onionbagblog

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.

It seems that I have been slightly harsh on @janeinlondon / East Hampshire. I shouldn’t have singled out my local @LambethLabour candidate for having parliamentary political ambitions over in East Hampshire, or failing that, looking after the Little People in Lambeth.

A bit of digging around, and it now appears that Jane Edbrooke is not alone within @LambethLabour in looking towards Westminster first, and then the Rotten Borough second.

Blimey.

Forget the previous parlour game of Political Musical Chairs – it now seems that a number of @LambethLabour local Councillors are playing Pin the Tail on the Political Constituency / Ward.

First up we have Councillor Morgan, the democratically elected representative for my nearby Prince’s ward. You may remember how the ward was forced into a by-election, when Councillor Townsend decided to bugger off to Bristol with his £10k allowance.

Whoops.

The good voters of Prince’s ward would do well to remember this when they head to the ballot box on May 6th. So would the good voters over in Orpington, where Councillor Morgan is ‘doing an Edbrooke,’ as it is now known in local political circles.

Yep – that’s right. If at first you don’t succeed, double yer money (and your electable chances) by having the option of either a Westminster seat, or a local Council seat.

Priorities, priorities. It’s a complete sham of democracy, both for constituency and wards alike. The electorate want firm commitments, not a politician that is going to flip loyalties, depending on the size of their majority.

But wait – there’s more…

Looking over the boundaries of my Oval ward, and I note that Neeraj Patil, the current @LambethLabour councillor for Larkhall, is putting himself up once again to represent the fine folk of SW8.

Looking out further still, and I note that the flipping (as in flipping loyalties, natch) Councillor is also putting himself up to become the next MP for the not so nearby Surrey Heath.

Cripes.

Completing the hat trick of current @LambethLabour Councillors who are getting a little too big for their local authority boots is Councillor Sabharwal. The current Ferndale representative has a lively local ward to represent. One can only wonder then how he will find the time to also represent the good folk of North Herefordshire as their next MP.

A recent Freedom of Informaton request revealed that Stephen Morgan attended only 50% of full council meetings in the past political year. I am awaiting details of a further FOI request, asking what level of allowance each Lambeth Councillor has claimed this year.

Given his attendance record, it would be most disappointing to find that Councillor Morgan has troused his full £10,000 annual allowance; a fee of £5,000 would seem more appropriate.

Councillor Patil fares slightly better, having attended six out of the ten full council meetings. Credit where it is due – Councillor Sabharwal has the full set of ten out of ten.

Someone give that man PPC status…

But we’re not finished yet. Not quite ‘doing an Edbrooke,’ but what about the mysterious case of Kingsley Abrams, the current @LambethLabour Councillor for Vassall ward? Kingsley is standing once again under the Nu Labour banner in an attempt to become a local Lambeth politician.

I’m still not sure about the Wimbledon constituency though. It seems neither is Kingsley…

His own personal site was a campaigning shop front, boasting of how Kingsley is the best candidate for the good people of Wimbledon to elect as their next MP. A screenshot of the Vassall Councillor campaigning over in SW19 is published below.

How very strange then to find that the website has now been pulled, and Councillor Abrams is no longer listed as the Labour PPC for Wimbledon.

Maybe it is simply that Councillor Abrams has more sense than Neil Sabharwal, Neeraj Patil, Stephen Morgan and yes, Jane Edbrooke, in realising that local voters in Lambeth don’t take too kindly to this dual candidacy betrayal.

Political ambition – yes please. Doing an Edbrooke and keeping it quiet to the Little People of Lambeth about how you want to bugger off to Westminster – no thanks.

@LambethLabour has some very fine candidates. The Town Hall is a better place for being represented by these folk.

But once again, @LambethLabour – clarification on all of the above local / national candidates would be appreciated. Any more career politicians to add to my tally chart please?