onionbagblog

And so here be the future. Probably.

Yep - a delightful weekend away in Wivenhoe, undertaking the delicate balancing act of house hunting, attending the ‘hoe May Fair and trying to appear sober whilst talking to estate agents.

Cripes.

Mission accomplished (perhaps) on all three fronts. The May Fair itself was splendidly anarchic, much as one would expect in Wivenhoe. I loved the touch of the coconut shire actually containing brocoli and cabbages. I think AnnaJCowen and I will fit in fine.

The Sunday evening before the Bank Holiday was spent in the company of the fine @zemblamatic and family. We went boozing in a Sunny Colch pub that @AnnaJCowen and I were actually thrown out of, eighteen years ago to the very same day.

Changing times, changing pub appearance. The bar billiards in the Foresters is now replaced by dining tables. The local still looked hammered.

So hangovers to shake off, sums to be done and yep, *hopefully* here be the future.

I have been having some problems with my Hotmail account of late. Yeah, yeah, I know - should have switched to gmail. I have, as it happens, with each gmail being forwarded to my Hotmail account.

The reason why I haven’t migrated fully is because my good old Hotmail address stretches back fifteen years. Everyone knows how, and where, to contact me.

Some people have been a little *too* enthusiastic in trying to make the most of my Hotmail account though. I have been receiving of late those Hotmail automated messages, telling me to change my password ASAP. These are triggered off by someone trying (and failing) to hack into my account.

There’s a pattern to all of this online activity as well - the password changing email always appears after I have posted a Lambeth based political post to m’blog.

Blimey.

I can write endless cricket waffle, and much like the post itself, my Hotmail account is of little interest to anyone. Write a Lambeth based political post however, and all of a sudden, someone wants to see what is inside my personal email account.

This appears to be something of a theme in Lambeth over recent weeks. I have already explained the circumstances that led to @LambethLabour’s Councillor Kingsley Abrams being suspended from his party for a period of four months.

The Vassall ward Councillor was suspected of leaking Nu Labour information to the South London Press [um, site borked, at time of posting...]. An internal Labour Party panel was set up to enquire into whether he had leaked information, which produced a report that was then handed over to the Labour Group Executive for consideration.

The panel found no evidence that Councillor Abrams leaked any information to the South London Press, yet still the full @LambethLabour group voted for a four-month suspension for Councillor Abrams at its group meeting on May 17th.

Here’s where the hacking story in South London gets rather sinister, leading me to consider switching my own personal Hotmail account to a provider that is known not to have so many security holes.

Why was Councillor Abrams suspended with no evidence presented to the @LambethLabour group that he had leaked to the South London Press? Someone, somehow, had found some information, which led to the suspicion that Councillor Abrams wasn’t the enthusiastic flag waver for the Nu Labour project in Lambeth that the party requires of its councillors.

What was this information? On the day of the full @LambethLabour group meeting, copies of a number of emails were produced by the Leader of the Council, all copied from Councillor Abrams’ Lambeth Council account. These included an email sent to Kate Hoey, the MP for Vauxhall, informing her that the Head of Lambeth Living had resigned.

Blimey.

This was news to Hoey, and of great political significance, seeing as though along with Councillor Abrams, she has long since been critical of the Lambeth Living ALMO experiment.

There was absolutely NO truth in the resignation of course - the email had landed in Councillor Abrams’ inbox as a political sting to try and encourage him to leak it, and then subsequently provide a bona fide reason to remove the left of centre Councillor from the right wing @LambethLabour party.

The resignation of the Head of Lambeth Living is a huge story of local interest - which is why you didn’t hear about it because the sting backfired spectacularly. Councillor Abrams forwarded the email to Kate Hoey as evidence of the dirty tricks campaign being waged against him by his own political party. The MP for Vauxhall was not impressed:

“It is central to a free democratic society that every citizen has an absolute right to free and confidential communication with his or her elected representative… without fear that their communications will be intercepted by third parties”

Or even your own local political party.

Whops.

In a serendipitous style, the smoking gun email that never was, bounced between the original high ranking @LambethLabour party member who hatched the plan, over to Councillor Abrams account, crossing the river into Westminster with Kate Hoey, and then back to Lambeth and the laptop of the very same person that sent it, after the instructions were given to hack into the Councillor Abram’s Lambeth account.

