Dogs Dinner: Honoring a Pervert

The http://barryphelps.posterous.com blog has known for some time about the plans for that outrageous dinner held in Phelps' honour last Friday, 25 February 2011, at Whits restaurant in Abingdon Road, W8. We wanted to write something on the blog, even start a campaign, but other commitments from our writers prevented them from launching a campaign to highlight this appalling event and the message it conveys of condoning Phelps' monstrous conduct in sending emails sexualising young boys. However, the blog's failure to campaign on this issue so far should in no way provide any encouragement to Phelps or his supporters. He can say he shouldn't have resigned but there is no way he could have survived the avalanche of complaints and adverse publicity his pervert emails would have caused, let alone Mr Justin Downes' Standards Complaint on that issue, which was only withdrawn because Phelps resigned. There was another Standards Complaint being prepared by a resident in the Borough concerning sexual harassment by Phelps and his breach of the Data Protection Act. The conduct and actions of Phelps was subsequently apologised for by the Council in a formal complaints process, and the complaint about breaches of the Data Protection Act, including personal and sensitive personal data, by Phelps was also upheld by the Information Commissioner. If he had not resigned, Phelps would have been under continuing scrutiny for his misconduct and would have brought the Council into disrepute, something even his former allies, such as Cllr Cockell, would not have tolerated. It is thoroughly unacceptable that somebody of Phelps' misconduct and reprehensible behaviour should seek to rehabilitate himself, raise his public profile, or even possibly seek public office. We believe that it is now necessary to remind residents of the Borough, and the wider public, of the scandal which occasioned Phelps' resignation concerning his disgusting emails sexualising young boys, and that such individuals in public life are unacceptable, unwanted, and should not be given dinners in their honour, and that their past misconduct in public office must be condemned.

More to follow ...

What Next, The Rehabilitation of Pervert Barry Phelps?

Originally posted at:  http://barryphelps.posterous.com/what-next-the-rehabilitation-of-pervert-barry

Coming Soon ...

Originally posted at:  http://barryphelps.posterous.com/coming-soon-12

A Council Run For Whose Interests?

An important observation which can be made from the Earls Court by election is just how narrow and socially exclusive a pool of people that the Conservative and the Liberal Democrat candidates were selected from.  This is a symptom of a much deeper malaise affecting how politics is conducted in the borough, and the blog will argue that this operates to the exclusion of many social and ethnic groups whose views and interests are just marginalised or not represented at the Council.  This affects the priorities the Council will give to the provision of local services.  The forthcoming cuts in housing benefit and local services, and changes to security of tenure for residents in social housing, will affect poorer residents and it seems only the Labour Party is discussing these issues.  The problem is not centred on Sir Merrick Cockell and his leadership, as there is no reason to believe that a change in leadership of the Conservatives will bring about a more inclusive and socially diverse Council, which is responsive to the wide range of interests of residents of all social and ethnic groups.  The solution will require the political parties to have a wider range of candidates for election to the Council, for the parties and the Council, to reach out to different groups that are not articulate and organised in Residents Associations or the Earls Court Society, and for the socially excluded and ethnic groups themselves to find ways of getting their interests represented at the Council.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

Originally posted at:  http://barryphelps.posterous.com/plus-ca-change-plus-cest-la-meme-chose

Linda Wade, the Liberal Democrat candidate, has won the Earls Court by election.  This blog acknowledges that this will be a good result for her and the Liberal Democrats, who invested much time and energy in their campaign.  It also means that all those trees were not cut down in vain to provide their deluge of leaflets.  The Liberal Democrats were highly motivated in this election and although the results show a major improvement on their vote in the May elections, it should also be borne in mind that the turnout in the by election fell to 24 per cent from 41.8 per cent in the borough elections in May.

The Liberal Democrats were also helped by the Conservatives by means of their poor choice of candidate and their complacency.  The choice of Malcolm Spalding as their candidate was a disaster for the Conservatives.  He had stood in May as an Independent, and joined the Conservative Party two days before being selected as its candidate in the by election.  This candidate lacked credibility.  It also seems that there were a few Conservatives who were unhappy about Phelps' resignation, wrongly ascribing this to some conspiracy by senior Conservatives,  and how much this affected the Conservative vote it is difficult to say.  But either through staying at home or voting for Arbuthnot, some of these discontented Conservatives might have helped hand victory to the Liberal Democrats.  But this blog believes that by far the main reason for the Conservative loss of the by election was their complacency in not putting up a sustained fight for the seat.  There were some leaflets distributed to households, but they were few in comparison to the regularity of the leaflets put out almost daily by the Liberal Democrats.  We noticed some Conservatives in the summer were engaged in canvassing on one evening, but this seemed to not be sustained.  The Liberal Democrats on the other hand were canvassing on an annoyingly regular basis.  Either the Conservatives were complacent in thinking that they would hold the seat given their previous majorities over the Liberal Democrats, or they did not have the manpower.  Having said this, the Conservatives lost the seat by a not too large a number of votes, and are in a position to win it back at the next Council elections.  This will be easier as the Liberal Democrats will not have the resources to concentrate in Earls Court, and they will not have the benefit of bussing in activists and having high profile politicans visit such as Simon Hughes, MP.

