Oh dear, what a shame, never mind, onwards and forwards

Check out the result of yesterday's election for Tower Hamlets Mayor here.

We live in interesting times in East London.

“Knocking up” the Labour vote in Isle of Dogs

Back (via Spinnakers pub) from “knocking up” the Labour vote in Tower Hamlets (see main picture) for the Executive Mayor contest. I was part of a Newham team led by the super fast walker, Councillor Unmesh Desai, together with “Fitz” from Canning town and long standing Councillor (and TSSA Union activist) Amarjit Singh.

Nearly 60 activists from Newham had been recorded as coming over to help today.

The purpose was for us to knock on the doors of voters who had been previously identified as supporters of the Party and check that they had voted. If they have not voted then our job would be to “encourage” them to go out and vote. In a tight election this is crucial. Labour will win this contest if we get our vote out.

We had two lists to cover near Manchester Road in the Isle of Dogs. Mostly around the Samuda Estate and St John’s. Local landlords Island Homes (One Housing) are refurbishing many blocks (Labour government decent homes proramme?) and have taken away or obscured block signs behind scaffolding, so we had some fun and games identifying the location of certain blocks.

The response from those voters who we managed to find indoors was very good. It is perhaps a sign that people actually value the democratic process more than sometimes we think, since we were thanked by many people for reminding them to vote, even if it meant they had to rush out of their home into the cold at 9.30pm.

One of the last blocks we visited was “Betty May Gray House”. A well maintained block built by the Isle of Dogs Housing Association in 1962 (a good year) on land given to it by said Betty Gray (no known relation). Great views from the top floor.

Last night was probably the quietest time I have ever had on an election night in Tower Hamlets. I understand the usual mayhem was taking place in other parts, but I only saw one team of Tories out delivering leaflets and one independent/respect outside a polling station. The Count is going on overnight and we will find out the result in the morning.

(main picture of Gotham City from a marvellous pre-war Manchester Road sheltered scheme managed by Southern Housing)

Stop the ConDems and Vote Labour, Vote Abbas for Labour Mayor

Polls open 7am today.  It is vital to send a message to the ConDem's about the "cuts" and get the Labour vote out.

If the Party can successfully "knock up" our supporters to come out and vote we will win. 

No doubt of this - whatsoever. 

So we need bodies to come and help!

In Bethnal Green volunteers should come to the Party rooms 349 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9RA, 0207 729 6682 (5 minutes walk from Bethnal Green tube and opposite York Hall Leisure centre).

Poplar and Limehouse volunteers should go to 98 Copenhagen Place, E14 7DE, 07599617125.

If you can spare an hour today at all (especially after 4pm) then please do so. 

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.

Uniting the East End: A call to action in Tower Hamlets

Bethnal Green and Bow Labour MP Rushanara Ali calls for Action in Tower Hamlets Mayor Election. Hat tip Left foot forward.

"In a week when we are all waiting with trepidation for the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review, while marvelling at the twists and turns of Lib Dem MPs as they attempt to crawl out from the tatters of their higher education policy, there is a vital campaign happening on the doorsteps of Tower Hamlets. In less than a week, residents of the east London borough will be going to the polls to elect their first directly elected mayor.

Six months ago, many, many people from across London and beyond came to help me and Jim Fitzpatrick beat George Galloway’s Respect and the parties that would later join together and form the coalition. During that election the people of Tower Hamlets rejected the politics of division and joined with us backing our Labour vision of a united East End.

Since that election we have been putting that philosophy into action, challenging the far right English Defence League when they tried to march here, challenging the coalition on cuts to our public services and more recently fighting for Labour in this election.

Ed Miliband and Left Foot Forward have long argued that Labour needs to be a campaigning movement or it is nothing. By opening up the campaign to new volunteers we helped to create, with a fantastic team of organisers, a formidable campaigning force during the general election. Our team working under the banner ‘Uniting the East End’ attracted hundreds of volunteers, which let us do the most important thing – in elections – talk to voters.

Last time we had three years, in this election we have had three weeks! As MPs, Councillors, Greater London Authority members, Labour Party activists and community volunteers we are fighting as a Labour team on behalf of Labour candidate Cllr Helal Abbas, but we can’t do it alone. We need the support of activists from across London – so let’s start building that renewed movement in the East End, home to so many of the great  campaigns of the past.

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.