And all the time, Lambeth Living still had a Head in charge…

But the real issue here is one of the legalities of looking at the private email of other people. Most work contracts state that employers have the right to monitor emails coming through the internal server. But Councillor Abrams isn’t employed by @LambethLabour, and so the group has no business in snooping around.

Nu Labour has now obtained so much power within the borough, that it is able to exert pressure on supposedly apolitical council officers to do the dirty work on its behalf. If @LambethLabour has no morals in snooping on a party member, who else are they trying to hack into?

Um…

With the Vassall ward being a hotly contested patch between @LambethLabour and @LambethLibDems, you would expect our friends from the red side of the borough to be keen on keeping any card carrying members of the Labour party. Councillor Abrams polled an impressive 2,533 votes - the highest in the ward.

With a London Labour party panel next up to hear the case, I’m starting to consider who is actually on trial here - the Councillor with no evidence against him, or the political party that has been trying to trap its own party members.

Meanwhile, I’m busy changing the password for my damn Hotmail account. Must think of something easy to remember.

l***le_s***s

That should do.

And so following the launch of the #lambethcoop wiki (woh!) less than twenty-four hours ago, the wiki edits are coming in quick and fast.

That’s the idea of online co-op (steady…) eration. People share knowledge, work together and place spread bets on the outcome that @LambethLabour’s Big Society John Lewis model will actually work.

Whoops.

Yeah, yeah, a cheap shot, but the first edit to the wiki appeared this morning:

“Lambeth Council accepts no responsibility or has any editorial control over the adverts supplied by Google that appear on the right hand side of this wiki. These appear as we have set this wiki up under the free subscription option as provided by wikispaces.”

I tweeted yesterday how the self-generated Google ads appearing on the wiki page aren’t quite in line with a squeaky clean Nu Labour local authority. It seems that a wiki editor also agrees.

Still, the use of the free subscription service by @LambethLabour for the wiki is to be applauded. At least it’s keeping in line with the Big Society John Lewis model of saving some money.

Of course it would be extremely childless to add edits to the wiki with the intention of influencing which Google ads actually appear on the page.

Wouldn’t it?

I’m offering odds on even that we find out who is actually sitting on the (unelected) Citizen’s Commission that met secretly for the first time yesterday.

Plus: @BrixtonBlog’s take on the wonders of the Big Society John Lewis White Paper.

And so the first full @lambeth_council meeting back in the Red Flag flying 44 43 42 seat controlled @LambethLabour borough, and it was all supposed to be apolitical; it was all supposed to be about the retiring @mayoroflambeth. It was all supposed to be about the incoming (and as yet not online) new Mayor of Lambeth.

And in a roundabout way, it more or less was. All up until sometime after the pomp and ceremony of the civic duties were complete, and the guests of Mr Mayor (Keith Vaz MP, Val Shawcross) had been shown the way to the warm white wine in Mr Mayor’s parlour.

And then up cropped the Tulse Hill Situation.

Oh Lordy.

In some La La Lambeth Land twisted turn of fate, the Tulse Hill Situation somehow became embroiled with dear old Comrade Kingsley. Having had the @LambethLabour whip removed for allegedly leaking sensitive Nu Labour documents (is it a co-op? / isn’t it a co-op?) the good Councillor for the Vassall ward suddenly found himself centre stage, somehwere between Vassal and Tulse Hill.

Cripes.

Trust it to be those pesky @LambethLibDems for trying to make political capital out of the internal failings of the squeaky clean Nu Labour tribe. Way down the order paper, and an amendment was placed in at the last minute by @BishopsGavin, one of the @LambethLibDems’ elected representatives for Bishops ward.

In essence, the good Councillor was asking what the chuffers do we do with *that* empty Tulse Hill seat in the chamber, all the way up until the by-election on July 1st?

The Love Me I’m a Liberal voice of reason (and actually it did seem rather sensible to me) was to allow the displaced old Labour figurehead of Comrade Kingsley to take up the Tulse Hill seat in the chamber, sitting as an independent.

This may be a symbolic gesture in principle, but it actually has real ramifications. Don’t be confused with talk of Comrade Kingsley becoming a Councillor in Tulse Hill. What was being put forward here was the motion that dear old Kingsley, now ostracised (rightly or wrongly) from the squeaky clean Nu Labour tribe, should be allowed to sit in an independent Tulse Hill seat in the chamber.