The Labour vote collapsed but there is not much evidence of tactical voting for the Liberal Democrats.  This blog believes that the collapse in the Labour vote was more due to Labour voters staying at home.  The Labour Party was invisible in Earls Court, with, to our knowledge, no leaflets or canvassing, and yet still managed to get 151 votes!  The Labour Party vote would have been better if the party had conducted a campaign so that people would at least have known there was a candidate!

Sir Merrick Cockell, the Leader of the Council, can take comfort from the by election results.  The Conservatives held Cremorne, even though only just.  They lost Earls Court, but in Linda Wade there will be no threat to his regime, and she can become a happy appendage to it alongside the other Liberal Democrat councillors.  Linda Wade's friend, Jennifer Ware, is secure on the Standards Committee, just as it would have been if Spalding had won.  Ware has done nothing to challenge the Cockell regime, indeed she is just a part of it.

The issue of a Liberal Democrat split is still important, although their victory in Earls Court gives a good result among a rash of failures to win in other by elections and a collapse in their support nationally.  It is the view of this blog that as the tensions within the Liberal Democrats increase as the Coalition policies become more unpopular with the voters, there will be a split in this party.  It is difficult to say how large the split will be, but there is already a loss of members and some councillors nationally, as well as a massive decline in support for the party.  The ideological tensions within the Liberal Democrats between the social democrats and the free market liberals will become increasingly apparent as the Coalition proceeds with its policies which threaten to cause massive social upheaval as the welfare state and National Health Service are dismantled in the name of cuts to public expenditure.

In this context, we have a Liberal Democrat councillor who will be joining her Conservative colleagues in the voting lobbies at the Town Hall to implement those policies of their government as they affect the people of Earls Court and the borough.  The fact that Earls Court has a Liberal Democrat instead of a Conservative makes no difference.  In virtually every respect, Linda Wade will be no different to her Conservative colleagues.  There may be a change of party but there will be no change in how things are done at the Town Hall.

Election Day Blues

Originally posted at: http://barryphelps.posterous.com/election-day-blues

The polls open today, Thursday, 16 September, for the by elections in the Earls Court and Cremorne wards.  As this blog has played an important role in exposing the disgusting emails sent by the pervert ex-Councillor Phelps which led to his subsequent resignation, it is important to reflect at this time on what is sadly a missed opportunity for change.  This blog has focussed on the Earls Court by election, as Phelps was one of the ward councillors and his impact and public profile locally, has been enormous.  The issue of Phelps and the sleaze that he represented was therefore a relevant issue particularly in this ward, and it was hoped that any by election campaign would open up opportunities for real change at the Town Hall.  However, having provided coverage of the by election for readers of this blog, it will come as no surprise that we have been underwhelmed and very disappointed at the offerings of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.  The Labour Party has been invisible in this campaign and is disappointing for a different reason, that their campaign highlighting important issues that will affect many vulnerable and poor people in Earls Court were not discussed or publicised enough.

This blog has felt very disappointed with the Liberal Democrats, who began with much promise of change, but then selected Linda Wade as their candidate, who was part of the problem and was compromised by her friendship with Jennifer Ware.  So it was no surprise that when asked if she would call for Jennifer Ware's resignation from the Standards Committee, she fudged the issue and could not give a straight answer.  This was a litmus test of Linda Wade's commitment to bringing about change at the Town Hall, and she failed it, and it provided no encouragement to think that her rhetoric of change would be matched by action.  But moving in the same narrow pool of the Earls Court Society as Malcolm Spalding, and being a friend and a political colleague of Jennifer Ware, Linda Wade has too many ties to the ancien regime to make her truly independent to challenge the way things are done at the Town Hall.  The Lib Dems might have wanted, tactically, to capitalise on any anti-Phelps feeling there might be in the ward, and may also find it useful to attack financial sleaze at the Town Hall, but this blog doubts this is more than just campaign rhetoric.  The Lib Dems at the Town Hall are not known for campaigning on these issues.  Jennifer Ware, herself a Lib Dem, enjoyed a friendship with Phelps and has publicly defended him despite those disgusting emails.  It is difficult to see how Jennifer Ware, especially in the light of her disgraceful failure to declare publicly an interest at the Standards hearing earlier this year, has been anything other than a very useful tool for the Cockell leadership through her role on the Standards Committee.  Yet Linda Wade is happy, it seems, not to call for Ware's resignation.

Therefore, whoever wins in the Earls Court by election, whether it is Malcolm Spalding or Linda Wade, this blog is sadly confident that there will be no change in how matters are done at the Town Hall.  Those who have put their confidence in Linda Wade will be disappointed.  But there is one other observation that can be made from this by election.  That is the ridiculous situation of having two parties that are in a Coalition in government, pretending to be fighting each other at local level when in fact both parties are committed to supporting their government's policies, including those policies which will have a direct impact in the borough.  It was just a contest between two personalities, with different brands and packaging.  Anyone walking past Earls Court Tube station on Wednesday evening would have seen the surreal sight of former Lib Dem MP Susan Kramer and a cohort of Lib Dems handing out leaflets alongside Spalding's supporters.  You have the impression of the good old days, where Lib Dems fought the Tories, but the reality now is different and this blog believes that the Lib Dems have not yet really accepted that they are now colleagues with the Conservatives and are now in government with them.  It is important for the Labour voters in Earls Court to realise this changed reality too, as the days of tactical voting for the Lib Dems to get the Tories out are now gone.