By-Election results : Labour 1, Lib Dem 1, Tory 0

Yesterdays by-elections in Lambeth and Kingston saw Labour and the Lib Dems both comfortably hold their seats.

Labour’s Mark Bennett held Streatham South in Lambeth … with a big increase in majority over the Lib Dems from 70 to 255. This is an impressive result for Labour .., particularly given the loss of former Cllr Tim Sergeant’s personal vote. This builds on a series of good Labour results in by-elections in the Borough … look out for Lambeth as a possible surprise Labour gain in 2006. The Tories fell to a derisory 10% of the vote, in a ward regarded as safe Tory until 1994.

In Kingston David Ryder-Mills held Canbury for the Lib Dems … with a virtually unchanged majority over the Tories of 385. However, both parties increased their share of the vote at the expense of Labour and the absent Greens … despite the Labour candidate Chris Priest having formerly been a Cllr for the ward from 1998 to 2002. In 2002, Ryder–Mills lost the previously safe (under different boundaries) Lib Dem Coombe Vale ward … when he lost by 53 votes to two Tories who tied for third place behind the other two Lib Dems. This was the only tied vote in the 2002 London Borough elections … and the first in London since the 1994 Eel Brook ward election in Hammersmith and Fulham.

In Canbury, the bizarre Scargillite Socialist Labour Party branch in Kingston achieved a hardly revolutionary 21 votes. This brings to mind the gloriously barmy comment of their General Election candidate (and old Stalinist) John Hayball when asked for his solution to teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases … “I think the cause of this problem is capitalism...under socialism people would have more loving relationships.” Brings a whole new meaning to bonking mad.

The last Communist Councillor in London

A footnote to London Borough history ends tomorrow with a memorial meeting for former Tower Hamlets Cllr Solly Kaye. Kaye was the last Communist elected to a London Borough … representing St Mary’s ward from 1964 until losing to Labour in 1971. He even survived the Tory landslide of 1968 … when the Tories won control of all but three London Boroughs.

He’d sat on Stepney Council for the same Whitechapel area from 1956 to 1965 … carrying on a tradition that in 1945 had seen twelve Communists elected to Stepney and two from there to the LCC. Kaye shared the St Mary’s seat at various times with three other Communist Party Councillors … Peter Roche, Monty Borman and Max Levitas (who lost with Kaye in 1971).

Appropriately, Kaye died on May Day 2005, at the age of 91. The memorial event tomorrow is at the Marx Memorial Library from 2pm.

The nearest another member of the Communist Party came to election to a London Borough was probably Vishnu Sharma in Ealing … who lost to Labour by just 23 votes in 1974 in the Northcote ward of Southall. Sharma was a leading light in the Indian Workers Association … whose other prominent figure was Piara Khabra, now Labour MP for Ealing Southall. Khabra is the only MP to have stood for election as a London Cllr under three different labels … Independent (1971), Labour (1974 and 1978), and SDP (1982).

“I Didn’t Expect the Adjudication Panel”

The current Islington case shines an unaccustomed light on the work of the Adjudication Panel for England (APE). The Panel is little known to the public … but it has the power to remove Cllrs from office between elections without appeal.

Most attention on standards has focused on the Standards Board for England (SBE) … and particularly its’ long delays in dealing with cases. But most complaints to the Board are trivial, vexatious and/or politically motivated … and rightly result in findings of “no breach of the Code of Conduct” or “breach but no action to be taken”. Only cases sent to the Panel can result in disqualification and removal from office.

The Standards Board has so far only referred fourteen London Cllrs to the Adjudication Panel … five cases have been dealt with, the ‘Islington 5’ are currently being heard, and the remaining four have hearing dates between today and December. Only one sitting Cllr has been disqualified by the Adjudication Panel - Barnet (now former) Cllr Alan Sloam (Colindale).

Camden elect Raj Chada as new Leader

Cllr Raj Chada (Gospel Oak) has been elected by the Camden Labour group as the new leader … and will take over from Jane Roberts at November’s full Council meeting.

