Readers will be aware that a former mayor of Newham, on Robin Wales recently stood as the Labour candidate, for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner in rural Suffolk. Alas, for Labour, Wales was unsuccessful in his bid to overturn a 50,000-vote majority. He did however, see a substantial swing to Labour, reducing the majority to just over 11,000. (Con 40.2%; Lab 31.6%.)

Sadiq Khan is adamant. He has no intention of introducing pay-per-mile road charging. This is the allegation made by Tory mayoral hopeful, Susan Hall. One can see her point, in a book published in his name in 2023, (Breathe. Tackling the Climate Emergency), he made reference to “plans to introduce a new, more comprehensive, road-user charging system”.

A special meeting of the cabinet was called on on 2nd April 2024.For some reason, when you click on the video link, it goes to a special meeting of the cabinet in February. Because of this we have had to rely upon the accounts that emanate from those present.

At the weekend, members of the Labour faithful turned out to campaign for Sadiq Khan and the Assembly candidates, Unmesh Desai and James Beckles.

They were supported by some of Newham Labour’s party big-wigs.

In a process that any remaining members of the Labour Party in Newham will be familiar with, the members of the Ilford South Labour Party chose to have an open selection in deciding who would represent them on the ballot for the next general election.

It seems that there are moves afoot to make some changes in the Whip’s office.

Sources tell us that early in March, the mayor met with her ‘political cabinet’, (cabinet members without council officers present). Amongst the things they discussed were two related issues. Firstly, the forthcoming AGM and secondly the discipline, or lack thereof in Labour Group.

We hear that West Ham MP, Lyn Brown is no longer quite so keen on representing Labour in the north of the borough. The cosy relationship she had with the members of the West Ham party seem unlikely to be replicated with Tower Hamlets party members in Bow. It is our understanding that she has no desire to leave politics just yet and that she has set her eyes on the new seat of West Ham and Beckton.

We know that the party machinery is somewhat defunct, but you would have thought that Newham Labour might have done some editing of their website, it has been months since Cllr Gulamussen defected to the Independent Group.

It seems that Mayor Lutfur Rahman has got himself into hot water again in neighbouring Tower Hamlets.

How does a party that denies the ‘block-vote’ effect stand up to a challenge from an organisation which seeks to capitalise on a block-vote?

Labour’s Islamophobia Policy says the following:

Key to any mayor’s success is their ability to pass a budget. It is their ability to raise and spend money that shapes their programme. If they don’t have control of their budget, if they lose the support of their party, they become lame-ducks.

Along with the rest of the country, we are assuming that there will be a general election in either the summer or the autumn of this year. Members in the West Ham and Beckton constituency have begun to murmur about choosing the candidate. It seems that some of them would like to participate in the democratic process.

We understand that, in the twinning of strong constituency Labour Parties with their less robust colleagues in distant shires, the CLPs in Newham have been twinned with the party in Ipswich.

Our vast army of correspondents has revealed an interesting titbit. Former Newham mayor, Sir Robin Wales has been selected to stand as Labour’s Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Suffolk in this May’s election.

Reports have come to us that Newham Council’s Labour Group is struggling financially.

There was a time when Newham Labour was a bastion which sent out canvassers to neighbouring boroughs to bolster their election attempts. We can recall dozens of activists from Newham supporting Labour candidates in Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham and further afield into deepest Essex.

The full quote from Abraham Lincoln is, “a house divided against itself, cannot stand”. It is a salutary reminder to the current administration.

We thought that we would revisit the consultants’ report on the problems between Scrutiny and the Mayor and Cabinet. Have things improved, we ask?

We fear not.

Spoiler Alert: It didn’t work!

It appears that the results of the last two byelections have rattled the London Region of the Labour Party. Regional officer, Larry Culhane, visited Newham on Monday 4th. We understand that he had a private conversation with Mayor Fiaz, which must have been fun for both of them.

The unforeseen consequences of the murderous attack of Hamas gunmen on southern Israel are being played out closer to home. Various Labour councillors have felt the need to put some distance between themselves and the official position of the Labour Party.

The resignation of Cllr Daniel Lee Phakoe led to a vacancy as Chair of one of the scrutiny commissions. Labour was due to select its candidate on Monday 16th. Two members threw their hats into the ring; the current Chair of Labour Group, Lakmini Shah and relative newcomer, Thelma Odoi, a maths teacher.

We understand that Plaistow North Councillor, Daniel Lee-Phakoe has resigned.

We are told that Lee-Phakoe, who is in his second term of office, submitted his resignation on 16th October 2023.

There seems to be some dispute emerging from Labour’s ranks in Newham. Some are adamant that the NEC will be making the decision, but candidates are telling anyone who will listen that the NEC has decided that the members will have a role in the decision.

We are hearing rumours that the NEC of the Labour Party has decided that Labour Party members in the constituency of West Ham and Beckton will have a role in deciding who the Westminster candidate will be.

Following his embarrassing connection to a convicted paedophile, Philip Glanville has resigned as mayor of Hackney.

The following statement comes from the website of Hackney Council:

The Labour Party has suspended its last leader and alongside him they have suspended the former front bencher, Diane Abbot. Even the Tories haven’t managed that, but then, they don’t seem to have the same problem with antisemitism.

We’ve decided to do a little number crunching in the wake of the momentous election result in Boleyn, (July 2023). We began in the first year of the mayoral system.

We’ve rounded the numbers, so they might not add up to exactly 100%.

We all remember the “Focus E15 Mothers’” Campaign during the 2014-2018 Council, particularly the occupation by the Campaign of a void on the Carpenters Estate.

It has been an open secret that the person behind this website is erstwhile councillor, Clive Furness. Over the past 24 months, he has been collaborating with the former mayor, Robin Wales on a separate project.

The fruits of their labours is the book, Left, Right, Wrong.

Readers will recall that Mayor Fiaz and her former Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Terry Paul have both lodged complaints with the Standards Advisory Committee.

The Guardian reported that Jamie Driscoll, a Tyneside Corbynista has been barred from the long-list of candidates for the prospective candidate for Mayor of the North East. An interesting decision given that Discoll is the current mayor for the North of Tyne area. It seems slowly the party machine is grinding its way through the remaining Corbynistas.