Here is a post from someone who lives in Waltham Forest, scene of the action..
Local Labour councillor Miranda Grell became the first person convicted of making false statements under the under the 1983.Representation of the People Act, and has been forced to resign her seat in Leyton. (She had falsely claimed that the sitting Lib Dem councillor, a gay man, was a paedophile, and had a 19-year-old Thai boyfriend. He not only lost his seat,but has received death threats and has been forced to move home.
Her defence was that the allegations against her were false, and that the witnesses against her — including fellow Labour candidate Nicholas Russell — were involved in a racist conspiracy to keep a black woman off the council).
So there will soon be a local by-election. The Labour party is discredited in the ward, in the borough as a whole over its savage cuts to arts funding(including the pulping of 239,000 “surplus” library books!), and nationally, so this campaign should be a huge opportunity for the left. Respect-SWP have called an AGM/selection meeting for 8 January. They will undoubtedly decide to stand, and I expect them to select Big Brother star Carol Vincent. She got a respectable vote in the neighbouring Leytonstone ward last year, has a high profile in the local paper, and is well-known locally as a campaigner and child-carer. So it is likely to be here, rather than in Preston, where the issue of Linda Smith’s standing as Nominations Officer will first be faced.
Respect likely to stand in East London by election
Here is a post from someone who lives in Waltham Forest, scene of the action.. Local Labour councillor Miranda Grell became the first person convicted of making false statements under the under the 1983.Representation of the People Act, and has been forced to resign her seat in Leyton. (She had falsely claimed that the sitting…
52 responses to “Respect likely to stand in East London by election”
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Socialist Worker and Preston and Lancaster Respect web say they have selected a candidate for Tulketh by-election
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I’m rather dubious about this claim that Labour have burned or pulped 239,000 books. According to the cabinet member responsible for libraries, the council have carried out the first audit of books in over twenty years, and found that they had a lot less books in reality than their previous records showed.
Obviously some stuff is recycled or pulped as it becomes either out of date or unusable, but the Walthamstow Guardian seems to keep repeating these claims despite evidence to the contrary and all the opposition parties from the Tories to Respect seem to be only too pleased to treat it as fact.LikeLike
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So just how many books do you think have been pulped in Waltham Forest, Simon? The council don’t know, according to the Waltham Forest Guardian; but they admit that “this was poor practice”. And what about the report given to the council in July, which stated that the borough’s book stock fell from 1,738 per thousand people in 2004-5 to 717 per thousand people in April this year. Or do you think that the WF Guardian is inventing this, too?
Still, it’s what we expect of a council which closes a popular library without consultation, runs down the local museums, including the world-renowned William Morris Gallery, and sacks long-standing staff, colludes in the destruction of the borough’s only cinema, and attempts to censor the local Arts Festival.
With this record and their disgraceful smear campaign against a gay councillor, Labour have no chance in the forthcoming Leyton by-election.
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The SWP are claiming the Leyton election will be held on 14th February, though there is nothing official on the council website about it yet.
There is no sign of the date for the Preston election being fixed yet, and this is dependant on any two electors within the City Council area calling it – which the mainstream parties seem unwilling to come forward for (there are elections in this ward in May so they may wish to hang on until then). The SWP have said they will contest the by-election but not the May election (for some strange reason), so this may put them in quandry that means that they are the ones who will call the by-election rather than wait until May and risk not standing.
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Well Prinkipo Exile looks like SWP got it right – the Leyton election is on Feb 14th. Still plenty more opportunities for sectarian point scoring will come allong soon.
Any comrades keen to support a credible alternative to New Labour will be welcome to help in the campaign.LikeLike
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SWP-Respect are claiming that the Preston Tulketh by-election is also on 14th February – again this may be true but no confirmation on Council website (I’m not criticising SWP-Respect in pointing this out btw, they are probably one jump ahead of the elections office in both town halls – nothing wrong with that, shows they are on the ball, treat it as a compliment not ‘sectarian’ point scoring!).
I think there is a debate to be had about how ‘credible’ this is however – but Martin Smith, SWP National Secretary, claims in Socialist Review that Respect has got a good vote in Tulketh in the past, even though they have never stood there before – so who am I to argue with such overwhelming logic from someone with their finger on the pulse of developments?