Chada was only elected to the Council in 2002 … and has been Executive Member for Housing since 2003. He breaks new ground in being both the first Irish born and non-white Leader of Camden … but otherwise runs to Camden Labour type as a solicitor with a degree from Jesus College Cambridge. Indeed Chada is employed by local New Labour law firm Hodge Jones Allen … the Hodge is for Margaret Hodge’s second husband Henry (now a judge), who supposedly gave Cherie Booth her first legal cases in the 1980s.

The Camden Group followed the leadership election with major changes to their Executive. Nick Smith (Kings Cross) stood down as Education lead … and about time, as he’s been working in Brussels for the last few months. 1970s veteran John Mills (Gospel Oak) also leaves the Executive … but another throwback to that era Julian Fullbrook (Holborn and Covent Garden) comes in to replace Chada at Housing. Fullbrook is an interesting footnote to the political history of the 1980s ... as the Labour candidate who lost the then totemic Basildon seat to the oleaginous Tory David Amess (a former Redbridge Cllr).

The Schools brief is taken by Lucy Anderson (Kentish Town) … who as GLA candidate for Barnet and Camden last year, managed to turn Tory Brian Coleman's majority from just 551 to over 11,000. Jake Sumner (Camden Town with Primrose Hill) and obsessive Lib Dem hater Maggie Cosin (Highgate) take over at community safety and adult social care respectively (only in chi-chi Primrose Hill would residents insist on the ward name being "with" rather than "and" Primrose Hill). Former Mayor Nasim Ali (Regents Park) returns to the backbenches … whilst in other changes, Lib Dem defector Jonathan Simpson gets his reward in the high-profile job of Chair of Licensing.

Chada becomes only the third current Borough Leader not from a white background … joining Navin Shah at Harrow and Charles Adje at Haringey. He’s the first Irish born Leader since the 2004 retirement of George Meehan (until recently a Camden employee) at Haringey.

Islington 'cronyism' case finally reaches the public

Huge fun over the new three weeks for observers of the soap opera that is the Islington Lib Dems. Cronyism allegations against Islington leader Lib Dem Steve Hitchins (St Peters) and four other Islington Lib Dems finally reached the Adjudication Panel for decision last week.

The allegations state that the Lib Dems improperly appointed political mate Helen Bailey as Islington’s Chief Executive … but were first referred for investigation as long as three years ago. Hitchins and Bailey were both members of the Lib Dem ‘Federal Executive’ … and yet Hitchins seemed to forget to declare this to the shortlisting meeting. Instead he and the others allegedly overruled recruitment consultants Veredus … and put Bailey on her the shortlist, even though Veredus said she was “not recommended for further consideration, due to her lack of experience”.

The biggest laughs at the first week of hearings were probably reserved for the lawyers’ accountants ... Bailey, Hitchins and co, and the Standards Board are all represented by separate barristers. The taxpayers are paying for the Standards Board to use Antony White QC, who doesn't come cheap ... his previous clients include Naomi Campbell and (appropriately for Islington politics) Monty Python pictures. White is a member of Cherie Blair's Matrix Chambers ... and indeed represented her in a privacy case against Associated Newspapers.

At the hearing, defecting Cllr Joan Coupland (she suddently became a principled Labourite just after her mayoral year finished) delivered some vintage bile at Hitchins … “If you challenge his view he can get quite nasty, and he is manipulative and a bully. He answers all questions with a question.” The bunteresque Hitchins has a reputation that gives arrogant sods a bad name … but even his worst enemies (a long queue) think a three year delay is a pretty hopeless performance by the Standards Board.

Also in the frame is Deputy Leader Bridget Fox (Barnsbury) … who narrowly lost the Islington South parliamentary seat in May … and is widely seen as the nice cop to Hitchins’ nasty cop. The other Lib Dems are former Mayor Margot Dunn (Holloway) who chaired the Shortlisting Panel … and Cllrs Jyoti Vaja (Bunhill) and Dorrie Valery (Caledonian), who were added to the Panel to give the Lib Dems a 5:1 majority.

The result isn’t expected until at least mid October.

Defections since 2002 (L-W)

Continuing 'London Borough Politics' listings of all currently known defections of Cllrs since the last Borough elections in 2002. As before, additions/corrections welcome.