The implication is that Comrade Kingsley gets to form a group of one. Or even two, three or four, depending on how many of the squeaky clean Nu Labour sheep actually find a backbone.

I don’t think Comrade Kingsley will be joined by my Nu Labour Councillor, @JackHopkins_Lab. Having given a sychophantic first speech in the chamber, describing @cllrstevereed as “a champion for taking important decisions,” Jack the Lad Hopkins then used his Chief Whip role to talk down the sensible @LambethLibDem suggestion:

“Why do we need an independent group? The seat will be retained by Labour anyway in the by-election.”

Blimey.

This was fighting talk, not to mention arrogance in the extreme. It would have made sense during the political hustings in that merry month of May, but as a response in what to do with the incredibly delicate Tulse Hill Situation?

Jack the Lad Hopkins now has significant power within Nu Labour himself. So would you if you had just referred to your glorious leader as a “champion.” The @LambethLibDems motion was voted down by the Nu Labour tribe, and poor old Comrade Kingsley was left to sit alone on the Lambeth naughty step.

It’s not that his Nu Labour colleagues smell or anything, simply that forming an independent and recognised political group actually allows you council privileges within the Town Hall. You physically get a desk, a phone and access to the borough’s IT infrastructure.

Oh, hang on…

Comrade Kingsley is now stuck out in Lambeth No Man’s Land (somewhere between Vassall and Tulse Hill) awaiting the outcome of his appeal to the wider London Labour party over his treatment, following the removal of the @LambethLabour whip.

The move by @BishopsGavin to try and find a lone voice for Comrade Kingsley wasn’t a political act of philanthropy. There is little love lost between Comrade Kingsley and his @LambethLibDems ward colleague, Councillor Bradley.

In Lambeth street slang, I believe the vernacular for the inclusion of the motion is that of s*** stirring. Sadly it looks like that it is dear old Comrade Kingsley that is left in the s***, given the Nu Labour tribe respecting the “champion” that is @cllrstevereed.

And so why the cold shoulder for Comrade Kingsely? He’s a lovely fella, who although may not be politically aligned with the pioneering vision of a co-operative form of local government (aren’t we all?) he cares passionately about his ward, and the future direction of the Labour party.

At a time when the Nu Labour project has imploded so spectacularly on the national stage, now is the time when the party is supposedly trying to reconnect with its core values.

Not in Lambeth, it ‘aint.

Bahhh…

Kingsley’s appeal to the London Labour party should be lively. He wants to remain within the political organisation that he is keen to take forward. But does the Labour party, Nu or traditional, want to listen to a dissenting voice?

His @lambeth_council email account was hacked into directly by @LambethLabour. It is permissible for Lambeth Council as an employer to access his email account, but it isn’t @LambethLabour that is paying Comrade Kingsley his allowance.

And what did the hackers find within Comrade Kingsley’s Inbox? Nothing at all to do with the Tulse Hill Situation, but simply a few constituency emails, oh, and an email from some old bird called Kate Hoey.

Cripes.

We need to return to a familiar old theme around these parts to find further rationale as to why the Nu Labour election-winning machine wanted to take a butchers at Comrade Kingsley’s emails…

*shhh* The… South London Press.

Oh Lordy.

‘ere we go.

@LambethLabour has become so paranoid about the complete meltdown in relations between the sex ad funded newspaper and the Nu Labour cabinet, that it was prepared to hack into Comrade Kingsley’s account, just to access the slightest hint of any sordid betrayal.

One of the allegations that Comrade Kingsley is facing from Nu Labour is that he sent an email to a @SthLondonPress reporter. The allegation continues that this was then read back out over the phone from the offices of @SthLondonPress to a very high ranking @LambethLabour official.

Seeing as the contents of the alleged email haven’t appeared in the pages of the @SthLondonPress, the conclusion is that the local newspaper is either asleep on the job, or simply that the allegations are a complete fabrication.

As I said – the London Labour group internal investigation should be interesting.

It is actually the exact opposite that has taken place. Comrade Kingsley has attempted to act as a peacemaker in the whole @LambethLabour / @SthLondonPress stand off.

He arranged for a meeting in the Effra pub between a high ranking @LambethLabour party official, and a representative from the newspaper. Both sides failed to find common ground, and you can draw your own conclusion over the success of the meeting, with the continued publication by @LambethLabour of Lambeth Life. Which doesn’t really help anyone.