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So it would be correct to say that so far Respect are undefeated in Tulketh. that is a pretty good record.
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The complication with a Respect candidate in Preston, or anywhere else, is that from the Electoral Commission’s point of view the nomination papers have to be signed by someone who is a member of Respect Renewal. That’s not likely to happen.
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So Respect will remain undefeated in Tulketh, thus proving the wisdom of the SWP CC’s leadership.
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Tulketh ward:
“It is a Labour stronghold.” Barry Hill election candidate in Socialist Worker.He is clearly using the “Martin Smith philosophy”. It is actually highly marginal.
Labour lost here in 2000 when a certain V Wise, daughter of the then local MP and former council leader, lost the seat
Preston City Council Elections: Tulketh Ward May 2000
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret McManus 746 50.96 +8.39
Labour Valerie Wise 718 49.04 +1.9and again in 2002 when 1 seat went to the Tories, 2 to Labour in an all out election for 3 seats
in 2003 and 2004 Labour won by 27 votes and 49 votes respectively. Labour had better victories in 2006 and 2007 but mainly because the BNP and LibDems split the tory vote.
The LibDems seem to think the Greens will be standing in the by-election too.
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Anyway, back to the original point of the thread – was Carole Vincent selected by SWP-Respect?
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Well she survived four evictions, but was eventually voted out with 49% of the public vote
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According to Liam:
“The complication with a Respect candidate in Preston, or anywhere else, is that from the Electoral Commission’s point of view the nomination papers have to be signed by someone who is a member of Respect Renewal. That’s not likely to happen.”
Why exactly would this be so unlikely? I thought Linda Smith was pretending to still be a member of Respect, as were the rest of Respect Renewal. Why would any member of Respect Renewal refuse to sign papers to allow Respect to stand in elections? The answer is obvious to everyone who reads this blog, and the SUN: Respect Renewal is an ALTERNATIVE party, one committed to fighting Respect to the death. And that is why the electoral commission will not allow Linda Smith to stop Respect standing candidates. The law does not allow those who leave a political party to retain a veto on their former party’s standing in elections. You are living in a dream world, Liam. The law stipulates that those unable to sign the papers for any reason can be substituted. Linda Smith’s no longer belonging to Respect is a pretty good reason, don’t you think? This post of yours, Liam, could constitute part of the evidence against Linda Smith, as will every post from a Respect Renewal member boasting about how their key member is going to stop Respect standing candidates in Preston or anywhere else.
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Tom – Linda Smith only previously signed nominations after the publication of criteria and agreement on a procedure for selection, and following a thorough discussion about where best to stand. Some potential candidates were refused endorsement. Where’s that discussion happening with her now?
It appears that Respect candidatures are decided by Martin Smith deciding where there was a good previous vote in the pages of Socialist Review. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but the left doesn’t believe in the infallibility of judgement of SWP National Secretaries, especially when they don’t know where candidates have stood before.
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Will her daughter be signing her nomination form? Ahe appears to live in Leyton ward?
See:
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2007/07/22/carole-chucked-me-out-98487-19493469/http://www.britishblogs.co.uk/search/ebony/
and search for “Miranda Grell” – unbelievabably. For some reason the original has disappeared from Miranda’s website.LikeLike
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To clarify, Respect have sort of fought Tulketh in the past as they stood in 2005 in the Lancashire County Council ward of Preston Central South, which covers St George’s ward, Tulketh ward and University ward, and polled a fairly respectable vote
Result May 2005
Labour 2,218
Conservative 944
Liberal Democrat 878
Respect 421 (9.4%)LikeLike
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Yes Jim, who was the candidate and what was the Respect vote in St Georges ward when Respect have stood there?
It wasn’t a dire result but taken overall given who the candidate was, it was hardly a good one either was it?
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Prinkipo Exile
maybe not a good result- but a fair one- considering the County Council election was on the same day as the General Election in 2005
Certainly a good enough vote to justify standing here
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Jim Page Check out who the Respect candidate in 2005 was and then tell us all who it was and why it is important
Then you have to take account of the fact that (somewhat foolishly) the by-election candidate does not live anywhere near the ward (not even in the City) and is completely unknown [this ward has a predilection for local candidates btw].
Then subtract the incumbency/local vote factor and St Georges vote. I would estimate the residual vote to be less than 5% in 2005.
