West Ham 6 play Millwall 4 (Abbas as Labour Mayor)

Apologies for post title but I just couldn't resist it. Yesterday I was out with a canvass team led by West Ham MP, Lyn Brown in Millwall, Isle of Dogs, Tower Hamlets.  We were campaigning for the Labour Party Candidate for Mayor, Helal Abbas.

Last Saturday about 40 activists from Newham helped out with the campaign. 

The meeting point was in Copenhagen Place which I thought was fortuitous considering the election will be held this week on Trafalgar Day.  We were sent off to knock on doors.  The reaction from voters was again very positive. 

One person told me that he and his family will be definitely be voting Labour on Thursday "we don't want our Council tax in the hands of George Galloway for the next 4 years".  I told him I couldn't possibly comment :)

I also knocked on the door of the Chief Executive of a well know East London voluntary sector organisation and had a chat.

What is strange is that I work in Tower Hamlets and have been campaigning a few times now and I have never seen any of the opposition parties out door knocking or delivering leaflets?  Instead it appears from this report by independent local blogger, Ted Jeory, that for some - most effort has been in simply smearing Abbas and trying to poison the community against him.

Respect are up to their old tricks I see.

I posted on Facebook the other day this great quote from local MP Rushanara Ali "What’s at stake next Thursday is a billion pound budget, in one the most vibrant and diverse boroughs at the heart of our capital. For the people of Tower Hamlets this isn’t about personalities, it’s about the real issues – schools, housing, jobs and the economy. This is no time for a Galloway-backed independent who appeals to the margins and wants to turn the clock back to the politics of the past".  The bile it generated from Labour opponents was great fun.

Election is on 21 October - Campaign office is at 349 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9RA - 3 mins from Bethnal Green tube and is open for canvassing and leafleting from 10am-until late every day until the election. Or you can ring 0207 729 6682 or email abbas4mayor@gmail.com for further details.

Picture is from left: Newham Councillor Charity Fiberesima, Gordon Miller, Lyn, Councillor Pat Murphy (honorary West Hammer for day) and John Cullen.

Silvertown Remembrance March & Service: Abide with me

Today there were 4 Remembrance Services in Newham. This year I went to the Royal British Legion (North Woolwich & Silvertown Branch) Service. There was a march from the Legion club in Constance Street E16 starting off promptly at 10.30am.

At the head of the possession was a Pipe and Drums band and bringing up the rear a London Fire Brigade engine. As well Royal Legion veterans, supporters and ordinary members of the public there were serving soldiers from the Rifles, a Royal Marine and representatives from all the emergency services.

Councillor Amarjit Singh was there in his role as Chair of the Council. I walked with local Royal Docks ward Councillors Patrick Murphy, Stephen Brayshaw and Anthony McAlmont. I estimated that there were about 150 people in the procession. We marched to the St Marks War Memorial in Factory Road. This is in the grounds of what is now the Brick Lane Musical Hall.

There was an outdoor service and luckily the weather held out for us. The first hymn was one of my favourites (even though I clearly did not know all the words) “Abide with me”. Then we had prayers and the "Last Post” before the two minute silence at 11am. After Reveille there were poems read out followed by the laying of wreaths. The final hymn was “O God in Ages Past” then the National Anthem and a blessing. Next was was coffee and cakes (treacle tart!) inside the Musical Hall (which I have not been to before – but must return to see the show).

I enjoyed the sight of elderly veterans shaking hands and talking to the present day soldiers and marines. Over coffee I was speaking to one man who could remember as a local child listening to Doodlebugs (German V1 rockets) flying overhead then their engines cutting out and the rocket falling down and exploding. Outside I was asked to take a photograph of a family in front of the memorial. Their great-grandfather was one of the servicemen named on it.

Despite the weather the attendance this year was apparently much larger than in previous years which I think is for fairly obvious reasons. After a little while we formed up again and marched to the footbridge where we “fell out” and were invited to come back to the Legion Clubhouse.

On my way home I stopped off at the local Fire station and took a photo of the plaque remembering the firemen and their families who were killed in the nearby Silvertown explosion in 1917. An unsafe wartime factory producing TNT high explosives blew up and flattened the local area killing 73 and injured over 400.

My usual favourite memory of today was during the two minute silence when in this solemn and very serious time we all paid our respects in our different ways all you could hear was the lovely sounds of a little innocent baby happily cooing and babbling away in the arms of a no doubt slightly embarrassed Mum.

The desperate race to be the Royal Docks best loser – Newham Tories or the CPA?

By last night I had recovered from my very severe bout of "man flu" (which of course I had most stoically endured) so I went off after work to help out the Labour Campaign in the Royal Docks by-election.

At first I was given a local leaflet round to delivery. Which went OK apart from last road since on the map it insisted that there were 13 homes to be delivered but I could not find a single letter box? Lisa our ace local organiser was very understanding.

Later I went out with a canvass team with Cllrs Pat Murphy, Pearson Shillingford and Amarjit Singh. Apart from the unpleasant experience of bumping into Alan Craig from the CPA it went very well. The CPA candidate was with him (see right) and she seemed friendly enough. Craig himself just glared at us from a communal balcony.

