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The Corbynistas and local government in Waltham Forest

I hear from a number of sources that, as Corbynistas increasingly dominate the local Labour Party, thoughts are turning not just to the de-selection of one or more local MPs, but also to the de-selection of councillors. Whether any such thing will happen is a moot point. There are certainly some on the Labour benches who have contributed little or nothing, and richly deserve to be replaced. But the Left’s fixation with ideology (and penchant for allied witch-hunting) makes it inherently disputatious, and subject to often vicious arguments – a characteristic that has historically limited its ability to get anything much done. It is quite easy to envisage a scenario where the ranting yet large... »

Robbins trip to the Palace postponed – again!

Our man with a finger on Council Leader Chris Robbins’ pulse reports as follows: ‘When some weeks ago Chris Robbins put his name to a petition got up by Labour councillors calling on Jeremy Corbyn to resign, he must have thought it was only a matter of time before the Labour Leader was toast, and, with a replacement appointed, his own quest for honours would be back on track. Subsequently, his hopes no doubt rose further because the emerging challenger, Owen Smith, seemed to share Robbins’ flexible approach to politics, selling himself as a lefty in the hope of impressing the Corbynistas who have taken over the Labour Party, whilst downplaying his previous employment as a corporate lob... »

Love Wapping investigates the Islamist takeover of Tower Hamlets UPDATED

Mark Baynes’ blog Love Wapping is fast becoming indispensable for those interested in how East London is developing. A couple of days ago, he published part one of his investigation into Islamists in Tower Hamlets: http://lovewapping.org/2016/07/tower-hamlets-london-borough-hijacked-by-fundamental-islamists/ It makes a very interesting read, and I’ll  be posting the follow-ups here in due course. His discussion of the links between Islamic Forum Europe (IFE), a fundamental Islamist group inspired by the teachings of Abul Ala Maududi, and Jamaat-e-Islami are pertinent. As previous posts on this blog have pointed out, a group of Waltham Forest councillors recently (and surreptitiou... »

The E11 BID Co.: strike off discontinued, but accounts still overdue

According to Companies House, the Registrar has discontinued the compulsory strike-off of the E11 BID Co.. On the other hand, the visitor who uses the Companies House webpages to check on the E11 BID Co.’s progress is still greeted by the following: As I’ve pointed out before, it does seem strange that an organisation which depends solely for its income on the hard work of local traders, and in the past has been showered with public money, cannot get its accounts in on time. Indeed, this is particularly so because not so long ago the E11 BID Co. was castigated for failing to pay its taxes, and being run chaotically, so might have been expected to carefully learn the requisite les... »

Cllr. Liaquat Ali: an update

In the last couple of days, both Private Eye (‘Haq Attack’, see below) and the Waltham Forest Guardian have published versions of the Ali-Haq story. It is notable that the latter does not mention Senator Haq’s rantings about ‘Jews and Christians’, spineless journalism at its worst. Meanwhile, a rumour going round the Town Hall is that Mayor Khan has declined to re-appoint Cllr. Ali to the London Fire Authority (LFA), despite Cllr. Robbins’ recommendation. If this is true, the LFA will have to soldier on without Cllr. Ali’s notable expertise, always so eloquently delivered. However, at least the public purse seems set to gain. For it turns out that Cl... »

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