A Political Slap in the Face for Fiaz.

We reported that the Labour Party had so little confidence in the Newham Council Labour Group that they would not let them pick their own officers. Well, the Labour Party has chosen, and there are some interesting changes.

There were two candidates for the position of Chair of Overview and Scrutiny. This is the most senior post outside the cabinet and one that is normally chosen by back-benchers. Sitting member, Cllr Anthony McAlmont and friend of Robin Wales, Cllr Lester Hudson submitted applications. The Labour Party, via the Campaign Improvement Board (CIB) and the NEC interviewed both candidates.

Chair of OSC. Elected unopposed!

McAlmont has held the position for a decade, being first elected under Wales and continuing under Fiaz. He presumably expected to be approved by the CIB, but McAlmont together with Fiaz and Anam Islam seem to have been identified by the Labour Party as the problem.

The rancour created by the December 2022 budget scrutiny meeting has tarnished Labour and Islam and McAlmont seem to have been adopted as scapegoats to accompany Fiaz on her way out. 

The appointment of Hudson who was Finance cabinet member under Wales is little short of a political earthquake. It would be fair to say that Hudson has been in the political wilderness since 2018 and has been the recipient of particular venom from the mayor. 

He was one of those who sought to hold the mayor to account over her budget when the meeting descended into acrimony with the mayor leaving and which resulted in the mayor’s legal challenges against her own local authority.

There is only a year to go, but Hudson’s elevation could signal a much more active scrutiny function during her final year.

Politically, it would appear that the party is seeking to put clear blue water between Labour and Fiaz and that Hudson is the vehicle they have chosen to do this.

Chair of Labour Group

Out goes Cllr Simon Rush. It would not be unfair to describe Cllr Rush as a man of limited vision, but not of limited aspiration, if not for himself than for his close friend(s). Members of the Labour Group were recently treated to the bizarre spectacle of Rush seeking to get the support of Group in order to change the government’s foreign policy. At the end of a Group meeting Rush presented, that is to say, he read from a statement critical of Labour on Gaza in the hope that Group would endorse a letter to David Lammy. To be fair to members of the Group, there were sufficient of them to object to both the means by which he introduced the measure and the content. It may be that this performance was what doomed him. Or it may be that the London Region of the Labour Party decided  it was time to be rid of brown-nosing officers if they wanted to turn Newham Labour round in time for the May 2026 elections.

It is not known whether Rush submitted his name for re-election, but in comes Cllr John Gray, elected unopposed. Gray was one of those hostile to Wales, indeed he was an important part of the campaign to get Fiaz selected. His contribution was recognized when he was appointed as the first Deputy Mayor. Gray has also been an enthusiastic user of social media. He has maintained his own blog of Labour issues and he moderated a Newham Labour Party Facebook page. Unfortunately, some, (probably former) members of the party allowed their pro-Palestine comments to run into antisemitic contributions on Facebook. And John didn’t do anything. This led to the first of the scandals of the first Fiaz term in which John was dumped by Fiaz.

We understand that relations between the two have been icy ever since.

On the plus side, he has decades of experience in the trade union movement, is one of the more experienced councillors and he knows how to run a meeting. His appointment is further evidence that Labour is distancing itself from Fiaz.

Chief Whip

We don’t know how many submitted their names for this post. We are told that the current chief whip, Anamul Islam, did seek re-election. He didn’t get it. 

Having been chief whip since 2018, Islam is out.

Cllr Steve Brayshaw was chosen as the sole candidate. We earlier reported that Brayshaw had fallen out with Fiaz over policy and an independence of thought. It seems that we were wrong. According to a small number of those on the inside, it wasn’t policy but currency that caused their estrangement. We are told that Brayshaw had his (SRA) money cut by the mayor, essentially because he wasn’t doing anything. We also understand that senior council officers brought this up with the mayor. Embarrassing! 

If Cllr Brayshaw would care to make a statement, we will, as always, report his comments.

It will be interesting to see how the new chief whip manages Group affairs alongside the mayor from whom he is estranged and who increasingly looks like a lame duck.

Shantu Ferdous has been elected as Vice- Chair of Group and Mussawar Alam· as Treasurer.

Elections are currently being conducted for other positions. We will report on these as we hear the results.