A Stella Team
The Mayor has been heard referring to her Cabinet as a Stellar Team. We think that she means that they are very good.
We’re not sure what they’re good at, so we thought that we’d take a look.
Charlene McLean
Deputy Mayor
This is Deputy Mayor, Charlene McLean. Actually, we’re not sure what she is there for, nor what she does.
Shaban Mohammed
Housing
A swift promotion after two years, made necessary by the dismissal of former Deputy Mayor and Housing Lead, John Gray. Mohammed is a fairly well-off business owner and landlord with multiple properties in Newham. This is his first time on the council making his elevation a little unusual. Clearly a man of intellect with a BSc in Business Decision Making from the University of Somewhere.
We’d like to say more about Cllr Mohammed, but unfortunately, when he speaks, no-one is quite sure what he said. Mind you with his full time business interests and £45k pa for his full time council role, he seems to be raking it in.
Terence Paul
Finance and Corporate Services
Cllr Paul is best known for his ability to ensure a soft landing for himself in the rough and tumble of local politics. He helped to finance the campaign to oust Robin Wales at the same time as pledging loyalty to the man who had elevated him from the back benches. Having voted in favour of every budget under the Wales mayoralty, he now spends his time telling anyone who will listen, that the current financial woes of the council are not his fault, but are the fault of the previous mayor, who only left him a balance of £54m to play with. Actually, he sometimes blames the ‘clueless’ current mayor and her inability to make decisions too.
Sarah Ruiz
Education and Children’s Services
Back on the council after a brief sojourn in the wilderness with Respect, George Galloway’s ill-fated vehicle for his personal re-election. Ruiz moved quickly onto the cabinet; she at least has some idea of how the council works. Interestingly while she is responsible for schools, her partner is the NE Union rep responsible for Newham teachers. That should help to make everything run smoothly.
Zulfiqar Ali
Health and Adult Social Care
Another returnee to the council, Ali has been both a council officer and councillor. He’s regarded as one of the sensible ones in the cabinet, which is worrying because his previous performance as an officer or a member was less than ‘stellar’.
James Asser
Cabinet Member - Environment, Highways and Sustainable Transport
Known outside Newham because of his role on the Labour Party National Executive, James was one of the staunch anti-Copbyn votes on Labour’s NEC. This either makes him one of the good-guys or an irredeemable class traitor. You chose which.
He seems to have the unique ability to alienate the largest number of residents in the shortest time. You’d have thought that this role was fairly safe, but the closure of residential roads to traffic and the introduction of new parking charges has been done in such a cack-handed manner that residents are in revolt. How much of this is Asser’s fault and how much it is the fault of his boss in anyone’s guess.
The councillors in Green Street and Manor Park should be getting anxious; these same residents may yet choose to switch their voting allegiance in protest. Maybe to the Newham People’s Alliance, but weren’t they the people that got Fiaz selected?
James Beccles
Cabinet Member for Crime and Community Safety
Another councillor who combines his full time job with his full time cabinet role. Nice to know that he can do this while Newham’s crime rate exceeds those for the whole of London in just about every area. Still photo opps walking about Stratford make life much easier than trying to sort out Newham’s crime problems.
At least dismissed former Deputy Mayor Cllr John Gray had the good grace to take leave of absence from his union job, so as not to be taking two wages for doing one job.
Carlene Lee-Phakoe
Cabinet Member for Brighter Futures
We’re not entirely sure what this council first timer does either. Her job title is somewhat opaque, but her responsibilities are listed as Corporate Parenting Board, important but far from demanding in terms of her time and the Schools’ Forum, even less demanding.
The move onto the council by Carlene and her husband Daniel has been quite lucrative. Although they are both first timers on the council, they have managed to pull in an additional £76,000 a year between them to supplement the income from their locksmith business.