Again this list excludes Cllrs who temporarily defected and then returned home.

Merton

Cllr Horatio Cheng (Raynes Park) defected from the Tories only two months after his election in 2002. He applied to be a member of the Labour Group … but they (unusually but commendably in defection cases) required him to serve a year as an independent to test his new loyalties. He consistently voted with Labour in the Council Chamber … and they admitted him to the Group in July 2003.

Cllr Mike Fitzgerald (Abbey) was elected as a Labour Cllr but defected last month to become an Independent. He was reported as saying “I wasn't happy with the way the selections for the council elections in May were being done” … following the deselections of sitting Cllrs Mickey Spacey (St Helier), Mary Dunn (Lavender Fields), and Mike Tilcock (Pollards Hill). It’s rumoured that Fitzgerald might join a new ‘Pension Action Alliance' party … being set up by former Labour Leader Geoff Smith to oppose Labour at the 2006 elections. Spacey’s deselection has been attributed to some bizarre performances in the Council Chamber … including a call for the legalisation of all drugs, and a period as a low rent Jeremy Clarkson trying to out-petrolhead the Tories as Cabinet member for Transport.

Newham

See seperate post on 27th September.

Redbridge

Cllr Suresh Kumar (Valentines) was elected in a byelection as a Tory … but continuing scandal claims have led to his becoming an independent. Labour claimed vote fixing in relation to the huge number of proxy votes in the byelection ... which Kumar won by just nine votes. In 2001, Kumar had featured as one of the Mirror’s ‘dirty dozen’ of Tory candidates, largely as a result of his record of company liquidation with debts of over half a million … and then appeared in a bankruptcy notice in the local paper.

Richmond

Cllr Douglas Orchard (South Twickenham) defected in March 2005 from the Conservatives to become the UKIP Parliamentary Candidate in Twickenham. He is now the only UKIP Cllr in London … given that the two UKIP London Assembly members first defected to Kilroy-Silk’s Veritas ego-trip, and now have their own ‘One London’ grouping. Orchard was first elected in 1994, and was the Tories first Richmond Mayor when they regained control of the Council in 2002. Orchard had stood for the Tory nomination as the local parliamentary candidate, but explained his defection by claiming “I was prompted to join the United Kingdom Independence Party by a Liberal Democrat Councillor who raised the issue of the allegation against me of being racist when I was mayor. I informed him that I had never been a racist but was a nationalist, a patriot”. He got only 1.5% of the vote in the general election

Southwark

Cllr Kenny Mizzi (South Bermondsey) defected from the Lib Dems to the Tories six months after his election in 2002 … having defected the other way in 1997. He was executive member for social services at the time, and defended his previous Lib Dem loyalty saying “sometimes you have to support policies you don't agree with when you're in politics”. (© Stunning Revelations volume one). Mizzi is now a Tory Cllr for a ward with one of the lowest Tory votes in London … just 6% in 2002 compared to the LibDems’ 62%.

Cllr Tony Ritchie (Camberwell Green) was elected as Labour but is now suspended from the Group and sitting as an Independent … whilst awaiting a (Standards) Adjudication Panel hearing later this month into allegations that he clocked someone who was harassing him at a community meeting. Ritchie is a former Leader of both Southwark and of the London Fire Authority. Ken Livingstone used his powers as Mayor to veto Ritchie’s re-election to the Fire Authority in 2000 … they are reported to share a very longstanding hatred going back to the days of the ratecapping battles of the 1980s. There’s nothing like old comrades …

Cllr Dermot McInerney (South Camberwell) defected from Labour to Independent in 2003 … reportedly on the issue of Iraq. Sounds a bit like an MP defecting over refuse collection. Otherwise a pretty invisible figure … unless someone knows something that we don’t

Tower Hamlets

Cllr Muhammed Ghulam Mortuza (Spitalfields and Banglatown) defected from Labour to Independent in May 2005 … when he supported George Galloway’s anti-Labour parliamentary campaign in Bethnal Green and Bow. After lengthy negotiations, he’s recently formally joined Galloway’s Respect Party. Part of the deal is that he leads the two person Respect group … rather than Cllr Oliur Rahman (St Dunstans and Stepney Green) who was actually elected as Respect, at a by-election last year. Galloway was reported after his parliamentary election win as claiming that seven Labour Cllrs were about to defect by the end of May … particularly after the acrimonious ousting of former Labour Leader Helal Abbas by retread Leader Michael Keith. Only Mortuza has yet shown.

