Newham Voices: January 2023 "£300 million New Year vote for Custom House"

Great news for Custom House and check out rest of our local news at https://newhamvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Newham-Voices_Issue-25.pdf

Support here https://newhamvoices.co.uk/support-us/

Avebury rings, Silbury Hill, White Horse Walk & Whatever happened to Custom House wartime evacuee Sheila?

Despite the storms, we are back from a lovely weekend in Marlborough, Wiltshire. On Saturday Gill and I visited nearby Avebury World Heritage Site. An amazing experience to see all these simply huge standing stones, some weighing many tons, built thousands of years ago and a massive deep circular ditch nearly a mile in length. Dug out of the local chalk with animal bones and anklers. 

Afterward we visited Silbury Hill (bottom right of collage) which is yet another breathtaking ancient Neolithic Britain site which, 30m man made hill which must have taken huge effort and resources to build but no one nowadays really knows why our ancestors did this?  

Despite the aftermath of storm Eunice wind and rain, we were able to go for a short walk along Calstone and Cherhill Downs. It was a hard, slippy climb up and super windy on top but fantastic ridge views and we walked around the "Cherhill White Horse" site. 

The central picture in the collage is of Avebury Manor (National Trust) which is well worth a visit but I noticed a mention there in information panels that in September 1939, a number of children from Custom House, East London (my part of the world) were evacuated there because of the fear of German bombing including "Sheila" (see painting by Doris Kellier). Shella was not well and stayed there longer than her siblings. I wonder what happened to Sheila and will ask Newham History Facebook if they know. 

"On the knocker for Labour" in Custom House with Lyn Brown MP & Unmesh Desai AM

 

This afternoon I went out door knocking with our MP, Lyn Brown and our East London Assembly Member, Unmesh Desai. 

We split into 2 teams. One led by local Councillor, James Beckles, with Party activist John Morris and the other by myself and activist Martin Warne. 

It was cold but dry. I was using the Labour Party doorstep app so did not speak to that many residents but it was clear from feedback that we had significant support for Labour but a few had reservations. Our former leader, Jeremy Corbyn was brought up as a reason by some why they lost faith in Labour as a potential alternative government  but it was good that Keir Starmer was getting positive comments

But the only whelming reaction was that our residents were pleased that we were there knocking on their doors in December, listening and talking to them about their concerns.

Afterwards some of us went for a drink in the historic Black Lion pub in Plaistow and we shared some sea food from the local stall. The pub was busy with West Ham FC fans, who were obviously happy with the home win over Chelsea FC. 

I had a little bit of  jellied eel, which was tasty but has a very strong flavour (the jelly puts me off) so I stuck to the pint of prawns and crab sticks. 

Custom House doorstep on Labour National Campaign Day

I was out today with comrades in Custom House ward, West Ham. It was a little wet but using the Labour Party Doorstep app on our smartphones meant that we didn't have soggy and disintegrating paper canvass sheets to record information upon. However, a wet smartphone is not a happy one either but we got by. 

We went to a traditional "East End" part of Custom House and while support for Labour was generally very good, we did get our ears bashed from time to time. But people were on the whole glad to see us but some relucent to open their front doors due to the rain. I can't blame them, it was wet. 

The cats I saw were completely unimpressed with us (see collage) 

I had taken a Covid lateral flow test beforehand as I was a little worried that (despite being fully vaccinated) I might have picked it up at Labour Conference this week, however it was negative (so far). 

Afterwards some of us went for lunch at the "West Ham Fish Bar" in Canning Town. A great way to finish a canvass. . 

Labour Unions for Kim in Batley & Spen, Custom House doorstep wash out & great Little Ilford dialogue

 

My political campaigning life is beginning to somewhat come back to "normal" (whatever that means nowadays). 

On Wednesday evening I took part in a Labour Unions telecanvassing session for Kim Leadbeater, the Labour candidate in the by election next week being held in Batley & Spen. This was hosted with Mick Whelan from ASLEF and Rachel Reeves MP. Kim herself, also joined and gave a barnstorming speech about her politics, her support of trade unions and what she wants to do for the people of Batley & Spen if elected. 

