A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 6:16 pm
Labour Party activist since 1988 - firmly on the moderate wing of the party. Member of Labour’s NEC 2010-2012 and since 2020. National Secretary of Labour Students 1995-6. Parliamentary candidate for Aldershot (2001) and Castle Point (2005). Hackney Councillor (Chatham Ward) 2002-2014, Labour Group Chief Whip 2002-09, Chair of Health Scrutiny 2010-2014. Supporter of Europe, NATO/nuclear deterrence, Israel, electoral reform. Guardian reader. Dad. Oxford resident. Unite union member. Employment history as a Labour Party Organiser, Local Government Political Assistant, Director at a Public Affairs company. All views expressed in a personal capacity. The rest will become evident from reading the blog.
21 Comments:
Well done, Luke! 44 Labour councillors is superb. If only, we had the same number in neighbouring Waltham Forest (26 us, 19 Lib Dem, 15 Tory, = hung council. The Liberals are already up their usual crap. Roll on 2010 I say!
11:52 pm, July 05, 2006
. . . of whom six are black. Nothing to be proud of!
4:36 am, July 06, 2006
Fair point and one we are aware of. I agree we need to do a serious push to recruit African and Afro-Carribean candidates for the next set of elections. We are already working on this. Though in terms of representation of other BME groups we are fairly representative of the borough: 2 Irish, 4 Turkish or Kurdish, 3 Kasmiri or Pakistani Muslim, 4 Jewish, 1 Indian, 3 Afro-Carribean, 3 African - so 20 of 44 from BME communities.
9:42 am, July 06, 2006
Rubbish! It doesn't explain why black people were offered the opportunity to stand in wards where you knew, full well, that they had little or no chance of winning! Meanwhile white people were offered the chance to stand in the "safe" wards.
And as for using people of Irish origin to pump up the BME representation figures ... you are really scraping the barrel!
3:32 pm, July 06, 2006
No one "offers" anyone seats to stand in in the Labour Party - local members in the wards decide who to select.
4:45 pm, July 06, 2006
Luke - you might do a bit better at convincing me of your concern to ensure ethnic representation in Hackney Labour Party if you learnt to spell "Caribbean" and "Kashmiri" and I would rather you referred to me as "African Caribbean" if you don't mind.
4:55 pm, July 06, 2006
Apologies - no spellcheck on here. Again points taken.
5:00 pm, July 06, 2006
Actually I object to being called Irish. Please use Eireannach in future
5:51 pm, July 06, 2006
Actually I object to being called Irish. Please use Eireannach in future
5:52 pm, July 06, 2006
OK Brian.
5:59 pm, July 06, 2006
No one "offers" anyone seats to stand in the Labour Party - local members in the wards decide who to select.
I see you would rather get bogged down in the semantics rather than tackle the issue raised, namely - why the same white faces repeatedly get selected to stand in safe wards in Hackney. Why should black people wait for the crumbs under the table?
I agree we need to do a serious push to recruit African and Afro-Carribean candidates for the next set of elections.
You are SERIOUSLY in need of some equality and diversity training, man! Black people come from all over the world, not just Africa and your formerly-enslaved colonies!
6:19 am, July 08, 2006
Yes but all the other BME communities in Hackney are well represented - the under-representation is only amongst the African and Afro-Caribbean communities. In the case of Afro-Caribbeans there is a wider problem of political disengagement/low turnout etc. which is the opposite of the Muslim community for instance. The "the same white faces repeatedly get selected" because Labour Party members, white and BME, vote for them at selection meetings because they are doing a good job.
1:13 pm, July 10, 2006
Good God, I am stuck in a 1980s timewarp. Help, help, I can see Eric heffer coming into view.
12:01 am, July 11, 2006
"The "the same white faces repeatedly get selected" because Labour Party members, white and BME, vote for them at selection meetings because they are doing a good job.
If, by saying "they are doing a good job" you mean they are slavishly following the Party line; I would agree with you. But some of these characters haven't come up with a new idea in years (if ever) nor, with their sullied past, do they command the support and respect of the voting public that newer, black, faces would (or at least, might).
3:34 am, July 12, 2006
"Help, help, I can see Eric heffer coming into view."
Don't be so rude! That's not Eric Heffer, it's Cllr Sharon Patrick.
12:06 pm, July 12, 2006
Observer, who did you have in mind re. sullied pasts? There are only 6 Labour councillors elected in 1998 or before.
6:51 pm, July 12, 2006
So what? You didn't arrive in Hackney until the Millbank putsch, but it doesn't mean you don't have a sullied past (as in the Blair Mayor Affair), does it?
1:14 pm, July 18, 2006
I would describe trying to stop Ken becoming Mayor as a glorious past - not sullied. It's just a shame I wasn't sucessful, though at least I helped get him out of the Labour Party for a few years.
6:37 pm, July 18, 2006
Backing Dobbo the Mule with an illicitly obtained mailing list sounds like a glorious episode of history to me.
11:27 pm, July 18, 2006
It wasn't illicitly obtained. MEPs and MPs are entitled to membership lists, and according to the Data Protection Commissioner, entitled to give them other party members for use to promote candidates in internal party elections. Much as I disagree with Frank on many national issues I still think he would have been a better Mayor than Livingstone.
8:25 am, July 20, 2006
Dorothy Parker could well have been talking about Dobson when she made her famous remark about Calvin Coolidge.
10:43 pm, July 20, 2006
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