The end result is a further freezing of the frosty relationship between the local council and the local media (of sorts,) as well as a further problem to be added to the Tulse Hill Situation - what the hell do we do with Comrade Kingsley for the next four years?

Timing couldn’t be worse for @LambethLabour. Comrade Kingsley is entitled to remain representing the good people of Vassall until 2014. That is what they voted him in for with 2,533 votes - the highest in the ward.

It is my understanding that his wishes to continue to represent his Vassall constituents. I believe that he also wants to represent Vassall under a Labour banner, something that he campaigned under during the #labourdoorstep period.

So yeah – the first full @lambeth_council meeting back in the Red Flag flying 44 43 42 seat controlled @LambethLabour borough, and it was all supposed to be apolitical. It’s such a shame, as the other News In Brief (that really should be headline news) include:

The election of Neeraj Patil as the new Mayor of Lambeth, and a totally wonderful and inclusive speech from the as ever ace @mayoroflambeth.

Confirmation that Mr Mayor’s chosen charities for the year are the Springfield Community Centre, the Sickle Cell Society and the College of Emergency Medicine.

Hints from @LambethLibDems leader, Councillor Lumsden that the failed ALMO is going to be under close scrutiny from his opposition group.

A call for an investigation into the “events of May 6th and May 7th at the Town Hall count” (I think we’re talking about the bundles of missing votes in the Oval ward…)

A motion from the Tory group for all Councillors to take a 5% pay cut. @LambethLabour’s Red Jimbo @JimDicksLambeth called for the sheep to go back to grazing on this one.

A confused attempt at political humour from Lambeth Conservative leader, Councillor Whelan (male variety) that no one really understood.

Oh - and I got blanked, face-to-face, by @janeinlondon / E Hants. And so was a not very amused @AnnaJCowen. Cheers for shifting the fridge, luv. Lovely bike as well.

Following the allegations regarding the political personalities of the past few days, it’s time to get back to proper political discourse in the Rotten Borough.

Phew.

Back to the Future, actually, with finally, finally - the publication of the much hyped, much delayed public consultation on the Big Society John Lewis model for local government, as originally pledged by our friends from @LambethLabour back in February.

The small matter of a local election got in the way of allowing the public to be consulted on the very ethos that the new administration was planning to align itself with. The electorate may have voted blind, but in the La La Lambeth Land, the one eyed man is King.

Aye.

So squinting through the small print as to what has been promised in the public consultation, and what do we see? The chest beating @lambeth_council press release seems to have already pre-empted the results of the consultation, before the Little People have actually had the chance to offer any feedback:

“Lambeth Council has today published detailed proposals that will see the South London authority become Britain’s first-ever co-operative council.”

That’s a huge leap of faith from offering the model up for consultation, and then actually assuming that it will be implemented. I do hope that our friends from @LambethLabour are actually listening.

The presser continues with the previously well-trodden line of:

“The model applies the co-operative model of fairness, accountability and responsibility across a broad range of services. It is built on four years experience trialling the approach in specific services in Lambeth.”

If we’re re-treading old arguments, then it is only fair that I repeat my point about “fairness, accountability and responsibility“, not being shifted away from our democratically elected (and paid) local councillors.

Plus the supposed four-year trial period makes a mockery of the timing of the proposal, and the triumph of The Guardian front page, just ahead of a local election.

But anyway - moving on…

“A Citizens’ Commission is being set up to consult local people on the proposals and is meeting for the first time today.”

Cripes. I’m all for instant action, Comrades, but once again - who the chuffers is actually sitting on this Citizens’ Commission as the tea and biscuits are passed around Lambeth Town Hall TODAY? Have any citizens actually been consulted on taking up a position on the commission?

Anyone? ANYONE?

It seems that the Co-op Council Commission is… a closed shop made up of elected representatives. Buried down deep below in the @lambeth_council website site map, comes a further page confirming:

“We have also set up a Co-operative Council commission, made up of elected representatives.”

So much for the consultation of the citizens, guys…

But it’s all about the dosh, stooopid:

“The Commission will explore how an ‘active citizens dividend’ could be paid to reward people who get involved in running local services, possibly in the form of a council-tax discount.”

So we’re saving money from the budget, and then rewarding this by handing over a brown envelopes stuffed full of grubby fivers from the Council Tax kitty. Job’s a good ‘un.