Over this weekend, and on election day on 21st October, readers of Left Foot Forward have a chance to help defeat the Galloway candidate in Tower Hamlets, and make Labour’s Councillor Abbas a mayor who will finally turn the page on the politics of division, and start putting the people of Tower Hamlets first.

Please come and join us in this campaign, details of how you can help can be found below. The campaign office is at 349 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9RA and will be open for canvassing and leafleting from 10am-6.30pm every day until the election. Please ring 0207 729 6682 or email abbas4mayor@gmail.com for further details or to let us know when you are available. With your help we can ensure a Labour victory on the 21st of October.

(picture Dan McCurry at Labour Party conference)

Labour's Abbas for Mayor: Uniting the East End

On Saturday Newham Labour  activists came to help our sister Party in Tower Hamlets canvass for Helal Abbas in the Chrisp Street Market area, E14.

I was with two teams of 10 members and supporters.  There was other teams led by Stephen Timms MP and the Newham Executive Mayor, Sir Robin Wales.

When we first arrived we had a little bit of a heckle from some very excited bloke who shouted at us (from across the road in the Somerfields Car Park) that we should "be ashamed to be voting Labour" due to the recession.  To which I responded that we were very proud to be Labour and that maybe he should just not vote for us then?   

Apart from that the canvass went really well and on route we "bumped" into the candidate Helal and local MP Jim Fitzpatrick, in the middle of the market (see picture).  All sections of the community  seemed aware of the forthcoming election and willing to come out on the day to support the Helal.

(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-6.30pm every day until the election.  Or you can ring 0207 729 6682 or email abbas4mayor@gmail.com for further details).

"On the knocker" for Labour's Abbas for Mayor: Uniting the East End

Last night I went out door knocking for Labour in Limehouse ward, Tower Hamlets.  The team was led by local Labour Councillor, David Edgar.

There was a number of Labour teams out canvassing in various parts of Tower Hamlets that night. 

One local resident helping out was a fellow UNISON Housing officer who worked in Haringey.

There were lots of low rise blocks with no lifts, so plenty of healthy exercise going up and down stairwells.  Once again I thought why pay for an expensive gym to get fit when you can go canvassing for Labour for free! - perhaps the Party ought to charge?

I felt we had a really good response on the door step.  People wanted a real Labour Mayor to work with real Labour Councillors and real Labour MP's to fight the impending Tsunami of CONDEM slash and burn cuts about to engulf the borough. 

During the canvass I asked David why politics in Tower Hamlets is so, so boring, why nothing ever happens in the borough, why everything is so unexciting, drab and predictable.  David immediately replied that it is because everyone in the local Party loves each other, are always in total agreement and have never a bad word to say about each other.

:)

(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-6.30pm every day until the election.  Or you can ring 0207 729 6682 or email abbas4mayor@gmail.com for further details).

Helal Abbas - Labour Mayor for Tower Hamlets Campaign Launch

Picture is from the launch yesterday by Tower Hamlets Council Leader, Helal Abbas, of his campaign to become Labour Mayor. (picture by Dan McCurry)

I wasn't there but from Facebook reports I understand there was lots of Party members and 28 Tower Hamlets Councillors present.  There was also at least 2 Newham Councillors.

The Labour Party has expelled 11 members including 8 Councillors for supporting the "Independent" candidate and quite rightly anyone else who campaigns against the Party will also face expulsion.

There was 5 campaign sessions in Tower Hamlets this weekend. The campaign office is at 349 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9RA and will be open for canvassing and leafleting from 10am-6.30pm every day until the election.

Or you can ring 0207 729 6682 or email abbas4mayor@gmail.com for further details.

I'll be seeing what Tower Hamlets trade union affiliates can do to help.

Help Labour's Abbas win in Tower Hamlets

I got this email this afternoon - spread the word - it is just absolutely essential that we have a honest and competent secular socialist as Mayor.

So please support Abbas to be the elected Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets. 

I think you know why.

"Dear Member

Helal Abbas is running to win the Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election for Labour  on the 21st of October.  It will be a tough fight.

The Conservatives have won council seats in the borough, the Lib/Dems are fielding a candidate and Respect and George Galloway are openly supporting an ex-Labour independent, who has declared himself a candidate

Tower Hamlets Labour Party will need all the help that you can give. The campaign office is at 349 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9RA and will be open for canvassing and leafleting from 10am-6.30pm every day until the election.

Please ring 0207 729 6682 or email abbas4mayor@gmail.com for further details or to let us know when you are available.

With your help we can ensure a Labour victory on the 21st of October

Ken Clark

Director London Labour Party