The dialogue telephone session itself was quite frustrating since in about 45 minutes I rang 73 electors in Batley & Spen but only managed to complete 5 voter surveys. Nearly everyone had an answerphone on. 

The voters I managed to speak to were very positive, including 2 who had been marked down as "Against" the Labour Party on our records but told me how Kim had won them over. 

This morning we were due to have a Labour Group physical door knocking session in Custom House, Newham. However, when we arrived at the meeting point, it turned out that part of the Labour Party website was down and we could not download the names and addresses to call at on our smartphones. Lesson learnt is that while new technology is fantastic when it works, you should have a hard copy backup system. 

While some of the canvass teams were coming back later that day with paper lists, I cycled back home and joined the Newham Labour Group online telecanvass session (dialogue software which worked for me) targeting our Little Ilford ward. 

In a similar 45 minute time frame I "only" managed to make 26 calls but completed 13 surveys. There was far less telephone answer machines and I managed to speak to more people and had some pretty decent discussions. Possibly people are more relaxed and ready to chat on a Saturday morning.  

On Monday evening I am chairing a Greater London UNISON training for our "Labour Link" branch officers. At the end of the meeting we are planning to do another telecanvass session to support Kim.

Royal Docks & NHS Nightingale Run

This evening I went for sunshine run (aka "very slow jog") from Newham Dockside Building to Thames Barrier across Royal Docks past the now "on standby"NHS Nightingale (Excel Centre) through Custom House back to Newham Dockside. About 4 miles-ish in around 55 minutes (including photo stops)

I was so pleased that the Excel Centre was turned into a London wide NHS Covid-19 hospital facility and so glad that it turned out that it was not really needed (so far and hopefully it never will)

I was thinking of NHS Nightingale and all our key workers during #ClapForKeyWorkers tonight. 

Custom House Labour Doorstep with Lyn Brown MP & Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz

Picture collage from this morning's Labour Doorstep in Custom House, West Ham with activists and local MP Lyn Brown, Newham Executive Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz and local ward Councillors Sarah Ruiz and James Beckles.

Cara, our Labour attack dog was out with us (see middle of collage), determined as always, to strike fear in any political opponent by licking them to death and after a long canvass we were all treated to a delicious meal at the home of a local party activist. Many thanks Sayed to you and your wife for your hospitality.

It was a good canvass with positive results but it feels at the moment like a bit of a phoney war and I personally cannot wait to get the immediate threat of a "No Deal Brexit" sorted then get on to fight a general election asap. 

Labour Housing Campaign Day in Custom House with Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz & Lyn Brown MP

Picture Collage from last week's campaign day in Custom House talking to residents about bread and butter housing issues as well as regeneration and crime.

Showing solidarity at UNISON stall Newham Council Dockside Building

I stopped yesterday at the UNISON stall at Newham Dockside building to chat with colleagues and especially our top UNISON Branch Chair, Kim Silver. UNISON is by far the largest trade union in Newham (and of course the best) and is also now the biggest union in the country with some 1.3 million members.

We discussed the exciting news that after so many years of UNISON campaigning and also thanks to the commitment of our new Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, Newham will finally become not only a London Living Wage employer but also sign the UNISON Ethical Care Charter.

Up to 1000 Newham care workers, mostly female and black residents, who are currently suffering poverty pay will have a pay rise of up to £100 per week, proper training and occupational sick pay. All new Newham Council contracts will require a London Living wage. Newham will become a Community Wealth Building Council and campaign for all employers in Newham to stop paying poverty wages.

Kim is Newham Custom House born and bred. As well as being a UNISON branch officer, anti-poverty and disability advocate she is also a local magistrate! She is your genuine grassroots Labour movement activist.

I am so proud to call her my comrade, even though in our new respective roles, we will not always agree and no doubt she will give me a severe ear bashing (or far worse) from time to time. 

