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Ex-Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman: the final disgrace

January 29, 2018 the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

For reasons best known to themselves, and against a mass of evidence, sections of the local Labour Party have continued to champion the disgraced ex-Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman. Now, however, their empathy looks even more absurd. For Mr. Rahman has been struck off by his own professional body, the Solicitors Disciplinary Committee (SDC), and ordered to pay £86,000 in costs. The key part of the SDC’s judgement is as withering as it is possible to get: If Labour Party people can’t get these kind of very clear-cut issues right, it is reasonable to wonder whether their judgement should be trusted on anything else. »

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LBWF and public-private partnerships: (1) NPS London Ltd.

January 26, 2018 Asbestos at St. Mary's School, Town Hall asbestos

As this blog has previously noted, LBWF is now involved in extending its public-private partnerships, and so it is timely to look at some previous examples of similar initiatives, in order to discover what lessons can be learnt. A subsequent post will return to the vexed history of North London Ltd., while what follows focuses on NPS London Ltd. (NPSL), jointly owned by LBWF and NPS Property Consultants Ltd. (a subsidiary of Norse Group Ltd., itself the child of Norfolk County Council). NPSL was formed in 2007, taking over what was previously LBWF’s in-house building consultancy service, with the staff TUPE-ed over. Subsequently, NPSL has been involved in a number of big LBWF projects, in pa... »

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The Waltham Forest Matters Annual Awards for 2017

December 29, 2017 Cllr. Alan Siggers, Cllr. Anna Mbachu, Cllr. Chris Robbins, Cllr. Clare Coghill, Cllr. Clyde Loakes, Cllr. Hather Ali, Cllr. Liaquat Ali, Mark Hynes, Martin Esom

It’s that time of year folks, and as this blog rapidly approaches the treasured 100,000 hits mark (OK, we admit it, 50,000 of them come from Cllrs Loakes and Robins) here are our awards: Picture of the year (From a couple of years back, true, but just too much of a cracker not to include) Sentence of the year ‘The company Knice Industries ltd is dormant and had never traded and that the councillor has applied to strike the company off the Companies House Register’ Mark Hynes, LBWF Director of Governance and Law, tells it like it is to a resident Social observation of this year (and every other) Dandy of the year  Cllr. Alan Siggers (keeping the Conservative link with rock music going b... »

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LBWF, Community Ward Forums, and freedom of speech

December 29, 2017 Cllr. Saima Mahmud, LBWF spin, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

As this blog regularly points out, LBWF devotes a surprising amount of time and attention to what PR spinners call ‘controlling the narrative’, that is vigorously promoting a particular, and self-serving, version of events, while at the same time seeking to sideline criticism. Recent developments add a further concerning illustration. Trevor Calver is a community activist in Chingford, a leading member of the Waltham Forest Dyslexia Association, a determined campaigner on issues ranging from asbestos to the preservation of free parking bays throughout the borough, and a one time Independent candidate, who gained a very respectable 869 votes at the 2010 council election, the best showing for ... »

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John Cryer MP intervenes in Labour’s 2018 local election selection process: bold, foolish, or both?

December 22, 2017 John Cryer MP, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

A prominent member of the wide-awake club recently forwarded this Labour Party leaflet from back in September: It shows my old friend John Cryer, MP for Leyton and Wanstead, hyping three senior Labour councillors, Khevyn Limbajee, Anna Mbachu, and Chris Robbins, in the selection process for next year’s municipal elections. By intervening in this way, Mr. Cryer has broken no rules, but eyebrows will be raised, neverthelss, partly because such partisanship is considered bad form in Labour circles, but mainly because the trio who he has annointed all have baggage, particularly when viewed through the prism of what were once called ‘socialist values’. Let’s start with Cll... »

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