All posts in the topic The Newham Labour Party (Short link)
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- There are 15 posts — by 7 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Mike Law at Dec 05 21:10 UTC
The Newham Labour Party
A leaflet posted through my front door and from Sir Robin Wales at Newham
Labour Party 4 Garnet Walk E6 5LY invited me to join the
Labour Party.
Quote
“”Labour is working hard to make Newham a great place to live. Why not join
Labour and help make a diference. Would you like to know more about joining the
Labour Party “”.
Can somebody tell me, would my joining make any difference to the way Newham is
heading. Would my lone voice be listened to by the Mayor, or would I be
sidelined.
I invite any present member of the Newham Labour Party to say why I should
accept the offer.
Finally, how many members are there in the Local Party.
It would appear that Newhams Noo Labour Party, or their Tory opponents, are none too chuffed with one of their Manor Park Councillors at the moment. It would appear that Councillor Ayub Ali has let it be known publically that he is thinking about becoming an MP in Bangladesh. From a personal perspective, and having met Councillor Ali, I understand where he is coming from and wish him well if he decides to take that opportunity, but I'm not sure that all his constituents would agree with me, and it looks like the Newham Recorder is now on his case. Source: http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/content/newham/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=newsNEWHAM&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsnewham&itemid=WeED30%20Sep%202008%2017%3A45%3A34%3A207
I can answer that question.
After joining the party, a couple of existing members will come round to check
you out. Assuming you have only one head, and that you tick all the boxes, you
will be invited to come along to our meetings and meet the rest of the crowd.
Of course as a member you will be able to vote at meetings (after a short
qualifying period) and put yourself forward as a candidate for elections and
internal party posts.
Any decisions that have to be made of course, you will be able to discuss and
with comrades reach a decision or agree a line that is universally accepted by
everyone at your ward, branch, or constituency. Democratically by a show of
hands or a secret ballot, depending on the nature of the decision or line to be
taken.
Then of course what actually happens will be whether or not the Mayor agrees
with your decision, or indeed bothers to find out what it is.
Oh yes, and dont forget that as a member if you really want to "get on" in the
party, then you have to leaflet, canvass and campaign for the greater good of
the party, even though the leaflets you are shoving through letterboxes may
contain decisions you dont agree with, or had any say in, and of course invite
people to come join the labour party to have a "say in how Newham is run"
Does that answer your question?
Not quite sure what happens in East Ham but in over 20 years of being involved
in the Labour Party I am not aware that any new members have to be "checked
out". The party is open to all who wish to join (there are a few exceptions if
for instance you are a member of another party or have been chucked out in the
past but this will only affect a tiny number of individuals).
What happens then is largely up to you. Some of the local branches are more
active than others, but most meet regularily though the details of local
politics are not necessarily of interest to everyone. Members do select the
candidates that are put foward for various elections ie councillors, MLA, MPs,
the Mayor (yes he was selected by members in the first place and subsequently
reselected) & Euro MPs.
Whether an individual member will have an influence on the policies of Newham
council or the Government is not an easy question to answer. Some members do
ensure their voice is heard by organising campaigns etc and maybe by getting
themselves selected as a council candidate etc. Debates do take place within
the party and other associated groups like the Fabians & the Coop party about
various issues and this does get fed back into the general policy mix. How much
difference one individual can make is really down to that individual.
John,
With regard to Newham, your post is pure fantasy.
I can speak with a fair deal of authority, having been (at various times) a
Labour Party ward secretary, a constituency secretary, an MP's election agent
and an elected councillor.
As an individual Newham Labour Party member you can influence bugger all!!!
I recently bumped into a sitting Newham Labour councillor and he was bemoaning
the fact that neither he, nor any of his comrades who are not part of Wales'
inner-circle are involved in any decisions even at ward level.
Over the last 10 years Wales has been very effective in gaining a vice like
grip on Newham Labour; while I was a Labour member I approached the regional
director and pointed out how Wales would often flout Labour rules. The response
- I must take on-board the "big picture".... whatever that means!!!!!
There is no Labour Party in Newham.
To answer the points raised (including from John McNeil which I have received
by mail but doesnt appear to be here for some reason)
Mike - I too have held a wide variety of posts in the labour party over the
past 20+ years agent, chair, treasurer, organiser, stood twice for the council
(for unwinnable seats) though not in Newham, delivered more leaflets (including
in Royal Docks), knocked on more doors and spent more hours on the phone than I
care to remember.