Cllr Ataur Rahman (St Dunstans and Stepney Green) was elected as Labour but now sits as an Independent, following suspension by the Labour Group in May 2003. He was suspended following allegations of involvement with a charity called MATT … which has been accused of corruptly accessing and using public funds. Key Livingstone regeneration advisor Cllr Kumar Murshid (Limehouse) was accused of more tangential links to MATT … but after investigations cleared him is now again a Labour member after a period of suspension. A further Cllr whose name came up in the MATT investigation, Nasir Uddin, resigned to cause the byelection in St Dunstans and Stepney Green won by Respect.

Cllr Nigel McCollum (Bow East) now describes himself as Independent Lib Dem, having resigned from the Lib Dems in autumn 2004. The Tower Hamlets Lib Dems have a record of splits and personal hatreds that at least matches Labour’s local record of ya boo internal politics. When they controlled the Council for two terms from 1986 to 1994, they ended up splitting into at least three factions … whilst Bow Cllr Ricky Hunn defected to be an Independent in the last Council term.

Jane Roberts stands down as Camden Leader

Jane Roberts has announced that she's standing down as Labour Leader of Camden in November. The Labour Group will elect their new Leader on 3rd October.

Roberts has achieved the rare double of being well thought of by both London Local Government and the Blair Government ... including being made a Dame last year. She took over as Leader from Richard Arthur in 2000, after ten years as a Cllr and two as Deputy Leader ... and has been (for a Blairite) an unusually effective critic of Government policy on housing and licensing. She'll also be retiring next year from her Haverstock seat ... a ward in which the LIb Dems won a surprise by-election win last year when Roberts' Deputy Leader resigned to work in a senior role for the BBC ('going downmarket' as they call it in Hampstead).

Speculation about her successor as Leader starts with current joint Deputy Leader Theo Blackwell (Regents Park) who has been increasingly high profile in the last few months (what did he know ? ..) However, Blackwell is clearly not wholly popular in the Group ... as he only returned as Deputy Leader in May after being ousted in 2004 by Sue Vincent (who looks spookily like Jane Roberts). The rest of the Camden Executive is an interesting mix of old and new, including three grizzled veterans first elected in the 1970s (John Mills, John Thane and Phil Turner) together with four members only elected in 2002.

Roberts' retirement will leave only two women as Borough Leaders - Ann John in Brent and the newly elected Leo Thomson in Ealing. Thomson's status as a leading high-flyer will be confirmed tomorrow, when she's been chosen to give the Local Government address to the Labour Party Conference.

Gay and lesbian marriage ties up Bromley

The saga of the proposed ban on gay marriage in Bromley got even odder last week, with a tied vote on the issue in the Council Chamber. They voted 21 : 21, with 4 abstentions.

The Tories split, with the Leader Stephen Carr calling the legalisation of gay marriage "immoral" ... and ex-Leader Michael Tickner saying "what about the rights of straight people and people who have normal sexual tendencies ?" Other leading Tories, such as Environment Executive Member George Taylor, spoke and voted to accept and implement the law. It's not clear where Bromley goes now, after this inconclusive result puts the issue back in the hands of the Executive.

Regional Tories had hoped that Carr's election as Leader two years ago would see an end to the succession of dim reactionary Leaders like Tickner and Russell Mellor. Clearly a forlorn hope. Taylor is regarded as too bright and too associated with the 21st Century to win the Leadership. The old stagers are nostalgic for the days of Dennis ("no to Fares Fair") Barkway, who at least only made Bromley hated rather than a laughing stock as well.

Defections since 2002 (A-K)

The two Newham defections join a list of Cllrs who have changed sides since the last Borough elections in 2002. The following is a list of currently known defections (although additions/corrections welcome).

This list excludes Cllrs who temporarily defected and then returned home ... more common than you'd think.

