It would appear that Mayor Fiaz has selected two names for promotion to cabinet. We understand that she will announce the names this evening.

It is evident that even one-time allies have now fallen out with the mayor. Those who put in great efforts to get her selected are sadly disappointed and want change.

One such is Mohammed Uddin, who can be found writing  for ‘Newham Muslims on Twitter/X. 

Newham has perfected its new source of income generation. NE Londoner  reported that Newham was second, only to Westminster, in the number PCNs issued in London. These PCNs brought in some £21.5m between 2023-24. Two thirds of these were for parking offences.

It seems that the anti-Fiaz factions came out the winners at this year’s council AGM.

Amongst the uncontested places, Cllr Hudson took the Chair of the OSC. Members have voted and the three scrutiny chairs are as follows: Joshua Garfield, Susan Masters and Lakmini Shah.

Scrutiny is now firmly set to focus on the plans that Fiaz has with all places going to individuals critical of the mayor.

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!

Many readers will now be aware of the death of former Newham councillor, Andrew Baikie, aged 70. He died whilst on holiday in Jamaica. 

Andrew was first elected to Newham Council in 1992 in a by-election for Little Ilford ward.

R.I.P. Andrew. A friend, a colleague and a comrade.

Newham Independents Leader, Councillor Mirza has written to the Newham chief exec, Abi Gbago regarding the letter from The Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

It seems that if Newham Labour councillors are unwilling to take up the issue, the Newham Independents will. In his letter he seeks a “fundamental refresh” of the political and administrative leadership.

One way in which Fiaz might begin to regain some credibility is to sack her cabinet and reduce its size. They are clearly incapable of either delivering or challenging her. She is clearly on the way out, so she has nothing to lose by getting rid of some dead wood.

The atmosphere in Labour Group was described as “toxic”. That’s not our words, that’s the Regional Director. We have occasionally used the same word, (here, here, here, here, here, and here) to describe the atmosphere created by Mayor Fiaz. Now it’s official!

As low-paid staff have the value of their terms and  conditions eroded, Newham councillors  continue to enjoy another year of pay increases.

That might seem a little unfair to outside observers.

Formal complaints by staff, complaints to the Labour Party by councillors and nearly £4m spent on gagging orders suggest that this is an administration whose time is over and which needs to be replaced.

What is of interest to us is the value of this astonishing generosity. Remember, Newham had to go cap in hand to the government recently begging for an additional £51m to balance the books. You would expect that all of these highly paid individuals would bringing down costs and making the council run more efficiently. That is certainly what they would have us believe.

In 2023, the other Mirza (Tahir) took just under 18% of the vote in East Ham. If the general election was today, the Independent candidate would be expected to take 35% of the vote and the additional numbers would be taken from Labour.

The offhand attitude that the Labour Party has taken towards local government may now be coming back to bite it.

Labour were humiliated on 27th March. Another Independent candidate trounced the Labour hopeful.

the council’s auditors, Ernst and Young stated that the “Council were unable to provide full supporting records for the 2023/24 audit and therefore we concluded that they were not ready for an audit.”

We didn’t see any press releases saying that almost the entire independent membership of the standards board had resigned, but looking at Newham London Twitter/X account, that seems to be the only explanation.

About a week after publication we learned that Mr Desai had had the suspension suddenly lifted and that all “enquiries” were seemingly at an end.

The largest council tax rise in London is in Newham at £155. This is nearly £30 above the next borough, Kingston upon Thames.

we are led to believe that that won’t be “Rokhs’” problem. From what we hear, she has been busying herself looking for a new job. Not with much success so far, and time is getting short if she wants to promote herself as the sitting mayor rather than the deselected Mayor of Newham.

After a lull, Newham Independents have announced another candidate for the 2026 council elections.

Of course, the publication of their candidate for Forest Gate North may mean nothing more than he was the next in line. Having something of a conspiratorial mind we, however, are bound to ask whether there is more to this than first appears.