Shafted!
It seems that there is more to the Garfield-Fiaz story than at first appeared. Readers will recall from the Hirsh Report, that reference is made to Garfield being denied a promotion.
We are beginning to get mumblings of how this occurred.
To the best of our knowledge, this is what happened. Garfield was promised a position spearheading the Mayor’s youth initiative. This would be a full-time role in an important post. So important that there was no similar post before and the Mayor has not seen fit to give the position to another of the immensely capable cadre of aspirant full-timers available to her.
You might therefore think that this was a non-job, only there for the sake of bringing a supporter onto the payroll. But you would be wrong. It is clearly an important role and should only go to someone capable of fulfilling it. It’s just a pity that Mayor Fiaz doesn’t have someone else amongst the 60 Labour councillors who are capable of fulfilling it.
Anyway, Garfield was offered the role. He clearly sees a future for himself in politics and agreed. Being a full-timer would look good on his CV.
So, he resigned from his salaried position at Hackney Council on the basis of a promise from Fiaz that he would be promoted to a full-time post.
And then he complained about the antisemitism that he was experiencing from members of the Labour Party (he, you will recall is Newham’s sole Jewish councillor), and abetted by the inaction of a certain Deputy Mayor who was then the convener of the Facebook page.
Because Garfield was rocking the boat, not by acting in a racist manner towards colleagues, but because he called out antisemitism, his ‘promotion’ was put on hold…and then withdrawn.
We understand that the first he heard of this was in a text from Fiaz during the course of a Labour Group meeting. Classy Madam Mayor. Classy.
So, a young councillor gives up a secure job on the promise of a political appointment, which is suddenly and inexplicably withdrawn.
We don’t know whether his recent elevation to the role of Scrutiny Chair means that he has been bought off or whether this will be the base which he uses to put the floundering incumbent under the spotlight.
Time will tell.