Labour Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

While I was proud of the Labour victory in Newham during the May 22 local elections, I was really pleased when I heard that we had defeated the Tories in their right wing "flagship London Borough" of Hammersmith and Fulham.

Check the interview here (and hat tip picture) of Labour Leader and my good comrade, Stephen Cowan.

Stephen has his own blog The Cowan Report and most recent Labour Party conferences we have met up for an evening to put the world to rights.  Congratulations to Stephen and the local Party for their fantastic victory.

Newham Council Election Count 2014

I hope I haven't left anyone out? But the collage has I think all 21 Labour declarations from Friday 23 May at the Newham Election Count which took place at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic VeloPark (20 wards and Mayor). I have some more interesting photos of the day which I hope to set to music on a youtube clip sometime soon.

This was a great day for the Labour Party. We won all 61 elections. You can check out the results here. Many thanks to the Newham Council staff, the Police and the VeloPark workers for all their hard work on the day.

Election Day West Ham Ward 2014

This post is about my day as a Labour Councillor candidate last Thursday on Election day.

It started at 7am outside the polling station in West Ham Church School in the Portway, E15. This was one of 4 polling stations in West Ham Ward, Newham. My fellow Labour candidate Freda Vaughan was outside Vicarage Lane polling station while John Whitworth was covering Manor School.

In the morning it was blue skies & sunshine. It was quiet but there was a steady flow of voters. I went and introduced myself to the Presiding officer and staff at Church and then Ranelagh school.

We are allowed to speak to voters outside the school gates, ask them to vote for us and offer a leaflet. After a stream of "Don't need to ask, I'm voting Labour", "Labour all the way", broad grins, thumbs up and even pats on my back, I had one women shout at me that she wouldn't vote for Labour, she was a real socialist and we should shoot that **** of a leader. I wasn't sure if she meant Ed Miliband or Robin Wales but I responded by telling her that we did not want her support and that she is barred from voting Labour! When she came back she seemed to have changed her mind somewhat and said a cheery "Good luck anyway".

After 10am there was a lull and I had a full English breakfast with Freda at Solmos cafe. John had to go to work (he is a teacher at a FE college and could not take the day off).

When we came back to the polling stations we found out that the Tories had arrived! Conservative candidate Matej was born in Slovenia. He seemed a decent bloke but when I asked him what motivated him politically to be a Conservative candidate in the UK he didn't really give me an answer.

I didn't have a conversation with Farahana (see photo collage) who was the Asian British female Tory candidate but did speak to her friends and family who were supporting her (none of whom lived in Newham). It was clear that they were not actual Conservative Party supporters. They would support Labour during the general election but felt that in Newham the local Party leadership was arrogant and would not listen to their concerns.

The 3rd Tory candidate was Mary (see photo collage) who was far too nice to be a real Tory and admitted that she had been "volunteered" to be a candidate.

Unlike elsewhere in the borough, where there was disgusting Respect style intimidation and violence by so called "Conservative" supporters, the West Ham ward "Tories" and their supporters were friendly and pleasant. A little over enthusiastic at times and strong believers that they could convince voters to support their cause at the door of the polling station.

I accepted a soft drink from one of the Tories and posted on Facebook - is this "treating" and does this make me a class traitor?

Some of the voters were rather direct and rude to the Tories. In particular those who were suffering from the impact of the bedroom tax.

The weather changed and it poured down for a while but then cleared up.

We had a number of local Party volunteers to fly the flag outside polling stations including Veronica and her baby! Normally I would not have spent all the time on polling stations and instead would be "knocking up" Labour supporters and reminding them to vote. However, we decided to keep an eye on the Tories. I also "stole" top UNISON canvasser, Montrose Matty (white tee-shirt) from Plaistow North ward to help keep them in line.

Monty and I noticed that the family supporters of Tory candidate Farahana were encouraging people only to vote for her "number 5"on the ballot paper. We decided to helpfully pass on this information to the other two Tory candidates. This caused some upset in the "blue" team.

In the evening our local MP, Lyn Brown (and Cara, her Labour attack terrier) joined us on the polling stations. At 10pm the polling stations closed and we went off for pizza and red, red wine

"Smuggling, cockfighting, outrage and robbery" - A Kentish Walk

Yesterday (Sunday) was my first day off after the election campaign. I was going to sleep all day but the weather forecast was good and for the Bank holiday Monday was (is) miserable.

So I went on this 6.5 mile circular walk in the heart of the Kentish Weald between Cranbrook and Sissinghurst.

As you can see from the picture it is beautiful, lush, green rolling countryside.

Sissinghurst is now a lovely peaceful village. I was surprised to read that it changed its name in the 1850's from Milkhouse Street because of its reputation in the previous century as a centre of "smuggling, cockfighting, outrage and robbery freely committed by rogues who infest this corner of the road".  Modern day Newham Tories would have been at home here.

Apparently it was a stronghold of the notorious "Hawkhurst Gang".  There were a number of vicious murders and gun battles between smugglers, revenue men and local militia's.

I also found out that this area used to be a favourite with working class Londoners who came down to pick hops for their summer "holidays". In this area it was families from Bermondsey and East London who would every year stay in local "Hopper hut camps".

I'll post on Sissinghurst Castle Gardens another time.

UPDATE: I copied this post onto Facebook. "Retired" UNISON
steward Paul McCabe, who was born and bred in Bermondsey posted these pictures of his family while "hopping". He is not sure of where or when but this could have been in Sissinghurst.   Photo left of his Nan, his Mum (Mary Clifford - with hairnet) and her sisters while on the right is his Dad. On a Sunday the best table cloth was always brought out.

Tower Hamlets UNISON Labour Link Mobilisation House of Commons 2014

Collage from last weeks UNISON London Labour Link Tower Hamlets mobilisation reception in the House of Commons (click on picture to bring up detail).

This reception was for UNISON members who live in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets who have volunteered to pay the Labour Party political levy.  I was there as Chair of London Labour Link.

It is an opportunity for rank and file union members and their guests to meet Labour Party politicians to let them know what they think about issues important to them and for us to encourage them to get involved in the Party and campaign for Labour (and union values within it).

The guest speaker was Labour MP for Tooting and Shadow minister for London, Sadiq Khan, who is the son of a London bus driver and a good friend of UNISON. He and I briefly swooped horror stories on our London marathon adventures (he finished his 2nd marathon this year after 4 hours 19 minutes).

Labour Candidate for Tower Hamlets Mayor, John Biggs, also gave a well received speech about the vital importance of making sure the next elected Mayor of the borough is outward not inward looking. I have worked in Tower Hamlets for nearly 25 years and known John for many of them and while we have not always agreed on everything (who does?) I think he will make an excellent Labour Mayor

We also had Sanchia Alaisa speak, who is a London Labour Link Committee member and a Labour Candidate to be one of our Members of the European Parliament next month. Sanchia stressed how workers have benefited from our membership of the EU and if we leave,  TUPE protection, maternity rights, holiday pay, health & safety and protection for agency workers will be risk.

I think these events are really important to connect our Labour representatives with their core vote, who were not at all shy about letting them know their views and who many have also volunteered to fight the good fight for Labour in Tower Hamlets during the next crucial few weeks.