Five Labour councillors switch to the Tories in Ealing

Written by The Voice on 9th July 2007 – 10:18 am

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Posted in Ealing Southall

56 Comments to “Five Labour councillors switch to the Tories in Ealing”

Des Gray Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:08 am
And they didn’t switch to us? Let’s admit it, guys, we’re not going to win this one (Sedgefield maybe?). This contest is, sadly, between Labour and Tony Lit (the Tory chap). It’s certainly put me off from going there. Who’s running our campaign?
James Graham Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:12 am
What a clumsy attempt at sock-puppetry. Perhaps “Des” you might want to explain why the Tories are currently having to resort to dirty tricks?
M Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:18 am
Shocking isnt it - taking opponents’ leaflets out of letter boxes! Let John Stevens know. Lib Dems are such high minded people who would never resort to such dastardly scullduggery.
James Graham Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:22 am
M - clearly you are soft on crime.
Dan Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:25 am
Des Gray is a garden gate.
Des Gray Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:28 am
I’m no garden gate, let me assure you. I’m in the process of joining the party in Richmond, where I live. I understand the ‘rough and tumble’ of politics, but please don’t insult me. I’m a genuine liberal.
M Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:45 am
James, I am tough on self righteousness tough on the causes of self righteousness.
Laurence Boyce Says:
9th July 2007 at 12:00 pm
What are the religious views of Nigel our candidate? Not that I’m obsessed with religion or anything . . .
Angus Huck Says:
9th July 2007 at 12:00 pm
These 5 Southall councilllors are people the Liberal Democrats wouldn’t touch with a TV mast. The Tories are very, very welcome to them. Right place for them, I’d say.

Back in 1996, as Housing Chair, Gurcharan Singh received a memo from a fellow Labour councillor asking him to give priority on the housing list to a Labour family so as to move them into a marginal ward. We don’t know if Singh acted on the memo. What we do know is someone leaked it. And Tim Reville, the officer charged with investigating the indicent, described Steve Pound’s role as “ambiguous”.
Real Liberal Says:
9th July 2007 at 12:19 pm
Angus, you make some very serious claims. So serious, that they lay you and this site wide open to legal action. I suggest they be removed. As a party, we’ve let some very dodgy characters in - I’m not going to name names, but it’s true.
Angus Huck Says:
9th July 2007 at 12:36 pm
“Real Liberal” - I do happen to have a 2:1 degree in law - do you? Thanks for the legal advice, but I don’t think I need it.

What I said about Singh and Pound is a matter of record. I am quoting Tim Reville, an officer of the London Borough of Ealing who penned a confidential report that was leaked to the press by Stuart Jackson MP.

I am perfectly entitled to say that various Southall councillors are useless. Their record of silence and inaction is justification aplenty.

I do have a modicum of regard for the Labour councillor who wrote that stupid memo, so I don’t stoop to naming him. What is important is that Councillor X clearly believed that Singh would act on it. Now why should he think that?

Well, he was wrong, as subsequent events now prove. Singh’s commitment to the Labour Party was skin deep. As soon as they refuse him a Parliamentary selection he up sticks and joins the enemy in a fit of pique.

Perhaps the people of Southall today are saying to themselves: “A plague on all these characters” ???
Joe Taylor Says:
9th July 2007 at 12:37 pm
Hmmm, this is mixed news really.

On one hand it allows Cameron to use it as “proof” that his party has “changed”.

But on the other hand, Labour’s astonishing implosion in Southall is good news for everyone!

We just need to make sure we’re the ones that pick up the pieces. If it’s us, it could be a famous victory on the order of Brent East - if it’s the Tories, I don’t think they could beat Labour in this seat but they could well stop us beating them.

This weekend needs to be the single biggest weekend of by-election campaigning in our party’s history.

LDV readers should each be picking up the phone and badgering their Lib Dem friends until at least one of them promises to come to Ealing this weekend!
Angus Huck Says:
9th July 2007 at 12:39 pm
BTW, I am one of the last people on Earth to jump to the defence of Steve Pound, but try as I might, I cannot see that he did anything wrong by attending a County Court hearing to give moral support to a Labour Party activist and co-religionist.

Trouble is, Tim Reville is a neutral Council officer, I am one of Pound’s enemies (!!!)
Geoffrey Payne Says:
9th July 2007 at 1:40 pm
For the record Des, the Lib Dems are doing very well in Southall and have an excellent candidate and an excellent campaign team. I went canvassing there on Sunday and I was very impressed with the response.
I road I canvassed on did not have a single Tory supporter. But plenty of Lib Dem supporters, I handed out 6 posters, and only 2 people said they would vote Labour.
If you are a genuine Lib Dem member as you claim, I suggest you go there and find out for yourself.
Edis Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:00 pm
Hum well if they had come to us I can imagine the leaflets that would have been going out in the two Wards concerned - both are within the Southall constituency. (All three councillors in Lady Margaret Ward and two out of three in Southall Broadway, both along the western edge of the Parliamentary seat now in play.)

The Labour campaign in those two wards will be well and truly shafted.

