Corb Blimey!

[Nefertiti2]

Meanwhile the BBC doesn't seem to think it worthy of mention that the Finsbury Park attacker planned to kill the Leader of the Oppostion.- frequently derided as a supporter of terrorists by the Prime MInister. and the Mayor of London, frequently derided as a supporter of Islamic terrorism by the Conservative Party candidate supported by the woman who now edits BBC flagship radio programme.

[Tubby Isaacs]

ITV mentioned it.

[E10 Rifle]

Claire Kober, Haringey's council leader, has announced she is stepping down amid the HDV furore. Good. The petulant, entitled dummy-spitting childishness of her little faction since they started losing selections must have removed any doubts people may have had in voting for their replacement.

This will be blamed on Momentum Thugs of course, in the kind of reporting that wouldn't be out of place on Russia Today

[Nefertiti2]

The Evening Standard now edited (in a move that would be too extreme for Russia Today) by the former Conservative Finance Minister did exactly that.

[MsD]

Claire Kober is another one involved with the British-American Project and the shadowy lot who tried to get rid of Corbyn with all the "anti-Semitic" accusations in 2016. Agree, good riddance.

[delicatemoth]

Sarah Hayward, former head of Camden Council, has written in support of Kober in the New Statesman. Disappointing for me as Hayward's administration built the lovely hostel that possibly saved my life. These high up admin types stick together, I think.

[E10 Rifle]

It's been pointed out that none of Haringey's neighbouring council leaders have signed the letter in support of Kober. And heaven knows, most of them are hardly lefties.

And as has also been pointed out, this is a fucking insane hill for the Labour righties to choose to die on, putting themselves on the opposite side of such demented Trots as, er, David Lammy. As they have demonstrated time and again in the last few years, these people are strategically, instinctively and politically clueless. Yet they fancy themselves as Sensible enough to run the country.

[E10 Rifle]

Rumours abound that Sir Robin Wales - he of West Ham loan fame and Carpenters Estate evictions fame - is going to stand down after his selection had to be rerun.

The municipal London Labour right are behaving like crazed entitled bullies at the moment, so expect another avalanche of smears and allegations about all who opposed him.

[johnr]

I caught Wales out stone-cold lying in public, very early in his political career. And I know one of the Carpenters women quite well, she has a choice few words for him. However, my dear Aunt Beryl likes him, gets to sit next to him once a year cos she's an MBE or something.

You don't need to know any of this.

You're right though, they've got the media avenues wide open for him to tell us how he's been intimidated.

[Auntie Beryl]

my dear Aunt Beryl likes him

It's true; I do.

[Nefertiti2]

Wales is staying and " will contest the upcoming Labour open selection process should the trigger ballot result go that way"

[E10 Rifle]

Ah well. Let democracy run its course.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Getting rid of the mayoralty in Newham altogether might be a good idea.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Matt Zarb-Cousin
@mattzarb
Feb 3
More
The people will defeat corrupt politicians, and how those politicians say they feel about that is totally irrelevant. Couldn’t care less if they *feel* bullied or intimidated, if that’s even the true. Since when are politicians’ *feelings* relevant to anything. This is democracy

I'm not sure it's a good idea to accuse Claire Kober of corruption, much as I agree we've heard too much about her feelings.

[E10 Rifle]

Getting rid of the mayoralty in Newham altogether might be a good idea.

Get rid of them everywhere. Ditto council cabinets. They encourage authoritarian tendencies, empire-building, a lack of transparency and bullying.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Get rid of them everywhere. Ditto council cabinets. They encourage authoritarian tendencies, empire-building, a lack of transparency and bullying.

And showboating v the bloody infantry.

I don't mind the metromayors in principle because it makes sense to see transport as a regional thing. I don't know why a London Borough needs a directly elected mayor.

[E10 Rifle]

But the trouble with the metromayors elsewhere is they draw up a false divide between interdependent areas: eg Manchester and the neglected towns further to its north. It's actually mental how local government no longer has any kind of logic or consistency across the country.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Devolution can never really be logical. I mean, Scotland has its own legal system, Northern Ireland has compulsory power-sharing, Wales doesn't have either, England doesn't have an assembly. Same in Spain, where hardly anybody wants every region to have the same autonomy as the Basque Country.

I think it's important that the neglected towns around Manchester get tied into the same structures as Manchester itself. In principle, if Burnham favours Manchester too much, he gets voted out by the "doughnut" voters. For Transport, I think it works, maybe health as well (with Manchester as a centre for the more specialized stuff medicine. I don't know about schools so much. I like what I've read about the LEA.

[E10 Rifle]

if Burnham favours Manchester too much, he gets voted out by the "doughnut" voters

But not if they live near but beyond Greater Manchester. They don't get a vote at all then, even though what happens in Greater Manchester affects them. There's a contradiction in saying that devolution (of which we need more) needs to be a bit more standardised, but there's a danger of inequality widening if there isn't at least some consistency. And more of a region-based devolution than mere city-connurbations

[Nefertiti2]

I'm not sure it's a good idea to accuse Claire Kober of corruption, much as I agree we've heard too much about her feelings.

he didn't accuse her of corruption.

However if you read the timeline of other haringey coucillors, like lib dem Clive Carter you will see that she has accepted some hospitality from Lendlease that is highly inappropriate.

[Tubby Isaacs]

He was referring to her in that tweet pretty clearly.

I know about the hospitality, but I think you need a bit more than that. I'm not a lawyer obviously, but "within the rules and registered appropriately" would probably have some weight.

[E10 Rifle]

I don't think it matters that much. It's clear that, 'sweetened up' or not, Kober has faced and succumbed to pressure to be closer to LendLease than she is to most residents. Or feels instinctively closer to them in any case. It doesn't much matter.

[Tubby Isaacs]

But not if they live near but beyond Greater Manchester. They don't get a vote at all then, even though what happens in Greater Manchester affects them. There's a contradiction in saying that devolution (of which we need more) needs to be a bit more standardised, but there's a danger of inequality widening if there isn't at least some consistency. And more of a region-based devolution than mere city-connurbations

Ah, see what you mean. You're thinking of eg Burnley, Blackburn rather than eg Rochdale?

Yes, there could be a problem there, especially if the outer poorer towns just fall in with Tory County Council. Though Lancashire is at least competitive.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't think it matters that much. It's clear that, 'sweetened up' or not, Kober has faced and succumbed to pressure to be closer to LendLease than she is to most residents. Or feels instinctively closer to them in any case. It doesn't much matter.

No argument with that, I think "corrupt" might be more trouble than it's worth.

[Nefertiti2]

Matt zarb -Cousin isnt a Labour Spokesperson you know.