Day 2 of Rerun Newham Labour Mayoral Trigger - Canning Town North & Custom House vote NO for an open selection

This is turning into a massacre. Last night West Ham ward result was 24 to 1 for an open selection. Tomorrow it is Plaistow South and Plaistow North wards.

Hat tip https://twitter.com/newhamselection

More info http://www.newhamforopenselection.org/

and https://www.facebook.com/NewhamTriggerBallot/

Custom House Ward is 2nd branch to hold Newham Mayoral Trigger - 7.30 Tuesday 30 January at Ascension Church E13

Custom House ward will hold the 2nd West Ham ward Labour Party trigger (out of 10) on the Newham Labour Mayor on 7.30pm Tuesday 30 January in Ascension Church, Baxter Rd, London, E16 3HJ. 

I will repeat below my comments about the West Ham CLP ward trigger meeting

"If you are an eligible ward member (there is a "freeze" date, so if you were not a party member by 26 April 2016 and also living in the borough since 25 October 2016 you cannot vote) then you should have received an email or letter informing you of date, time, location and identity requirements.

I would suggest that you arrive at least 30 minutes early for registration and that the Party asks you to bring some form of ID with you such as your Labour Party membership card.

West Ham Labour Party Executive Committee is running its 10 ward trigger ballot meetings over the next 3 weeks (details to be published on this blog and others). Each ward will be given at least 7 days notice.

East Ham Labour Party ward trigger ballot meetings will all be run on the same day by London Regional Labour Party at the East Ham Town Hall E6 on Saturday 10 February. All eligible members should have got an email or letter from London Region.

You will not be able to attend and participate in these meetings if you are not eligible to vote or in arrears with your Party subscriptions (so get up to date!).

(To be clear, even though I am an Executive officer of West Ham CLP, I will not be taking part in the above process since I am openly calling for a NO vote and wish an open mayoral selection process).

After 24 years of one person being in charge it is about time that there was a democratic choice for Party members before making it 28 years. Please spread the word. 

Re-electing Lyn Brown in Custom House & Forest Gate

A great collage of photos from recent campaigning. Custom House canvass on Sunday morning with Lyn Brown (and Cara) as well as local Newham Councillors, Rokhsana Fiaz and Pat Holland.  Lyn had also been that morning to Ilford North with West Ham activists to support Wes Streeting.

In the afternoon we were in Forest Gate North, where we had the support of super walker, Cllr Seyi Akiwowo and 3 Young Pioneers, courtesy of their Mum, Councillor Rachel Tripp.

The support for Labour in our constituency is humbling with superb canvass returns, yet while we want our activists to go to the marginals, we are making sure that we do not take our support in West Ham for granted.

At the end of canvass in Forest Gate, we had the traditional warm weather canvassing icelolly feast. The Young Pioneers seemed very happy with this (especially when their Mum said she was now taking them to the local Park and swings).

On Tuesday evening Lyn was out again with team FGN in Lorne and Latimer Road. 

A week of campaigning for Sadiq Khan as Labour Mayor of London in West Ham

Some pictures from the door knocking that has been going on by various ward branches in West Ham Labour Party during the last week.

On Sunday I helped out in Custom House. Interestingly, we are also asking residents how they will vote in the European Union referendum and this ward had a high "Remain" in the EU vote.

Thursday evening we were in West Ham ward and were joined by Labour Greater London Assembly candidate for City and East London, Unmesh Desai.

Saturday morning back in West Ham this time with our MP Lyn Brown.  I had a difficult conversation with a constituent who is a council tenant in a 2 bed flat with 2 teenagers (boy and girl) and has been on the waiting list for a move to a larger property for 12 years.

I had to warn her that we have thousands of residents in a similar position or worse and that the Tory plans to make councils sell off off their homes to pay for their right to buy election bribes to Housing Association tenants will be a disaster for people like her. Sadiq Khan as Labour Mayor of London will fix the Tory Housing crisis.