I do understand your antipathy to Newham Labour party and in particular the
current Mayor and there is nothing that I can say that will change your views.
I do know that not only the current mayor but both the MPs for East & West Ham
started off as ordinary party members in Newham and all of them seem to have
established successful political careers (Stephen Timms a long time minister
and sometime cabinet minister) by first gaining the support of members of the
party and then the electorate. Yes one person's views on their own wont
necessarily have any great effect but as I said before what you get out of the
party is in many ways a reflection of what you put in. Whether you agree with
him or not Robin Wales only got where he is by hard work & persuading other
party members and then the electorate to support him.
John's points were are members really not interested in local politics & does
the labour party actually interact with the general electorate.
The point I was trying to make is that party meetings by their very nature are
not necessarily that interesting and yes many members are not that interested
in the minutiae of local politics which does mean that the number of people
actually active is pretty small.
In West Ham the MP runs regular (I believe monthly) coffee mornings where
members of the public (& no before the cynics start shouting, these are not
hand picked folk but mass invites) are invited along to meet with the MP, local
councillors & other party members to discuss political issues. This is in
addition to the regular surgeries that both councillors & the MPs hold. Of
course political parties do put effort (which unsurprisingly is focused on
elections) into keeping in contact with the electorate through newsletters,
knocking on doors etc after all the councillors, MPs etc are only there because
people are prepared to actually go out and vote for them.
Good grief!!!!
John, your posting is so patronising.
First, you cannot possibly understand my "antipathy" towards Newham Labour and
the Mayor, if you did you'd have questioned the Mayor in some public forum
regarding the various issues I have raised here and in the Newham Recorder that
relate to some of the more dubious policies the Mayor has developed - the parks
constabulary for one springs to mind.
I had been involved in Newham Labour for a good few years and I know the Mayor
and both Newham MPs. It may well be the case that you are as naive as you seem
to be with regard to how one can move onwards and upwards in Newham Labour.
"Every member starts off as an ordinary member": rubbish, I know of one sitting
Labour councillor who never attended a Labour meeting prior to becoming an
elected member - his first Labour meeting being the first Labour Group meeting
held by the new Labour Group after the 2002 local election - I chaired that
meeting and the member in question approached me after the meeting asking why
Alan Craig wasn't there!!!!!
You want confirmation of this and other "odd" happenings in Newham Labour, go
ask John Saunders or John Whitworth - they're still members.
Why and how did he become a councillor? Because Wales wanted him on the
council.
As I write this I feel myself getting more and more annoyed, so I'll end here
by stating that, apologise for Newham Labour all you want but don't make the
mistake of assuming that my criticisms of the current town hall regime is just
sour grapes.
Mike - I never suggested that your views were just sour grapes. I am well aware
of many of the goings on in the Newham Labour Party over the past 15 years and
I dont believe that it is any better or worse than other parts of the labour
party or indeed other political parties. I have personal experience of the
Labour Party outside of Newham & the SPD in Germany and whilst the characters
are different many of the interpersonal struggles are very similar. I am sure
that you can make perfectly valid criticisms of Robin Wales but then that would
be true of Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson, Gordon Brown, David Cameron or
whoever. The lack of a proper opposition in Newham can hardly be blamed on
Robin Wales or anyone else in the labour party.
PS as far as I am aware the parks constabulary is being shut down, so perhaps
the various comments and criticisms do have an effect?
Fine John, apologies for going off on one.
However, the point here isn't the lack of proper opposition (and you are right,
that isn't Wales' fault). What is at issue is the failure of the local Labour
Party to reign in its elected representatives and the fact that the current
"Labour" administration is as far removed from a grass-roots party base as you
can get. And that is Wales' fault via his successful machinations to control
the Newham Labour Party.
For example, it is a rare Labour ward that actually gets to choose its elected
representative on the council.
Regarding the parks constabulary... lets wait and see on that one, but it is a
good example: you stated "perhaps the various comments and criticisms do have
an effect?", not in the Newham Labour Party. When the issues around the
deployment of the constabulary were first brought to my attention I made an
appointment to meet with Mayor to discuss the issue and offer up fixes. He
cancelled the appointment and refused to meet me on the issue.
Three years later the Council commissions a £49,900.00 report that gives
exactly the same advice I was prepared to give the Mayor for free. I was a
council member, a Labour Party member and the Mayor's appointed lead member for
Royal Docks... and he wouldn't listen to me. Instead, I was threatened with
legal action and the standards board. Welcome to democracy Newham style.