But why not just keep the Council Tax bill the same (or even increase it) and then invest the money back into frontline public services? It’s a form of payment for public services that has been in place for over a thousand years, and seems to have built up a *shhh* rather co-operative form of progressive society.

Ah, but there’s votes and Guardian front pages to be had in those Big Society John Lewis ideas.

“Over the coming months it [Lambeth Council] is inviting as many members of the public, staff, partners and interested partners as possible to take part in shaping the plans.”

So that’s… public, staff (and I hope that pimped out public services such Veolia with its refusal to pay a London Living Wage are included…) partners and interested partners…

Hang on - partners and interested partners?

Who is actually making up the co-operative? The Little People or the pimped out public services? I trust that the Citizens’ Commission is being formed to consult the electorate, and not to serve as a trade fair for @LambethLabour and it’s business driven third way of politics that allows private capital to profit out of this provision.

The familiar case studies are then rolled out, praising the Nu Labour model of allowing outside interests to take control of council services:

“The Weir Link children’s centre in Balham which is a service run by residents in a building built by the community.”

It is also in bed with @LambethLabour.

“…the Old Lilian Baylis community sports hub operating out of a disused secondary school in Vauxhall that has won praise from leading politicians of all parties as well as international sports heroes like Usain Bolt and Michael Jordan.”

The site is currently in a state of confusion, costing Council Tax payers £380,000 per year.

“Other community-led services already succeeding in Lambeth include… the country’s first parent-promoted secondary school in West Norwood.”

Like I said, the Tory’s Big Society comes to the Rotten Borough.

No mention in the presser this time about the good folk of Greenwich Leisure Limited, and the “success story” that is leisure within Lambeth.

Whoops.

But let’s look towards the future. Let’s look towards housing.

Oh Lordy…

“The council has more tenant-managed housing estates than any other borough, and is transferring more assets to community control than any other council.”

Um, not according to my recent FOI request. The @lambeth_council website states:

“Currently, there are two developing TMO’s [Tenant Managed Organisations] in the borough, Lambeth Towers in Kennington and Patmos Area Community Association in Brixton.”

The response to my FOI request returned the finding that there is actually only one tenant-managed housing estate in Lambeth. Still, this may well be more than any other borough…

And what of the financial savings in setting up a co-op style TMO?

“The calculation of the allowances is based on the actual costs incurred by the Council in past years. Therefore the allowances fully reflect the Council’s spend on its own properties. Consequently, no savings / losses are incurred as a result of a creation of new TMO.”

Mmm - time to start consulting the citizens and crunching those numbers, I reckon.

And as for the actual White Paper put up to download? [pdf]

Weighing in at a colossal 756Kb, and spanning out to fifty two pages of Nu Labour PR speak, any citizen who actually manages to read through the waffle White Paper from start to finish, deserves a Council Tax dividend in itself.

Parent power in schools (as proposed this very same morning by the Con Dem coalition, and ridiculed by the national Labour party…) tenant management of council stock (in the hope that the Little People can make a better job than the failed Lambeth Living experiment) and discount on yer Council Tax bill, should you remove any dumped fridges from outside your doorstep…

Um…

We need more of the Edbrooke Effect around my little #hyperlocal patch of South London. I voted in the good lady (gosh) to carry out exactly what she has been busy doing in recent weeks – helping the electorate in her ward. That’s the job of a democratically elected local councillor, isn’t it? [and it is a job that @janeinlondon / E Hants is doing rather well…]

I can’t but help think that the Big Society John Lewis plans from @LambethLabour are actually rather small. On the very same day that the John Lewis model was launched, buried away on the @lambeth_council website is a parallel press release, talking of making 400 council staff redundant in order to save cash.

Time on their hands, and no doubt the ex-council employees will be queuing up for tea and biscuits and a seat on the Citizens’ Commission. The message seems to be pimp out public services and save cash, and put staff on the dole and save further dosh. Doesn’t sound that progressive to me.

Lambeth UNINSON agree, highlighting the jaw dropping figure of 215 jobs that have been proposed to be cut from Children and Young Persons Services provision.

Political ideology aside, the thinking behind the co-op consultation seems a positive step (cripes.) My concern however is over how it is rolled out, and who is actually listening. @shanecarmichael provides a truly excellent analysis of the pitfalls of rolling out an online consultation in his brilliant recent blog post.