Quite good by the standards of an SWP/ ‘far left’ candidate, but it’s not exactly the most fertile of territory, compared to the wards that will be up on 1st May. But still Martin Smith says there will be a good vote, so I’m sure there will be.
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For anyone who’s interested, the answer is ‘Steven Brooks, former Tulketh Labour councillor who defected to RESPECT but decided (or was advised) not to stand again for Preston council’.
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The point is that Brooks was the sitting councillor for part of the Tulketh area, elected only two years before in 2003 when he got 791 votes for Labour in Tulketh alone, on a lower turnout.
Respect got 289 (27%) and 225 (25%) on the two occasions it stood in St Georges and 37 (6%) on the one occasion it stood in University ward, all on lower turnouts. So take off say 300 votes from Univ+St Georges ward and it looks like Brooks got about 121 of his votes from Tulketh ward on a higher turnout, scale it down to say 110 out of approx 1,600 voters as the sitting councillor standing. He was also local and they like local candidates in Tulketh (one of the reasons Val Wise lost in 2000). So from that you can extrapolate a base vote of less than 100, less than 5%.
But then Martin Smith says that’s a good vote, so it obviously is.
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Prinkipo – the decision to stand in Leyton was taken by Waltham Forest Respect many months ago when Grell was first charged and was confimed as soon as she was convicted ie making the by election inevitable. The decision was taken unanimously – Martin Smith was not present as he is not a local member. I am not in SWP so don’t read all of their publications, but the decision was taken by WF Respect before Martin’s SW Review article and at no time in the months before did any SWP comrades equivocate on the decision or indicate that they needed to consult Martin or anyone else.
Ebony Vincent has actually been “groomed” by New Labour and was asked to be their candidate. She has declined and is backing her Mum’s campaign. Nobody has signed Carole’s nomination papers yet as we only got them this morning, but I am sure Ebony would if she were asked.
Sorry to let the facts get in the way of your sectarian shit stirring again comrade, but facts can be a stubborn thing.
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Thanks for the clarification WF Respect. I never said anything about Martin Smith’s view on the Waltham Forest by-election, only the Preston one. I am delighted that Ebony Vincent is prepared to support a left wing challenge to Labour. I only hope the photograph of her being hugged by Miranda Grell, and her comments in the press about her mother throwing her out when she was 16, do not damage any left wing campaign in Waltham Forest.
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Prinkipo – your post used the plural “candidatures”, but why do you think that Martin Smith picks Respect candidates in Preston but doesn’t bother in East London ?
Why would the picture of Ebony hugging Grell do Carole any harm ? Grell was actually quite popular locally – with a real base especially in the black community. Are you saying all those who voted for Grell are homophobes ? Why would the picture damage Carole otherwise ? Similarly a selective and less than accurate article in the Sunday Mirror will have far less importance for the working class voters on Leyton than it will amongst the Dave Sparts of this world.
Ebony was asked to stand for New Labour but declined, so the fact that she is supporting Carole is a move in the right direction in my book. Maybe you are never wrong Prinkipo but it is less common amongs the rest of us, so again can’t see it causing us any damage.
Since we couldn’t locate a local millionaire businessman to baknkroll us – seems they have already been snapped up – we will indeed be running a left wing campaign. We would be delighted to see any genuine comrades who would like to help us in this.
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WF respect, are you an official spokesperson of Waltham Forest Respect? Has every member of Respect there given you authority to speak on their behalf or is it only delusions of grandeur that prompted you to pick the pseudonym?
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Liam – yes comrade I am the Secretary and was unanimously re-elected at the AGM this week. However my posts have only posted facts which counter Prinkipo’s incorrect slurs, and any member would be entitled to do that imho.
As for the suggestion of delusions of grandeur – the suggestion coming from a member of your sect ….. priceless mate !!!!!!
I don’t usually have time to engage with you internet revolutionaries but I was directed to this site by one of our members. I have to admit a feeling of satisfaction at popping your sectarian balloons and so will quit while I am winning and get back to the real world – including the Leyton election. However I genuinely feel sad at the amount of energy wasted by comrades on sectarian drivel when there is so much constructive work to do.
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“Sect” in this case is shorthand for any socialist organisation which is not the SWP. In other cases it’s any socialist organisation which isn’t the Socialist Party and so on ad infinitum.