I have tried to resist joining in - because it will be viewed as "
predictable"!!
All of the people who have joined in this thread know exactly what Newham
Labour Party is all about - Weast Ham CLP maybe a little more democratic
than East Ham. But we have recently seen how when your face no longer fits
you can be expunged - by Robin crowding out the meeting with his well paid
cronies. And it may well be that the local party meetings have changed
recently, but I doubt it. When I was an elected member, the wards I
represented over the 13 years, with the exception of South (now Beckton)
never met. South met purely because Alec Kellaway was an active member and
saw the value of encouraging non councillors to meet - after all ward
meetings don't start and end with the Council!
Mike is absolutely right when he talks about the ordinary member - there was
a time when it was deemed crucial that you had been an active Party member
for a while. Now that appears not to matter - and not only is Mike's example
correct, can be added too - the person wasn't even a member of the Party
and his subs had to be quickly paid and backdated!
Just recently a colleage of mine has been encouraged to stand for the next
Council elections - and not yet a party member. We all know that in the last
few years it has never been about the Party more about your allegance to the
Mayor. I accept that it is not Robins fault that there is no opposition -
however even of there was one we have seen the gutter politics come in to
play.
We all know that you cannot be a critic of the Labour Party in Newham
because that is taken to be a critic of the Mayor and when anyone dares to
challenge then they are got rid of - and never by fair means.
There is a serious problem in Newham and local people are not properly
represented. They shouldn't have to bother either MP with trivia or with
stuff that should be able to be sorted at a local level - but I would
question how many Councillors actually carry out a regular surgery. There
are a couple of elelected members who take their community role seriously
but they are few and far between.
We also know that by paying elected members, in some cases, over 50k a year
means that people join the party to fast track their way to fat cat salaries
with usually no compunction to represent the people who elected them -
unless they always agree.
Democracy isn'y about always agreeing - in Newham there is no place for
debate because if you disagree with the line being set down by the Mayor you
find yourself being excluded and brutally got rid of - and telling the truth
doesn't enter into it. If I had a penny for every lie that has come out of
the mouths of the so called Newham Labour party then I could retire.
I don't mind people defending the Party - but do it honestly, especially
when you are fully aware of the dirty tricks machinery that is used. I would
still be in the Party if it wasn't for Robins wish to control, control,
control. That's not about discipline its more about a dictator.
Well said Sarah. John. I forgot to ask... what exactly is your connection with the mayor or any of the Newham MPs? I think we should be told. http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/content/newham/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=newsNEWHAM&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsnewham&itemid=WeED30%20May%202008%2016%3A02%3A04%3A473
Dear Mike,
"We" could look at it another way and welcome the fact that a member of the
Labour Party is contributing at all. Perhaps "we" should not jump down his
neck and insist on the baring of his political soul. "We" all know that
posts tend to reflect the posters long term view and therefore over time we
can find out - the process of discovery can be as illuminating as discovery
itself.
John McNeill
Its been interesting listening to the machinations of local Labour Party via
some of its old spars and I'm sure we all welcome continued healthy debate.
I personally have never been a member of the Labour Party, and after Iraq its
very unlikely that I ever will be, but I have been a Trade Unionist for the
past 20 years and more recently a member of the (ill-fated) Respect Coalition
and more recently the Green Party. My experience of Trade Unionists and
political parties (if their is a differential), is that they are pretty much
run in the same way that Newhams Labour Party is run. There is always an
environment where the strongest or cleverest survive, where dirty tricks and
trechery are common place, and where someone at sometime is going to get a
bloody nose and feel aggreived. But the rea common denominator and uniter was
the 'common cause' ideologically, and that those involved no matter who favour
they were in or not within the heirachy, understood that the people who they
represented were the priority when they were in need. Trade Unionist activists
would always unite to stick up for their members betterment in the workplace,
the Labour Party activists would always unite to champion the poor and down
trodden and seek to better their lot, whatever their machinations behind closed
doors and against each other.
What so annoys me about New Labour is that many have lost sight of who their
core supporters are and have abandoned them to their fate while they seek the
higher climbs of power for powers sake alone. While I detest the Tories and
what they have always stood for, I do at least give them credit in that they
are consistant in looking after their own, sadly many in New Labour believe
that they are Tories too, how far they have to fall when they realise how wrong
they were.
