The Curious Case of the Missing Councillor

We have noted before about the matter of Cllr Godfrey and about Newham Labour’s reluctance to make any comment on his absence.

The information given to Open Newham was that Godfrey had been suspended from the Labour Party and that his suspension was linked to police investigations.

We see from the organisation What Do They Know that a resident of Newham had been similarly intrigued and had submitted an FOI to Newham.  This was the response.

As far as we know, that is still the situation. Godfrey appears on the current council website as follows, still a Lab & Co-op Member.

Alongside Godfrey’s name there are the names of his two ward colleagues, Mumtaz Khan and Amar Virdee.

It therefore came as something of a surprise to discover that Godfrey has disappeared from the Labour Party publicity material from Green St. The following picture was shared over the weekend of May 17th-18th.

Virdee and Khan are pictured canvassing without Godfrey. What is more telling is that Godfrey does not appear on the material they are holding. 

It reminds us of the saga regarding Mohammed Muzibur Rahman when former Labour Party Gen Sec Jennie Formby “tried to exclude Mohammed… he managed to submit his forms to the council before the Labour Party apparatus could take control. Labour were then left with the interesting situation where they were lumbered with a candidate they no longer wanted, so he didn’t appear on any of the election material, although when elected, he did have the Labour whip.”

All of this does rather beg the question beyond his membership of the Labour Party,  as to whether Cllr Godfrey is still fulfilling his duties as a councillor.

He does not appear to have attended the council meetings since September 2024. This is not of itself fatal, but our enquiries suggest that he has not attended any formal council meetings since then. (But as they say, absence of proof is not necessarily proof of absence.)

We understand that Godfrey was not present at the AGM.

28th April Not Attended. No Apologies.

24th March Not Attended. Sent Apologies.

27th February Not Attended. Sent Apologies.

16th December Not Attended. No Apologies.

21st October Not Attended. Sent Apologies.

16th September Attended.

We have been contacted by Cllr Godfrey, clearly upset that we have returned to the matter of his non-attendance. He asserted that he had attended council meetings.

It is believed that Cllr Godfrey did attend a meeting of the Strategic Development Committee in January and then again on May 20th. That’s all we could find. This means that he has fulfilled the minimum requirement to retain his position. So, alas, no byelection.

Residents of Green St might feel a little aggrieved that one of their Labour councillors seems to restrict his formal council work to one meeting every six months or so, just enough to avoid losing his seat.