@LambethLabour could do a lot worse than to invite the good @shanecarmichael to come forward and sit on the Citizen’s Commission (assuming he is free for the first meeting, currently taking place, um, today…)

The online consultation is to be applauded, if slightly flawed (and late - very late.) The Wiki is a great idea, giving instant feedback, including an RSS feed to follow all developments. Likewise for the now obligatory Facebook page.

But what of the elderly and vulnerable, who maybe don’t have online access? It is this very group in society that come to rely on frontline services provided by local authorities, and not a co-operative body run by well meaning busy bodies.

This is still a top down approach to policy making. Members of the community that have the resources, knowledge and time, ultimately get to shape public policy. Which pretty much sums up the reason as why Nu Labour failed so spectacularly on a national level.

Of course it is cuts that is driving the move to appear more transparent - cuts and keeping control of the council come election time once again. Money is going to be tight over the next decade, whether you are a right wing inner city local authority such as Lambeth, or even an out in the stick Love Me I’m a Liberal local authority in the South West.

The task is to balance the shortfall with a system of local government that the electorate feels they can truly participate in. I fear that our friends from @LambethLabour have confused participation with responsibility. And possibly even accountability.

“People can also join in the conversation on Twitter by using the hash tag #lambethcoop.”

Are you listening? #lambethcoop?

It’s a tale of two computers in Lambeth today. First off is a posting that has been made to the mighty urban75, in relation to the resignation of @LambethLabour’s Toren Smith, the elected Councillor for Tulse Hill.

The comment states:

“Seems Toren Smith, Labour councillor in Tulse Hill, has resigned for “personal reasons”. The gossip is that the police are bringing charges. Polling day will be 1 July. The police are reporting that they have seized his computer.”

I am unable to report any further, apart from referencing a post that has already been made to a public website. I have disabled comments for this particular blog post.

*Wednesday 26th, 13:00 update*

The London Evening Standard is running with the following story:

Councillor Resigns After Porn Arrest

“A London Labour councillor has been arrested by police on suspected child porn charges. Toren Smith, 42, was arrested at his home and questioned before being released on bail. His computer was seized for further examination. He has resigned his Lambeth council seat.”

Meanwhile, putting some more meat on the bone (or even adding extra RAM to the machine) with regards the strange case that is @LambethLabour’s Kingsley Abrams…

I reported yesterday how Councillor Abrams’ party has suspended the Vassall ward councillor for four months, after allegedly leaking [eek] sensitive Nu Labour information.

Councillor Abrams has now asked constituents not to email him using his official Lambeth Council email address. It seems that our friends from the party machine within @LambethLabour have hacked into the Councillor’s account, to see who he is briefing online keep a close eye on the casework he has been carrying out.

Careful what you wish for. Or even hack into a machine for. One of the private emails that @LambethLabour hijacked came from… the Honourable Kate Hoey MP.

Cripes.

The sitting MP for Vauxhall is non too pleased with the local Lambeth Labour party. This is a statement that works on oh so many levels, but especially applies to the snooping of the private correspondence between Councillor Abrams and Kate Hoey:

“It is central to a free democratic society that every citizen has an absolute right to free and confidential communication with his or her elected representative… without fear that their communications will be intercepted by third parties”

With @LambethLabour long since having felt the wrath of the sitting MP for Vauxhall, it remains to be seen if the Vassall councillor takes a similar stance.

Dear old Kingsley has had the whip withdrawn from the @LambethLabour bench for a period of four months. Our Red Flag flying friends can afford such sanctions, given the forty four three sitting councillors, and the whopping 43% share of the vote.

The maths also stack up for the ruling administration, should Kingsley decide not to rejoin the Labour group, once he has been allowed to get up from the @LambethLabour naughty step.

But ah - where will the good councillor then decide to plonk his backside? His Vassall ward is most interesting, returning @LambethLabour’s Councillor Garden, and @LambethLibDems’ Councillor Bradley.

The former is a novice, the latter has long since been the thorn in @LambethLabour’s backside, and is feared by many in the party for his political skills. An alliance between Abrams and Bradley could do some serious local damage to @LambethLabour in the Vassall ward.

Past political form would suggest that a walk across the council chamber floor to join the *shhh* Lambeth Tories is the more likely option for any discontent @LambethLabour councillor.