PS I elly do feel that the title of this thread shold be 'The NEW Newham Labour
Party' because thats what it appears is being discussed
To try and answer some of the points without getting into to a long debate well
off topic from where this thread started.
I hold no office in the Labour Party, I dont speak on anyones behalf and the
views expressed are my own. For 20 odd years I have spent too many hours
organising and working on behalf of others to help get them elected. I have
done this because the Labour Party is part of who I am, I am aware that both
locally and nationally it has done much that can be criticised but I believe
(and realise there are many folk who will disagree) that the party has achieved
a lot since Keir Hardie was elected MP for West Ham in 1892.
My point in replying originally was to try and dispel some statemnts that had
been made about new members having to be vetted, they dont. One of the
unfortunate things about the blogosphere is that various urban myths can very
easily take root if they are not corrected.
I would point out to Sarah, that as far as I am aware, in the selections for
the last lot of council elections, all the wards in West Ham selected their own
candidates. Certainly there were some surprising outcomes, but these were the
results of members' voting not some decision of a committee of party worthies.
I agree that it is less than ideal where the local branch is not active enough
to select its own candidates, but the Labour party is not alone in facing this
sort of problem.
As Lane points out the Labour Party in Newham is no different than other
political parties and similar organisations, after all the word plot can easily
be made from the word politics! Is what happens in Newham any different than
the current shenanigans at Westminster? From what I can see the personal
politicing within the tory party is far more poisonous that that within in the
other major parties and the record of parties on the left is hardly inspiring
when it comes to internicine bickering & splits.
None of this is really a good advert for politics. Personally I do believe that
most people from whatever party go into politics for the right reasons and have
a genuine desire to achieve outcomes in line with their beliefs and thus
improve the lives of their fellow citizens. Yes there are some who are venal,
lazy & incompetant but that is true in all walks of life.
We do need more people involved, though many are put off by the sheer dullness
and hard work needed.
So to sum up, I would encourage people to join political parties (preferably
the Labour Party) and get involved. Will your voice have more effect? I cant
answer that question for certain but I do know that the current MPs, Mayor, MLA
& councillors will not be in office forever (& this is not a call for anyone to
go but a simple statement of the obvious) and in Newham it is highly likely
that their successors will be members of the Newham Labour Party. If not the
Labour Party it will be because a number of people will have joined a party /
started their own party and put the work into to winning the votes of the
elctorate. If that were to happen it wouldn't be too long before folk on here
would be complaining about the inadaquecies of the new administration.
John C.
Nice posting. I applaud your devotion to the Labour Party and I once shared in
that sentiment; not any more (ID cards, erosion of civil liberties and other
such mundane matters - along with the BS that goes on in Newham - dissipated my
dedication to the party) . It is true that, historically the Labour Party has
made some outstanding achievements - and the Romans gave us roads. I thought we
were discussing the hear-and-now in Newham.
You are absolutely right that new members don't get vetted on joining the party
- in Newham that happens after they have joined and if they start becoming
regular attendees at meetings and show an interest in getting involved. For
example, I was heavily involved in the "vetting" process for 2002 council
candidates - it was a total bloody sham. I made numerous protests to no avail.
I recall the now Mayor approaching me after a meeting where I'd been critical
of the way the selection process was going. He asked me to think about coming a
councillor as he said "I need people like you to tell me as it is"(quote). So I
did… and found that he didn't.
If the West Ham selections for the last Council elections were as you say, why
is it that I still come across West Ham members who say otherwise? By the way,
are you a West Ham member? Were you a West Ham member at the time of the said
selections?
Having been a member of Newham Labour and Newham Conservatives I can confirm
that, from my experience, you are partially right. I was very surprised to find
that the Newham Conservatives have very similar "characters" to those in Newham
Labour among the grass-roots activists. The big difference that I found was
that there is at Tory meetings a greater deal of debate and discussion.
I share your view that most people go into politics for the right reasons.
However, it would make a fascinating study to find out what it is that makes
the likes of Wales such obnoxious egomaniacs.
I love the concept of joining the Labour Party in Newham to get involved -
again, have you ever been a member in Newham Labour? If so, you have a very
different experience to Newham Labour than Sarah and myself; if not, how can
your assertions about what a new member can expect in Newham be taken
seriously?
It may well be the case that a future administration will be "complained" about
just as much as the current regime. Two points: this thread is discussing the
current mayoralty and its hold over Newham Labour; and, should we read your
comment as a dismissal of any concern about the current Labour Town Hall
administration because a future administration may turn out to be just as bad?