What on earth is the point of that sort of language other than to give the user a feeling of their own superiority?
Congrats on the unanimous election WF. They always are the best sort.
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The Labour candidate in the Tulketh by-election has been announced. It is a former Council leader who lives just outside the ward (this is contrary to earlier claims on Wikipedia about another ex-councillor being in the frame).
I am told that the candidate resigned from the Labour Party in opposition to the Iraq war and has only recently rejoined. His wife signed a Respect candidate’s nomination form in 2005. He is regarded as a “Tribunite”, rather than a “Campaign” group supporter however. (Yes, they still use these terms in Preston Labour Party apparently).
The Labour Party branch in Tulketh has traditionally only selected left candidates – including current day Respect supporters Val Wise and Steven Brooks, both of whom are heavily trailed on the Respect election leaflet, though both were elected as Labour for one term and only and neither successfully defended their seats (Wise lost and Brooks stood down).
The other two current sitting Labour councillors are firmly on the “Campaign” side and backed John McDonnell. One will be defending his seat on 1 May – 11 weeks after the by-election, and that is why SWP have said they will not contest the ward in that election, no matter how well they do on 14 February.
The Tories and LibDems have also announced their candidates, but the BNP and Green Party have yet to confirm who they will stand. Nominations close on 18 January.
The Respect candidate (nor his agent) do not live locally and not in Preston parliamentary constituency or the built up area of Preston city itself, which will be a handicap for them in this by-election.
There are 13 other wards in Preston parliamentary constituency up for election on 1 May including the Town Centre ward where Lavalette had a spectacular victory last year and four other wards where Respect has (genuinely) got a good vote in the past.
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Sorry I’ve been told I made a mistake in that last post. Only 12 wards in Preston constituency, including Tulketh, are up for election on 1st May – apparently two do not elections this year for some reason.
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Interesting reading the comments on Tulketh.
It is true living in Tulketh does help being a candidate. The conservatives seem to have a great inability to find anyone who lives in the ward (Macmanis didn’t when she deafted Val Wise in 2000).
Ironically, the only candidate who lives in Tulketh is the BNP (If they are still standing).
The May 2007 victory for Labour in Tulketh was not due to any vote being split. The cnadidate (who lives in the ward) got only a few votes nder 50%
Brooks might have polled a low vote in the LCC elections in 2005 due to his defection from Labour. He was elected a Labour representative, and ignored the wishes of the voters and imposed a different political party on them.
Funny but some people are a bit old fashioned and don’t forget this sort of behaviour.
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Eric Jones
“The May 2007 victory for Labour in Tulketh was not due to any vote being split. The cnadidate (who lives in the ward) got only a few votes nder 50%”So did Val Wise in 2000. She even increased the Labour share of the vote. But it was a two party race then and only three candidates in 2007. The by-election is likely to have 5 or 6 candidates.
Anyone else noticed that the Preston Respect website is describing Barry Hill as a “Respect member”, but Carole Vincent is just a “Respect supporter”? Any significance in that?
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The 2007 result in Tulketh was agood one from a Labour point of view. You can’t assume that all the LD would switche to the Conservatives.
A 17% given the results in tulketh over the last ten years is very heathy.
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Of course Barry Hill will not be standing for Respect, but as an independent.
I wonder how that will affect his vote?
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The Labour Party have now announced their candidate for the Tulketh by-election – Peter Rankin, a former Council leader who stood down from the council 7 years ago for personal reasons.
He used to be in Militant, but drifted more towards Tribune-style politics in the 1980s and 1990s (though never on the right, as far as I am aware). He resigned from the Labour Party in protest at the invasion of Iraq, but rejoined recently when he thought Blair was leaving. In his election leaflet he strongly opposes the creation of a City Academy sell-off to Carphone Warehouse on principled grounds.
He also refers to the fact that he has been an active trade unionist since 1974 – something I know that is true (his current Unison branch that he has been active in always nominated Militant/SP member Roger Bannister for election).
Anyone know what union Barry Hill is in and what his activity has been – it seems conspicuously absence from his election material?
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No idea if BNP standing- their local organiser has resigned so it may be they are concentrating on getting re-organised locally instead. Lancashire antifascists will hopefully have noted they are fighting a by election in Thornton Clevelys- for Wyre Council – so this is maybe where their efforts will go
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Prinkipo Exile
Excellent analysis.
