensible. It saves work and money. By holding council by-elections on the same day as the general election, you are guaranteed to double the turnout of voters. This, historically speaking, has been to Labour’s advantage.”

Cllr Sophia Naqvi has an uphill struggle if she wants to overturn Labour’s majority in the new constituency where she is facing her erstwhile council colleague, and recently selected Labour candidate, James Asser.

The satirical Guido Fawkes website noted that it was not only former councillor, James Asser who benefitted from the decision of Labour’s NEC to appoint several of their own members as parliamentary candidates. A fact noted by the Independent Group.

First came the shock resignation of Lyn Brown MP on Tuesday. Our sources tell us that Lyn Brown, who has represented West Ham constituency since 2005 had been approved as a shoe-in to the new Stratford and Bow seat. She, it seems, then conducted something of a straw poll to determine the level of support she would get from the voting public.

Not, alas, the final farewell.

The announcement of a general election in July has led to some hurried rearrangements by the Labour Party in Newham.

This is what we hear:

It’s a story about what we want for our children and it goes to the heart of modern politics.

NewVIC (Newham Sixth Form College), was set up to offer sixth form opportunities to young people in Newham. For many years it did sterling service. But it has had its problems, not least of which was a damning Ofsted report which labeled its management and leadership as inadequate.

Squalor and despair.

The temporary Housing Budget is overspent. Money is spent on street homeless, without any lasting effect. Streets are becoming run-down and lives are being ruined as homeless left to fester on the sidewalk.

Word has reached us that Cllr Shaban Mohammed is facing an internal Labour inquiry regarding antisemitic remarks he is alleged to have made. We are told that this is not a single complaint, but consists of multiple complaints of antisemitism.

Back in the days when Newham didn’t stumble from financial crisis to financial crisis, Cllr Brayshaw served as Chief Whip on Newham’s ruling Labour Group.

Times change and when Wales was evicted, so was Brayshaw. He stood for the post in 2018 but lost out to Anamul Islam, who had been instrumental in getting Fiaz adopted as candidate.

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.

That’s right. Fifty in every thousand households are in temporary accommodation. This is double the figure for the next highest borough.

In the last reshuffle, Cllr Shaban Mohammed was charged with sorting out the temporary housing problem. Instead, the problem seems to have got worse.

It does appear that we have a little more information about parliamentary candidate for the Workers Party, Halima Khan. It appears that she is a former staff member of the Labour Party, and we presume a former Labour Party member.

Newham’s attempt to find temporary housing has caused problems for councils outside the capital. Various publications have alighted on the agreement Newham has with regard to Anchorage House in Chatham, Kent.

We noted the change in the name of the Mayor’s favoured faith body, Newham Muslim Forum, noting that it was now to be known as Faith Space London.

This seemed a little unusual to us, given the particular support of some individuals connected to the Newham People’s Alliance Facebook page with the NMF, we submitted an FOI to understand the connection that this new organisation had with the council.

We submitted a request for the publication of the report into the behaviour of the mayor and councillors at a meeting of the Budget Sub-Committee, a meeting that occurred over 18 months ago.

The Independent Group have selected Councillor Sophia Naqvi, as their candidate for the forthcoming parliamentary elections.