Networking
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.