Saturday afternoon I was in the former 2012 Olympic athletic accommodation blocks in what is now East Village in Stratford. The blocks we managed to get into appeared to be half empty since so few had anyone registered to vote. We can only assume that these homes are occupied by non EU nationals. This is not the Olympic legacy that we were promised.

There was a number of other canvass sessions in West Ham last week that I was not able to attend but I will try and help out at all wards during this campaign.

West Hammers out Khanpaigning in Green St, Plaistow & Custom House

It has been a busy weekend for West Ham Labour. Yesterday I was out with a Labour canvass team for Sadiq Khan as mayor in Green Street. See Vice Chair Campaigns, Julianne Marriott, briefing the team beforehand on what to do. Highlight of the morning was calling at a Roman Catholic nunnery.

Then we met our MP Lyn Brown, at the East Shopping centre which was celebrating its first birthday. Some members also attended the anti racism rally in Trafalgar Square.

In the afternoon we were in Plaistow South ward with City & East GLA candidate Unmesh Desai.  As you can see from the photo outside the fire station, we had a number of (very) young socialists with us. I was with the team led by Stratford Cllr, Charlene McLean, who used her daughters pram to hold spare leaflets and sheets. Picked up some repair and school issues which were dealt with by local Cllr Neil Wilson. Picture of excited staffie, stalking cat and CLP secretary, Alan Griffiths.

In the evening there was a meeting of City and East Momentum followed by a social in Forest Gate. This morning there was another canvass team out in Custom House led by local Councillors Rokhsana Fiaz and Pat Holland. This evening there is Sunday Night Live at the Stratford Picture House on "Does Feminism Need a Upgrade" (5pm-6.30)

Click on picture to bring up detail.

Custom House for Sadiq Khan as London Labour Mayor

Picture from a cold, wet, windy canvass session this morning in Custom House, West Ham. Lyn Brown MP (and her little Labour attack dog, Cara), Local Councillors and Party activists were out knocking on doors, talking to residents and asking them to support Sadiq as our next London Mayor in May.

Custom House is a Labour heartland but it was still humbling to see the instinctive support we get from so many life long committed supporters.The message we have to get out is that due to PR,  every single vote will count in the May elections.

Newham voters could end up deciding whether or not we have another rich multi-millionaire, old Etonian as London Mayor or a proper Londoner. 

"Five Million Conversations (How Labour lost an election & rediscovered its roots)"

The picture is from last Thursday's social at Custom House branch, West Ham Labour where the guest speaker was BBC political reporter, Iain Watson.  He spoke about his new book on the failure of the Labour Party to win the last general election "Five Million conversations - How Labour Lost an election and rediscovered its roots". 

This is of course a very topical (and to me personally painful) subject that must be addressed by anyone interested in politics. The meeting was chaired by local member UNISON activist, Kim Silver. 

Iain began by speaking about the official Labour Party report by Margaret Beckett, which will finally be published later today. There will be no surprises in the report he thinks. Labour lost due to 4 main reasons:-

1.  Labour never took on the "myth" that they caused the financial crash. 2. Ed Miliband was not seen as strong a leader as David Cameron. 3. Fear of SNP and finally - 4. The most challenging, Labours "lack of  connection" problem with some voters over immigration and benefits.

Ironically Labour was not seen as too left wing, since most of the most popular policies in the campaign were those of the "left".

He doesn't think that Labour Party staff were to blame but surely having 106 "attack" seats and no "defensive" seats was wrong. The Tories had 50 "defensive" and 50 "attack" with far, far more resources. They had on the ground information, since they had surveyed every single parliamentary constituency. Labour thought they could take 3 seats that they didn't even win in 1997.

The pre election attempted coup against Ed Miliband by some Labour MPs didn't help.

Despite being Scottish, the scale of the SNP victory in Scotland surprised him. In the past Labour used to argue successfully against the SNP that "divorce is a expensive business". Now it is clear that many Scottish voters simply don't care about this cost. There has been a "mood change".

He thought Ed was a decent candidate but made mistakes. The Labour campaign was brittle and too protective of him.