Bexley

Cllr Nickolas O'Hare (East Wickham) was the sole Lib Dem Cllr but joined the Tories in August 2005 ... only months after being the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate in Old Bexley and Sidcup. The other two Cllrs in East Wickham are Labour, making O'Hare's seat one of the top Labour targets in this ultra-marginal Borough. O'Hare has now moved out of London to Dartford in Kent,and is reported not to be standing for re-election.

Brent

Cllr Carol Shaw (Brondesbury Park) defected from the Tories to the Lib Dems during the Brent East Parliamentary by-election campaign in September 2003. Call me cynical, but it’s interesting that people suddenly get the urge to defect during an election campaign (see Camden), when it will get them more attention. Shaw has represented the Brondesbury and Cricklewood areas since 1990, and so far held off strong Labour challenges in Ken Livingstone hardcore territory.

Bromley

Cllr Rod Reed (Kelsey and Eden Park) was elected as a Tory, but became an Independent when he stood against the sitting Tory MP in Beckenham at the 2005 election. Reed had been Chair of Beckenham Conservative Association, and was one of the voluntary party's most public putters of the boot into Iain Duncan Smith. Reed accused Beckenham MP Jacqui Lait of ineffective representation of the constituency. He lost his deposit with only 1.7% of the vote.

Camden

Cllr Jonathan Simpson (Fortune Green) moved from Lib Dem to Labour during the 2005 general election ... on the same day as Bryan Sedgemore went the other way. A surprise to outside observers from a previous Lib Dem Parliamentary and GLA candidate, who in the 2004 GLA elections said "people are tired of the arrogance of Labour in Camden". He revealed that he was a Labour Party member until 1994, and said "the Lib Dems’ stance on crime and anti-social behavior is weak and on the economy, I was very disappointed with their opposition to the minimum wage." At the point of his defection, he was the Lib Dem Chief Whip at Camden

Croydon

Cllr Patricia Knight (Fairfield) was elected as Tory but is now Lib Dem. In between times she's been reported as being an Independent and applying for membership of the Labour Group. She served previously as a Labour Cllr before being re-elected as a Tory. Perhaps she's just collecting the set.

Harrow

Cllr Gordon Williams (Pinner South) was elected as a Tory Cllr in 2002, but within six months had defected to be an Independent. He has been reported as saying that “I did not "declare" to become an Independent, or "defect" on a whim, but on a matter of local principle” ,,, "as a practising Christian I was finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile the machinations of the Harrow Conservative group with the teachings of Holy Scripture". He’s been a key swing vote in a hung Borough with a minority Labour administration, particularly in budget votes.

Cllr Adam Lent (Edgware) was elected as Labour but is now listed as an Independent.

Havering

Cllr Jeffrey Tucker (Rainham and Wennington) was elected as one of three Councillors for the Rainham Residents Association … but he’s now an Independent and the other two have left the Council in odd circumstances. Brian Clarke had a lengthy period of invisibility, culminating in his resignation from the Council shortly before he was thrown off for non-attendance. Tucker and Wayne Redgrave ware approached by the Tories who needed one more seat to have a working majority on the Council … they agreed to defect and Redgrave was given a special allowance for the newly created “job” chairing the ‘Rainham Committee’. Tucker then changed his mind and became an independent … whilst Redgrave resigned from the Council.

Hounslow

Cllr John Connelly (Hounslow Heath) was elected as a Labour Cllr, but has subsequently been suspended by the Labour Group. This follows a series of accusations and counter-accusations about Standards issues within the Labour Group, and particularly between Connelly and current Labour Leader Colin Ellar. Connelly was first elected as a Cllr over 20 years ago and was the Leader of the Council until 2002 and Mayor for the year after.

Cllr Peter Hills (Bedfont) resigned from the Lib Dems to become an Independent in August 2005. He was reported as saying “elements within the (local Lib Dem) executive had been working to undermine” him by misrepresenting details of his private life to residents in Bedfont … "I am disappointed that the many years I devoted to promoting the party both as an activist and a councillor should be swept aside by a group of people whose collective contribution to the party is to have depleted the coffers and antagonised many members”. Sounds like a fun life in the Hounslow Lib Dems.