But perhaps you forgot Peter Rankins role in the removal of Val Wise from the leadership of Preston Council in 1995. The replacement, who Peter supported, was the awlful Dave Borrow.
To this day Wise and Abbott dislike Peter.
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Eric – sure, Rankin has skeletons in the closet from his period on the Council. Borrow replaced Wise but Tony Reid continued as Deputy Leader. Abbot resigned as whip in protest at Wise’s removal, but later went back into the Leadership as Housing boss. Wise and Abbot did not like Reid’s continuation back then. When Reid stood down, Rankin took over as deputy and eventually leader after Borrow became an MP
But then again there are few people who take positions in Labour councils who do not pick up some baggage. Abbot supported selling council houses off. Brooks and Wise, who are heavily trailed on the Respect election leaflet as former councillors now supporting Hill, have their skeletons too. Brooks voted against Lavalette’s motion to twin with Palestine, and when on the GLC Wise backed Livingstone against McDonnell over the campaign against abolition when McDonnell wanted an illegal campaign.
It’s all a question of degree. The problem in such a by-election is would people rather have Rankin, baggage and all, but nevertheless someone generally on the left – or a Tory?
That’s the choice unfortunately as I cannot see any evidence that Hill is anywhere near being a challenger.
It’s also noticeable that Rankin is playing the local card heavily in his election material. He lives in Ashton near the ward and is governor of a school in the ward (the nearest state school to his home). He is railing against the Tory cabinet being dominated by councillors from the two rural wards in the Council area and not knowing anything about the urban areas of the City like Tulketh. But he must also know that Hill is a parish councillor in one of these wards too! Clever.
What’s your impression of how it’s going on the ground?
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I’m a bit slow, but it’s just struck me – PE, are you actually a Preston exile? Just that, you know, my wife is, and we could talk about districts and schools and parched peas and so forth.
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Prinkipo Exile
Yes Peter is by far the best candidate to fight the seat given the lack of choice.
He seems to be running a good campaign from what I can see. But he can draw on a lot of support. His main opponent seems to come from a completely opportunist Liberal. I will be very surpised if he doesn’t have a confotable win.
The split with Wise in 1995 was not so much political. Valerie was in dispute with the Chief executive (Geoff Driver – later a Conservative Councillor). It was a clash of personalities. You had two control freaks up agaist each other. Nothing elese was being done and the Town Hall was decending into anarchy.
It was probably right that Valerie couldn’t carry on. His weakness was that he didn’t try to push someone from the left to replace Val. Instead he went for the worst type of career politician – and, as you say, did quite nicely out of it himself.
Eric Jones
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The Green Party claim to have nominated a candidate for the Preston Tulketh by-election.
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Nominations out in Preston.
http://www.preston.gov.uk/elections/ElectionWard.asp?ward=94Five candidates. No description for Barry Hill.
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Looks like Respect Renewal have blocked Respect Proper from standing under the Respect name- same situation in the Leyton by election
A disgusting, sectarian thing to do
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“Linda? It’s John. John Ree- no, don’t put the phone down, this is important. Look, you know how we had that conference, and we elected a new Chair? Yes, that conference you said was unconstitutional. So no, you don’t recognise the decisions taken by that conference, including the election of a new Chair. And yes, you did say all this beforehand, so I can’t say I wasn’t warned. So, anyway, it seems that the Electoral Commission still think you’re the Chair, and – all right, all right, there’s no need to get sarcastic… But the thing is, we’re standing these candidates in Preston and Waltham Forest – what do you mean, who decided, we decided, the leadership of RESPECT decided- Linda? Linda? are you there?”
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Jim are you suggesting that if the positions were reversed an officer of the SWP’s Respect would sign the nomination papers for a Renewal candidate? Really?
The old Respect no longer exists. This is a fact we will all have to get used to. An obvious solution, given that Respect – the Unity Coalition is principally uniting the SWP, as can be seen from the speakers at Respect meetings advertised on the website, is that the SWP stand its own candidates.
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The SWP were a registered political party. They chose themselves not to continue that registration.