After the election and during the leadership elections, Iain remember the trade union GMB hustings in  Dublin. Jeremy Corbyn was the only candidate who was clearly against the Tories benefits cap, Liz was for it but the other candidates did not give convincing answers.

In the Q&A I asked whether with hindsight, Labour was never going to win in 2014. There had only been a single one term government in 100 years and that was in 1974 after the 3 day week. The British electorate do not like one term governments and will nearly always give them the benefit of the doubt.

Also, since I, like so many others, were so absolutely wrong about the outcome of the Labour leadership campaign, we should be humble about any predictions that Corbyn will not win.

Iain responded by saying that the opinion polls actually had Labour in the lead before the election and that it seemed at the time that maybe they could have won under Ed in a minority government with the SNP. The Labour Party faces an enormous challenge to win in 2020.  Boundary changes, the Tories are reducing Parliamentary Short money, the trade union bill will have an impact on its funding and Scotland will remain a problem.

Another question was why does Jeremy Corbyn have such a bad press? Iain thought he was honest and straight talking but the trouble is that he answers other peoples agendas and not his own. For example, what happened over his comments about "shot to kill" and a recent survey that found only 1:20 of people thought that Jeremy was "Anti-Austerity".  When the Tories were under pressure over the Trade Union Bill, Jeremy was side tracked by questions on Trident.

Next was on the threat from UKIP to Labour who came 2nd in 120 consistencies. Iain agreed this was a threat that has not gone away and that Labour in the past did not have a "core vote strategy".

Ali G thought that many CLP Labour campaigns (unlike Ilford north) last year were poorly run. We need to appeal to the "better off" voters. Iain agreed that he was surprised that the Labour policies such as on free childcare for all was hardly mentioned.

Sue asked how will Labour win back Scotland? Iain said that it would be really difficult. Possibly now that the SNP government will be given the power to raise all income tax rates, if they don't then the claim they are on the left and "anti-austerity " will be undermined and they will be open to attack.

This was an excellent evening. Iain was a great speaker and will try to make himself available to plug his book at all different events. Many thanks for the Custom House councillors and ward members for organising this social. 

Custom House Labour Branch New Year Social - 14 January 2016

This looks good. RSVP customhousebranch2016@gmail.com

Custom House SuperSaturday

Some pictures from the West Ham Labour Party "Super Saturday" doorstep at Custom House.

Organised by our MP Lyn Brown (and supported of course by Cara, the Labour attack dog - see top left and right photo).

I believe we had 19 activists turn up in total.

We started off in my team at "Meadowsweet Close".  A very rural name. Local Councillor Pat Holland (see picture with Lyn) remembers as a child going Blackberry picking in this area (NB nothing to do with smartphones).

There is a large East European community in the area. I met a resident who was Hungarian, who was impressed that I had a Uncle who was also Hungarian, who came over as a refugee following the revolution in 1956. I remember him teaching me how to play very serious chess as a boy.

It made me also remember that East Europeans in the UK is nothing new. A close trade union friend and colleague (very sadly no longer with us) was the son of a Free Polish Army fighter as was my former manager's husband. While of course in the recent past, East London use to have one of the largest East European Jewish communities in the world.

It made me think "There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know"
Harry S. Truman

On the Knocker in Custom House

Bank Holiday Monday started off  early with  a voter ID canvass together with our Parliamentary Candidate, Lyn Brown, and local Councillor Pat Holland.  We went to  a “Newham Homes” housing estate in Custom House ward.

There was a very good response. 

Plenty of healthy cardiovascular exercise going up and down communal stairs!

“We’re all forever Labour” was one reply I heard.

Custom House Canvass

Good turn out during the weekend by West and East Ham Labour Party members in Custom House.

Lyn Brown MP (top right) was our "star attraction".

Voter ID was pretty good but there was plenty of case work for the MP and local councillors - particularly around property crime.

I also didn't think that none of the local housing association landlords (neither with regard to assured tenancies or shared ownership) will be winning any housing management prizes in the near future.