Damocles Visits Newham Council
We learn from the last Labour NEC that the Labour Party has a backlog of six months in determining complaints against members.
This could be both interesting and upsetting for some of the Labour cadres in Newham. We’re not altogether sure how many Newham councillors are actually being investigated by the Labour Party. Certainly two, but there could be as many as eight under investigation.
Where this becomes interesting is that we suspect those who are under investigation for a complaint are likely to be disbarred from consideration as council candidates in the forthcoming local elections.
If, as we suspect, the Labour machine chooses the candidates in September or October this year, it will mean that any who have not had their cases heard will be ineligible, even if they are found to have been without fault at a later date.
This could be handy for those of a Machiavellian bent. We would not be surprised to hear that a further half a dozen of the mayor’s enemies, sorry, colleagues, have complaints issued against them over the summer in the knowledge that there will not be time to hear the complaints before the selections start.
But clearly, we have become too cynical. Haven’t we?