At Wednesday West Ham Labour Party GC, we had two guest speakers. First, was the newly re-elected London Assembly member for City & East, John “Bruiser” Biggs. This is strictly my interpretation of his remarks and that of his newsletter, which he distributed.
John started by thanking all of us (and the Scottish organisers) for helping to nearly double his majority in the recent election. Something not many other Labour candidates elsewhere in the country experienced on the day I suppose?
What to do with Boris? John thinks Boris may be a “funny fellow”, who has “massive self belief” and a “supreme self confidence”. But he is a traditional right wing "hanger and flogger" Tory who is enjoying his media “honeymoon” and hasn’t quite made up his mind whether to continue to pretend to be a “New Cameron Tory” or return to his roots as a Nasty Party tax cutter.
Boris is far more ruthless than Ken Livingston ever was, as seen by his near instant dismissal of James McGrath the new aide who made a seemingly racist remark and Ken’s desperate loyalty to Lee Jasper. Ken himself is still showing an interest in London politics and has turned up to nearly every Assembly meeting.
John thinks that the Assembly needs to justify its existence by scrutinising Boris effectively. He told us that many years ago, Jack Straw MP, told him that the role of opposition is coming up to a brick wall, finding one loose brick, wriggle and worry it loose, pull it out and then find another. Boris is now full of himself and making promises to everyone, he cannot hope to keep. As well as this, Boris is busy delegating everything he can to his appointees.
The anti-racist Rise festival is under threat as Boris’s new advisor on race, Munira Mirza, (who it appears is a member of a group aligned to the now defunct Revolutionary Communist Party) is trying to ban campaign groups from the festival, which has resulted in UNISON and other unions withdrawing £100k of sponsorship. When interviewed about this Boris claimed to have no knowledge of the decision.
It will be interesting to see what side Boris will jump on when the decision about the need for a new Thames crossing comes up again. East London needs a new bridge and there is a £300 million grant available from the government. But Tory Bexley, who gave him loads of votes is very strongly opposed.
With regard to the BNP, he posed this misquotation that we should be “tough on the BNP and thoughtful on the causes of the BNP”. The Labour Party needs to fight the racism of the BNP and to reach out to white working class voters, many with low skills, who feel left out by change.
John finished off by warning that Boris will have to make cuts in order to pay for his promises and that what Boris wants is to be loved by all Londoners and then to become the next leader of the Conservative Party.
God help us all.....