The Tories and the CPA (the so-called “Christian People’s Alliance”) are currently fighting a rather bitter war about who really is the No 2 contender in this election. I came across a new Tories leaflet last night which referred to the May 2008 GLA election when the Tories came second to Labour. While the CPA has a practically identical graph on their leaflets which claims to show they are first! While I obviously hate to support the Tories their version is accurate while the CPA can only be seem to be telling porkies. They clearly suggest that they actually came first in the area in 2006 when plainly they did not? The leaflet actually refers to the result in neighbouring Canning town South ward which shares the same post code. Most electors will not know this.

Now on the face of things these things "happen" (not the Labour Party of course he says with his tongue firmly in his cheek!) and that you could well argue that worse things happen in local politics. However, the CPA uniquely claims to be better morally than the rest of us “The Mayflower Declaration is a statement of our Christian Democratic values and philosophy. It is a CPA national party document but we apply its basic principles to our work here in Newham. It shows how we seek to apply Christian inspiration to our politics in theory and in practice”. By printing blatant untruths?

It is interesting mind that in 2006 election in Royal Docks the current Tory candidate Neil Pearce came last out of all the losing Tories? I wonder why? The best news last night was that he has republished his infamous “Vinnie Jones” photo in his latest newsletter. This time in colour and with arms folded! Excellent stuff! Even if I have lost a bet.

Decent Homes – How Labour has made a difference in Royal Docks.

Tonight I went canvassing in the Royal Docks by-election with local ward Councillor Pat Murphy and Manor Park Councillor Kay Scoresby (bottom right of picture). We went to two high rise tower blocks in the ward and door knocked everyone that we didn’t have any voter ID.

The tower blocks were managed by the Council owned ALMO “Newham Homes”. While I am not a fan of ALMOs the blocks had just undergone a high quality major refurbishment under the “decent homes” programme. Some works were still ongoing but I did not hear a single complaint about the works done nor about the contractors. Well done I think to everyone involved.

The Tories while in power staved Councils of money to refurbish and modernise their housing stock. Labour is making a difference up and down the country with the “decent homes” project. There are still problems but tonight talking to people (our people) I felt really proud of what had been done. It is not only about new kitchens and bathrooms. The tower blocks themselves looked clean, in very good repair and well looked after by staff and residents.

Picture of Pat and Kay tonight and top right last week’s canvass team just down the road with local ward Councillor Anthony McAlmont. In one of the blocks we visited last week there was this wonderful titled poster in the ground floor foyer (left).

Steve Brayshaw – Labour Candidate for Royal Docks By-Election in Newham

Yesterday afternoon after the Lyn Brown MP Constituency event I went to help out in the by-election in Royal Docks ward.

Fellow London UNISON Labour link activist Alan Griffiths and I drove down to Britannia Village where the Labour campaign HQ is located.

The Labour candidate is Steve Brayshaw, who lives in the ward and is a well known and respected community activist. Sadly, the last time I was in the village I was canvassing with Simon Tucker whose unexpected death has resulted in this by-election.

As I drove into the village I saw 3 Conservative canvassers looking a little lost and confused, apparently arguing between them on which way to go. I didn’t stop to give directions.

We spent the afternoon delivering letters to electors. I came across the leaflets put out on behalf of the Tory candidate, Neil Pearce. Neil is apparently the “editor” of his newsletter. He has a strange photo of him on the front page. Call me old fashioned but I’m not that sure that the “Vinnie Jones skin head” look is what is really going to appeal to the voters in Royal Docks?

I’m not going to be too smug since I know how difficult it is to get a decent leaflet out quickly. But promising to cut council tax if he is elected is perhaps a little ambitious. He seems to have forgotten that if he was elected (God forbid) he will still be only 1 out of 60 councillors. Also Newham has frozen the Council tax year this year and is in fact cheaper than any other outer London Borough including all the far more expensive Tory run boroughs.

Frankly I also don’t think that a leaflet that tries to totally rubbish your ward is all that helpful. There are problems in Royal Docks which need addressing. Trying to make out that the entire ward is some sort of deadly dangerous rubbish dump is not that productive. Keep up the good work mind Neil!

The only slight mishap of the day was when I came out of a block of flats (run by Guinness Trust – they seemed to be in pretty good nick) into the rear car park. The entry door shut behind me and it was only then I found out I was unable to get out. There was a FB 2 lock on the only gate and I hadn’t brought any FB keys with me. So, much to the amusement of local kids I had to climb a very high metal gate and swing myself across and climb down.

While walking back to the HQ with Royal Docks councillor, Pat Murphy, said “Don’t look now but the Tories are all inside that cafe drinking”. I of course immediately looked and saw a group enjoying a beer or three at a window table overlooking the bridge. I gave a friendly wave and I think it was Neil himself who waved back. Now, of course I have nothing whatsoever against canvassers of whatever persuasion enjoying a well earned bit of liquid refreshment after fighting the good fight – but at only 3.30 in the afternoon?

When there are leaflets to be delivered, doors to be knocked and gates to be climbed over!

I’ll hopefully post soon on how folk can help out Steve and Labour in Royal Docks.