Green Street Peace Procession Celebrating the Birthday of the Prophet Mohammed

 

A well organised & lively Peace march in Green Street to celebrate the Birthday of the Prophet Mohammed headed by @NewhamLondon Mayor @rokhsanafiaz & @WestHamLabour candidate @lynbrownmp

Aylesford Green By-Election

Today I drove down to Ashford in Kent with two other West Hammers, Anamul and Aleen,  to support our former CLP Vice Chair, Gordon Miller.  Gordon is standing to be a borough Councillor in Aylesbury Green ward. This is a Labour marginal seat so every vote will count.

On the way down it was pouring with rain and we speculated whether we will be door knocking or getting slightly less wet by delivering leaflets. Remembering Gordon's campaigning energy and enthusiasm, I had little doubt that he would have us door knocking.  So it proved. Despite Gordon and his agent Caroline being already soaked from the morning session, they were still up for speaking to residents.

The rain held off a bit and the canvass itself was actually quite fun, chatting to residents about local and national issues. While there is differences in the canvass returns for Labour compared to that in West Ham, there is strong support for Labour, even in so called Conservative "heartlands". It reminds me that it was in rural England not the cities that the Labour movement first started.

Afterwards we warmed up and dried out in the local pub "William  Harvey" in Church Road. Anamul had a Nepalese curry cooked by the former British Army Gurkha landlord, which he said was as good as any in Green Street.

Tomorrow more West Hammers will be driving down to help out but after this we will be concentrating on our own Newham by-election in Boleyn ward and supporting our candidate Veronica Oakshott.

The Aylesford Green by election is next Thursday 19 November 2015. If you can help out then let Gordon know via Facebook "Ashford Labour" or @Ashfordlabour.

 UPDATE:
What a shame. Gordon lost by 4 votes! Politics is a cruel game at times but a great result that Labour got a third of the vote in a Tory heartland.

Adrian John Gee-Turner	Liberal Democrats	42
Alex Howard	The Conservative Party Candidate	110 Elected
Christine Ann Kathawick-Smith	Ashford Independent	92
Gordon Miller	Labour Party	106
Thom Pizzey	The Green Party	10
Harriet Bronwen Yeo	UK Independence Party (UKIP)	109

Ken in Newham

This evening I joined Labour Candidate for London Mayor, Ken Livingstone and his team as they visited the historic Theatre Royal in

Stratford.

Ken had been in Newham all day and had already gone on a Housing enforcement visit with Council officers and Newham Mayor Robin Wales in the morning. He then had a briefing with local Councillors and a Q&A with students at Newham College, as well as a “walkabout” in Green Street.

With Ken was Assembly member Val Shawcross (who is standing for Deputy Mayor) local Assembly member John Biggs and Newham’s finest, GLA Candidate, Councillor Unmesh Desai (who is also East Ham Labour Party Agent).

At the Theatre Royal there was firstly an informal meeting with staff and local actors (whose first break had been in the Theatre) in the “Green Room” followed by a brief tour of the theatre and a visit to a Performing Arts class to observe a lesson on “improvisations”. Which was simply enormous fun to watch. Afterwards there was a very relaxed discussion between staff, the young people and Ken, Val and John about the future of performing arts, dance and further education generally. I think the photo above is great. 

Afterwards we went off to the Didsbury Centre in East Ham for the Newham “Tell Ken” event (sponsored by London UNISON Labour Link) which I will post upon soon.

Superheroes at Green Street Stall.

A busy West Ham Labour Party campaigning day started with a hectic stall in Green Street. Members were also sent to go “on the knocker” to nearby Green Street West Ward.

I grabbed a photo-opportunity from a roaming (non-political) publicity team who were promoting the nearby Queens Market which is now opening on a Sunday. Forest Gate North Councillor Shama Ahmad was most impressed (left of bottom picture).

During the day there was a large number of Labour canvass teams carrying out voter identification and leaflet distribution across Newham.

Some Party members did go off after the stall to the “Protect our welfare state and Public Services” demo which I understand went really well. Things will not be totally sweetness and light with regards to public services when Labour is re-elected but if the Tories were to win they would out of sheer ideological conviction and spite - slash, burn and destory our welfare state and public services. IMO.

This is clear red water for anyone who depends upon or cares about the welfare state and public services.

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Green Street Labour Party Stall

Yesterday morning we a very good turnout of local Labour Party members for a stall in Green Street. Members were spread out along this very busy shopping area giving out leaflets and red Labour Party balloons to families.

Many shoppers were from outside Newham so discussions tended to be about national rather than local political issues.

Our MP Lyn Brown (out of picture) was visiting the local shops and businesses on the “West Ham” side of the Road.

Afterwards we sent canvass teams to the local wards while some of us went off to the “Beat the BNP” Day of Action in Barking & Dagenham (see next-ish post).