With only a fag paper being able to separate the coop council vision of @LambethLabour, and the similar right wing model argued by the Tory party, the traditional route for crossing the chamber floor in Lambeth is to go from red to blue. Betty Evans-Jacas did just that last year (before going on to lose her council seat…)

But Councillor Abrams is old Labour through and through. It would be like Dennis Skinner getting into bed with Call Me Dave. I would expect Kingsley to be an internal nuisance to the right wing Nu Labour project in Lambeth. With a mandate to represent the fine folk of Vassall for a further four years, that’s an awful lot of mischief making to get to grips with.

More pressing matters will be the first full council meeting taking place at the Town Hall on Wednesday evening. @LambethLabour had deliberately timed the triumphant (and much delayed) White Paper on the promised public consultation for the coop council with the first full meet. Now it seems that the agenda has shifted to Two of Our Councillors are Missing.

Ouch.

It is unlikely that Toren Smith will turn up. The appearance (and any speech) from dear old Councillor Abrams will be followed with great interest. I’ll be taking my MacBook along, security controls set to the max, following (and sharing) the debate online.

*Tuesday 25th, 17:00 update*

Ok, for legal reasons, I’m afraid comments have had to be closed on this post. I’ve got the full story, but sadly I’m not in a position to be able to tell it. Not yet, anyway.

Original blog post…

A week Two and a bit weeks are a long time in local politics. It’s a timeframe that has seen @LambethLabour’s Toren Smith be re-elected in his Tulse Hill ward, and then before the first full council meeting of the new administration, Toren has triggered a by-election.

Blimey.

The @lambeth_council website simply states:

“There is a vacancy for a Councillor in Tulse Hill ward that will be filled at a by-election.”

No reason (as yet) for Toren not taking up his council chamber seat, but with the cancellation of his twitter @tulsehill account, it looks like Toren is taking a step back from local politics in the borough.

Here’s hoping that all is fine health wise with the (ex) good Councillor.

Timing aside, I think this is rather a shame. Toren is very affable character, and represented his ward well (um, last administration, *not* the eighteen days of office that he has lasted this time round.)

He balanced a very demanding job on the Planning Committee with that of being a decent ward councillor. Sure, he was part of the Nu Labour clique in Lambeth politics, but he put forward this image with great humour, often seen carrying a copy of the FT into the council chamber.

When I last spoke with Toren at the election night count, he asked me how the overall picture was looking. I jested that the borough was about to turn blue. He didn’t flinch.

On seeing the empty public gallery during the setting of the last budget, Toren’s observation that “the electorate are happy with the Labour party in Lambeth” has proven to be true, given the election results.

And so what now for the fine people of Tulse Hill? An unwelcome by-election is confirmed by the @lambeth_council website, probably taking place on July 1st. Just when you thought that all the political posturing and behind the scenes stirring from the party agents was over for another four years, we have to go through the whole farce yet again.

Tulse Hill is ultra safe territory for Nu Labour in the borough. With 1,396 votes separating Toren’s third place showing and the fourth placed @LambethLibDems candidate, don’t expect any upset.

Don’t expect a 59% electorate turn out, either.

As for candidates - I’d wager that @LambethLabour’s Ruth Ling would emerge as a popular choice. Losing her seat to the Tories in her Clap’ham Common ward left a lot of traditional supporters within the local party feeling that Ruth was a victim of the affluent SW4 geography.

Karim Palant could even be an outsider for @LambethLabour, having seemingly missed out on becoming an Oval councillor, on account of the A-Z voting pattern from the electorate in my ward.

So yeah - cheers Toren, and ta ta. Premature, and politically intriguing…

*Monday 24th, 22:00 update*

It would seem that Toren has stepped down for “personal reasons,” whatever they may be. Don’t rule out the possibility of Toren representing once again the good people of Tulse Hill soon.

*sooner than you think…*

Meanwhile…

To lose one @LambethLabobour councillor eighteen days after being elected would be unfortunate, but to lose two?

Blimey.

Dear old Kingsley Abrams, the @LambethLabour councillor for the Vassall ward, has apparently been suspended by his party. The allegation is that “information has been leaked.”

Eeek.

I’m keeping stum…

*Tuesday 25th, 07:00 update*

Top search on m’blog overnight:

‘Toren, Smith, Lambeth, Labour, police, investigation.’

Ouch.