Selection of Stroud Green Councillors

tricksy

I went to the local Labour meeting to support the re-selection of our excellent councillors Raj Sahota and Tim Gallagher. There I met what a Momentum-organised "Lobby" which included their recruits from other wards who had come to secure the de-selection of our councillors. I was greeted by a Momentum activist who I have known for years with "Are you the Opposition?" Funnily enough I had thought the Tories were the opposition. Sadly our two councillors were deselected. Until we learn to welcome everyone across the Labour spectrum, we will never win an election. All very depressing

gardener-joe

...

tricksy

I agree, but its not so simple. There has been a Momentum-organised lobby to deselect those not considered to be "socialists" and then to vote them out at the selection process...

tricksy

Watch for a Momentum-led takeover of the Council. I doubt if its just about the HDV either: http://www.onlondon.co.uk/momentum-backed-candidates-make-further-gains-in-labour-haringey-selection-votes/

conformable_kate

Maybe - but HDV has been hugely divisive - I know quite a few Haringey Labour supporters who aren't Momentum but are very angry about the project. I'd expect there to be more support for the deselection process in Haringey than elsewhere because of this. (I'm Islington so not grinding axes here!)

conformable_kate

But I agree setting it up as 'the opposition' is really not helpful.

Ali

Has anyone seen any better alternatives? If this gets canned I would think the bidders will be able to claim back the costs of the 18 mth procurement exercise.

What is the LibDems policy on sorting out this as I would think this could be an opportunity for them. They seems to all but disappeared around here

tricksy

Haringey needs to get on & make the most out of the housing money in the budget. Yes the HDV has been divisive but my guess is that ternatives will take a long time & will sacrifice a lot of people who need better housing

Arkady

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/stroud-green-cllr-tim-gallagher-stands-pulls-out-of-local-election-selection-process-1-5294711?utm_medium=email&utm_source=eshot&utm_campaign=newsletterlink

Dreadful. I do like this quote though:

“One adult in every 11 in Stroud Green is a Labour Party member. Is it really credible to say a Left conspiracy got 115 of them to a drafty hall on a cold Wednesday evening to vote? This is Stroud Green, not Beijing.”

krappyrubsnif

I liked Tim Gallagher’s remark somewhere about Momentum people being ‘flat pack’ councillors. Made me wonder if they’ll all come apart in a couple of months like an IKEA wardrobe.

libertyhall

Not all that long ago Haringey Council was attacked for not adding to its housing stock and given the savere restrictions on all councils the HDV seemed a reasonable attempt at making improvements - not perfect but ‘the art of the possible’. This attack on the HDV looks like a device for Momentum to pursue their own agenda - I don’t see why we should loose two good Councillors over this. Not sure I trust anyone the put forward as a replacement given what they have done. I guess the third councillor was prepared to do as she was told so she could hang on. All looks a bit shabby to me - still we all get the final say when the Council election are held.

Billy Bookcase

The HDV has never looked like a reasonable attempt at making improvements. I am not a Momentum supporter either. Too little affordable housing, minimal guarantees about re-housing. After Grenfell, this all looks very bad no matter what the front page of the Times may have to say about it.

HolbornFox

Quite a bit about HDV and also Momentum on LBC today.

tricksy

The mad "selection" process for our ward councillors has resulted in our two gd councillors pulling out followed by others on the shortlist leaving only 2 shortlisted councillors who walked in without being actively selected. Some democracy we have here.

Papa

I doubt Momentum gives a toss about the Haringey Development Vehicle.

It seemed a convenient excuse for pursuing disturbing tactics being used across the UK: silence any dissent or debate, threaten those who don't toe an absolute Dear Leader party line, make accusations of mainstream media bias and fake news and run your own own highly effective propaganda machine.

It has the feel of something straight out of the Orwell playbook - it's very disappointing to see Jeremy Corbyn going along with this. Certainly makes me question his man of principle status.

Next thing that will happen is the Tories will start aping this (albeit probably much less competently) and we will have our two main political parties indulging in this madness.

tricksy

You cld be right.

libertyhall

I hope the other two parties Greens and Lib Dem’s put up strong and capable candidates so that we have a good choice when election time comes.

Billy Bookcase

HolbornFox

I felt like hitting that guy on the left with a sledgehammer.

N19lurker

This story has been covered a fair bit recently in the Evening Standard who are choosing to go with a "Haringey set for country's 1st Momentum run council" angle. Meanwhile there's a Guardian opinion piece today offering a somewhat different take on the story: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/12/haringey-council-taken-over-momentum-locals-taking-back-control

marko

The Rotten Boorough getting even more rotten?

gardener-joe

[...]

Arkady

Richard is no longer in the area. To their credit, the Labour Councillors did secure part of the funding that allowed the Quernmore Road pedestrianisation to begin.

Ali

We must have had the first Momentum in Haringey for a year or so.

What's the verdict so far ?

libertyhall

Verdict - called out for antisemitism more than once, no real interest in local issues to date.

cmo

grim.

LukeG

Genuinely interested in hearing more, if anyone is in the know. I know a hell of a lot of people who are ready to vote lib dems, especially at work where the overwhelming majority of young voters will be going yellow; most of them live in Islington, Haringey, Hackney and some in the south, but if they are a litmus paper (in the music industry) then Labour isn't going to perform well in the GE coming up.

Ali

The Hornsey seat is probably a marginal with the Libdems in with a good chance unless Labour get their act together the Brexot