Canning Town Voter ID

I was out tonight campaigning in Canning Town with West Ham Labour Party members Bryan Collier and Ahmed Noor. Byran is a UNISON member who use to be a member of my 3rd favourite branch, Lambeth Local Government!   I must have a chat to him some time about the “Levithan Witch hunter”.

While Ahmed is I am reliably informed the son of the first Asian shop keeper in Green Street.

There were a large number of Newham “Team Labour” canvassers out tonight. I was leading our team and wished I bought a torch since it was so dark I was sending them to the wrong door numbers. Yet another reason for my firm belief that political campaigning is ideally a summer sport. The response tonight from voters was again very good. 

Blogging Labour MP Tom Harris posted yesterday a really sensible article on political canvassing.

Green Street Labour Party Stall – Free School Meals 4 Newham Kids

Picture is from today’s West Ham Labour Party stall in Green Street, E7. Our local MP Lyn Brown (left of pic) is shown with local Party activists.

We were handing out leaflets about the introduction of free school meals for all Newham Primary school children. This is a very welcome Labour Government and Newham Council anti-poverty initiative that I think will make a real difference.

It’s not only just about important issues such as good nutrition and “healthy” meals. Some of our kids live in such dysfunctional families that they come to school without any breakfast never mind lunch. You cannot learn on an empty stomach. Also this is so, so important for hard pressed working parents bringing up kids while struggling to survive on low wages.

The campaign went down very well with local residents and shoppers. It is not that often in my experience that while on political street stalls passerbys queue up to ask for a leaflet! Many shoppers in Green Street live out of the borough and were asking when their local council will by doing the same (hint, hint to all those local Labour Parties about to hold manifesto meeting).

Overall I felt that the stall went very well concerning how so called “badly” the Party is supposed to be in the polls. People were pleased that we were out talking to them when there was no impending election. One man told me, apparently seriously, that he thought I looked like former USA president Bill Clinton! No comment.

While I was really pleased at the number of people of various faiths and backgrounds wearing British Legion “Remembrance” Poppies. We had lots of young British Asian kids very proudly showing off their Poppies to us while waiting for their Labour Party balloons.

It was all in all a lovely day.

Green Street Labour Party Stall

Picture of a lively West Ham Labour party stall held yesterday in the heart of the famous Green Street.

The weather held out although it was a little breezy which sent leaflets and newsletter flying. The Party balloons went down very well as usual.

Our MP Lyn Brown, local councillors and party activists (double click on photo) from all over Newham helped out distributing newsletters on both sides of the road and taking up case work. Once again, despite the recent pretty dreadful headlines the feedback was very positive but many peopel were still unaware that the European elections were taking place.

At the same time there were also canvass teams “knocking doors” all over Manor Park ward.

I didn’t really speak to anyone since I spent most of the morning trying unsuccessfully to locate 2 boxes of anti-BNP “Hope not Hate” leaflets which Parcelforce are claiming have been sent to Forest Gate Post Office who in turn deny all knowledge and refer me back to Parcelforce. Hey Ho!

Labour St George Stall on Green Street.

After work I met up with West and East Ham CLP Labour activists, Newham Labour Councillors and Labour City & East Candidate, John Biggs, in Green Street for a “Superstall” (see picture).

We set up in the usual position opposite Barclays Bank. We were giving out the famous West Ham Labour Party balloons to children who promised faithfully to vote Labour when they were 18.

We also handed out leaflets outside the local underground station and sent canvassing teams into the neighbouring streets.

I thought that we had a really good reception. While I appreciate that the opinion polls are very tight and there is no room for any complacency, I thought the electoral atmosphere was "positive".

The activists I spoke to were really pleased with the news about the protection for low paid taxpayers who had lost out from the abolition of the 10p tax rate. Well done Alistair and Gordon for listening to what was a simple but potentially dangerous situation that just needed sorting ASAP.

I don’t think now that the Labour Party will be damaged in the long term at all by this. The Party and the Government has shown the wider world it will listen and if necessary act to sort out any damaging policies. (While we are at it - how about equality for agency workers next?)

Green Street Labour Stall for Ken & John

Just a quick post about today’s West Ham CLP stall in the famous Green Street, Forest Gate, London.

Our existing City & East London Assembly member John Biggs (left) was there, as was our local MP Lyn Brown MP.

Local councillors and Labour Party activists from across the borough turned up to spend a hour or so talking to local people about the GLA elections. The Labour Party Free balloon’s once again went down very well!

Without being in the slightest sense complacent and recognising the Newham is a pretty solid Labour borough, we seem to be getting very positive reception from local residents. Dare I say an even much better response than in the 2006 local elections?

Still, getting the vote out will be key. Every Newham vote will matter.