—————
From an archive of the Political Parties registered held on the Keele University Politics website:List of Registered Political Parties
The following 137 parties were listed on The Register of Political Parties website as being registered on 9th May 2001:-…
* Socialist Workers Party (Plaid Gweithwyr Sosialaidd)http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/e01/preg.htm
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Liam, Respect carries on. The splitters can’t face up to reality. They demand negotiations. Over what exactly? It was clear to everyone that Galloway’s friends had been defeated up and down the country, in branch after branch. You yourself admitted that in one of the only two strongholds of Galloway (Tower Hamlets), thanks to incompetence and Stalinist authoritarianism by the chair, Galloway had no delegation from there. Conference would have voted to reduce Galloway’s supporters in the incoming national council to a bare handful, if John Rees was feeling particularly generous. Galloway would have refused to accept his supporters participating in a take-it-or-leave it slate that would rob him of effective control on the national council. So he ran away, taking Francis, Wrack, Ovenden, Hoveman, your ISG Russian Dolls, and explicity anti-socialist Muslim small businessmen. Good riddance. Now they pretend that their holding a spoiling rally was not intended to launch a seperate organisation, although all the facts prove otherwise. Why exactly are you and your friends screaming for negotiations as an urgent priority? Let me guess. On the day Galloway’s supporters started taking standing orders for Respect Renewal, you went to your banks to cancel your standing orders for Respect. If Respect in Preston are not rushing to the courts to insist that Linda Smith signs the nomination papers, perhaps John Rees has calculated that it is best to just wait until her cancellation of her standing order triggers her authomatic removing as an obstacle to Respect’s standing candidates. A lot cheaper way to get rid of her. And it has less chance of bad publicity if this goes to court. Francis, Hoveman, Ovenden, Wrack and co based their strategy on a majority of SWP members rebelling against the central committee. On that false perspective, they cancelled their standing orders. Now they are at a loss what to do.
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Liam asks someone with no axe to grind on behalf of the SWP “are you suggesting that if the positions were reversed an officer of the SWP’s Respect would sign the nomination papers for a Renewal candidate? Really?”
Don’t be so insulting, Liam. The SWP would never pretend they were in a position to sign such papers. As you yourself accept, Linda Smith no longer belongs to Respect. That is why she has no right to stop Respect standing candidates in their own name. She should be expelled for threatening to do this. As should you, Liam, and all those who support her wretched legal loophole. However, it is pretty obvious that the majority of Respect’s leadership have seen who cancelled their standing orders to Respect when they launched Respect Renewal. It would appear that John Rees, Chris Harman and co have chosen to let the automatic lapsing of Linda Smith’s membership in a few weeks sort out this mess. My guess is that the membership of Smith, Galloway, Thornett, Wrack, Yaqoob and the rest of Galloway’s supporters will expire within a few days of each other. The problem of how to get rid of these parasites will take care of itself, thanks to their own incompetence. If a handful or two of Galloway’s supporters did not cancel their standing orders, then they can argue their case within Respect. They can stand for the post of branch secretary, conference delegate or candidate for the GLA. I don’t fancy their chances though.
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Andrew, Respect no longer exists.
The “unity coalition” has managed to lose the overwhelming majority of non-SWP members. That should give some cause for reflection. Or maybe everybody who isn’t in the SWP became a reactionary fool during their summer holidays. Not a possibility one should discount of course.
Where is the insult? It was a hypothetical question and to ask it is to answer it.
“SWaP meet” have a look back at postings from the time of the split to get some impression of how SWP members who had taken no part in Respect for years suddenly started popping up at meetings and how moribund branches rose from the dead. That’s the defeat you are referring to. Big deal.
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Andrew – It is funny that those who cried the loudest about ‘witch hunts’ are those who did the expelling, and keen to do more it appears. If you think all this is going to be sorted by some SWP style ‘internal democracy’ you are in need of a serious reality check.
The less said about SWaP’ies hysterical and desperate rant, the better.
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We run into Electoral Commission regulations here. The fact is that if any candidate is going to stand under the RESPECT name – for any election, anywhere – one of two things will have to happen. One is that Linda Smith signs their nomination papers; the other is that Linda Smith signs a statement to the effect that she ceased to be Chair of RESPECT on a given date and someone else took over from her.
You may think that denouncing Smith as a splitter, a renegade and a ballot-rigger makes these outcomes more likely. I couldn’t possibly comment.
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Liam redux 
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