Islington

Cllr Dave Barnes (Highbury East) … now this one is complicated. He was originally elected in the 1980s as a Labour Cllr, but then defected to the Lib Dems. He was re-elected as a Lib Dem in 2002, but then defected to be an Independent a few months later. Last year he became a member of the local –parking-obsessed Freedom Party. This month he rejoined the Labour Group.

Cllr Richard Heseltine (St Marys) was elected as a Lib Dem but defected to be Independent. This month, as part of a row about parking rights involving his second home, he said he said he was considering joining the Tories if Kenneth Clarke is picked as their leader. “I think he’s an attractive prospect”, he said.

Cllr Joan Coupland (St Marys) defected from the Lib Dems to Labour a few weeks after she ended her term as Mayor this year. She indicated that her motivation was the “dictatorial” style of the Lib Dem Council and particularly the cuts they had made to services for the elderly … “Over the last five years, I have watched as services for some of Islington’s most vulnerable residents have disappeared”

Kensington and Chelsea

Cllr Jennifer Kingsley (Cremorne) defected from the Tories to become the first ever Lib Dem Cllr in the Borough. She subsequently also became the local Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate. Kensington Tories are reported to blame this on the failure of their usual heavy-handed loyalty checking of candidates in Cremorne ... as the ward (under different boundaries as South Stanley ward) had been consistently the only Labour ward in Chelsea, largely due to the Worlds End Estate.

... boroughs from L-W to follow in a future post

Defections in Newham

A couple of bizarre defections in Newham have tripled the size of the opposition to 3 out of 60 ... and both are Cllrs in the same Royal Docks ward.

First, Cllr Sarah Ruiz defected to George Galloway's Respect party, after twelve years as a Labour Cllr ... until recently in Cabinet roles. But in May she strongly supported arch-Blairite Labour West Ham Candidate Lyn Brown in her fight against Respect in their top target seat after Galloway's. You can see her endorsement of Brown at http://www.lynbrown.org.uk

Then, Cllr Michael Law defects to the Tories to be their first Newham Cllr since 1994. On the website http://www.e-democracy.org Law and Ruiz then swapped tributes to each other .... Ruiz was "delighted" about his Tory membership and says "the opposition will need to work together".

What do they put in the water in Royal Docks ward ?

Forthcoming By-elections

There are two Borough by-elections to be held on 20th October. These may be the last by-elections of the current Council terms ... as the statutory bar on by-elections less than six months before an all-out election will come into effect on 4th November.

In Lambeth, the by-election will be to replace Tim Sargeant, who has died at the age of 44. He was the Mayor of the Borough 2003/04 - raising a record amount for charity - and by all accounts a very active and widely respected Cllr since his election in 1998.

Streatham South was a traditionally Tory seat, which Labour first won surprisingly, but then looked increasing safe for them in due to social change. Like the neighbouring wards in north Croydon, Labour has benefited here from inner London moving south. However in 2002, the Lib Dems had a very good election in Streatham and got within 70 votes of winning one of the seats in South.

The other by-election is at Canbury ward in Kingston, following the resignation of Lib Dem Cllr Tony Burlton stating grounds of ill-health. This ward is to the north of Kingston Town Centre, and has switched between Labour and Lib Dem since 1994. Labour won in 1998 in large part because of a row about the Lib Dems work with housing developers ... ending up in a big protest about riverside trees being chopped down to benefit developers' land values.

These look like two interesting tests in Lib Dem-led Boroughs ... can they win seats when the're in power, rather than just from opposition ?

Welcome to the London Borough Politics Blog

The on-line, paper and broadcast media talk a lot about London politics. But they think London is the Mayor, City Hall, and the Westminster village. Only when they want to moan about their parking tickets, do they look at the Boroughs.

The decisions that really matter for Londoners are made by their Boroughs .. and this means that Borough politics matter more in the real world than who Ken was rude to this week This blog will follow the politics of the London Boroughs - including by-elections and defections, who's up and who's down, scandal and gossip, some of their political history, and the prospects for the 2006 all-out Borough elections.

This blog was previously at http://londoners.typepad.com/london_borough_politics/.