On the other hand, what is the local reputation of the five concerned?

I suspect that the cross-politics of local cultural community allegiances will be important here. Am I right in thinking that four of the defectors are Sikhs (including the one woman) and the three men are possibly ‘observant pañj kakār’ ( 5K observant, sometimes called Turbanned). If my outsiders count is right, that would be half of the possibly pañj kakār observant males previously on the Labour benches of Ealing London Borough.

From my days long ago in the Politics of Leamington Spa I know there are more things than formal party allegiance influencing Sikh voter choice.
Cllr Abid Latif Chohan Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:14 pm
I think Des could be right. I have many friends in Southall, mainly muslim, who plan to vote for Mr Lit. I really hate Labour. Could we withdraw at this stage to give Lit a free run? We could devide the anti-Labour vote and let them back in. I don’t normally endorse tactical voting, but this time its right to do it. Have looked at the 2006 results and its clear that we’re not going to take it. As a liberal democrat councillor, I wish Mr Lit well. [EDITOR'S NOTE: CLLR CHOHAN HAS DENIED HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS AND OTHER POSTS IN HIS NAME - SEE Lib Dem councillor denies tactical vote slur FOR MORE.]
Cheltenham Robin Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:22 pm
I have just spent a long weekend in Southall.

From the canvass returns I saw, the Tories are clearly in 3rd place, so no Cllr Chohan, we won’t be giving Mr Lit (the 10 minute Tory)a free run.
Joe Taylor Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:28 pm
I really hope that’s not Manchester Cllr. Abid Latif Chohan - isn’t advocating voting for a candidate of another party an expulsion offence?

I have e-mailed the real Cllr. Chohan to find out if these are actually his words…
Not Winning Here Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:31 pm
Face it - the Lib Dems have no chance in Ealing - it’s a Labour stronghold even with these defections.
Cllr Abid Latif Chohan Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:32 pm
They are my words. Yes, I’m in Manchester. just want to get labour out, thats all. [EDITOR'S NOTE: CLLR CHOHAN HAS DENIED HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS AND OTHER POSTS IN HIS NAME - SEE Lib Dem councillor denies tactical vote slur FOR MORE.]
Will Howells Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:44 pm
The best way for the residents of Ealing Southall to defeat Labour is to vote Liberal Democrat. It’s the Tories who risk letting Labour back in.
Neil Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:49 pm
19 I agree. It is clearly preposterous to claim that the Lib Dems could never get close to the 12% swing they need to win Southall.

In the famous Ipswich by-election they only managed a 7.6% swing from Labour.

Admittedly they did a little better in Hartlepool (18.9%), Leicester South (21.5%), Brent East (29%) and Hodge Hill (27.7%), but why let a few inconveneient facts get in the way of a good trolling eh?
Cllr Abid Latif Chohan Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:50 pm
Mr Howells, I have looked at the result of the most recent council elections. Torys very close to labour, and us nowhere. We only have 1 cllr there vs. (now) 19 for torys. In Manchester, its lib who can beat labour but not Southall. [EDITOR'S NOTE: CLLR CHOHAN HAS DENIED HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS AND OTHER POSTS IN HIS NAME - SEE Lib Dem councillor denies tactical vote slur FOR MORE.]
Cllr Abid Latif Chohan Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:55 pm
I should declare that I know Mr Lit personally. [EDITOR'S NOTE: CLLR CHOHAN HAS DENIED HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS AND OTHER POSTS IN HIS NAME - SEE Lib Dem councillor denies tactical vote slur FOR MORE.]
Joe Taylor Says:
9th July 2007 at 2:55 pm
Oh dear oh dear…

Well, “Cllr. Chohan”, it is convenient how you’re repeating all the spin that’s been on the Tory election leaflets, isn’t it?

To address your “issues” - if we withdrew it might actually help Labour, as according to this YouGov poll our voters would, on average, prefer a Labour candidate over a Tory candidate if we weren’t in the race. (These voters, incidentally, outnumbered the Tory voters by over a thousand the last time this seat was fought…)

If you wanted to guarantee that Labour lost the seat - well, you’d have to ask Mr. Lit to withdraw his candidacy. That would do it nicely.

And if you are who you say you are, you can respond to my e-mail then…
Grammar police Says:
9th July 2007 at 3:28 pm
If “Cllr Chohan” had looked at most relevant election, he’d see that we were in second place, ahead of the Tories.
James Graham Says:
9th July 2007 at 4:07 pm
M - so you believe that being tough on crime is “self-righteousness”? Shameful!
M Says:
9th July 2007 at 4:12 pm
Lib Dems should definitely stay in the race, that will give Mr Lit the best chance of winning.
Richard Huzzey Says:
9th July 2007 at 4:22 pm
This thread stinks of Tory supporters posting here in the hope of being quoted as Lib Dem supporters in election literature (as Tory Home was quoted in Labour literature).

Those of us who’ve been to Ealing Southall can attest to the number of people who’ve stopped us in the streets and said they’re backing Nigel Bakhai as the challenger to Labour.
dizzy Says:
9th July 2007 at 4:30 pm
“I do happen to have a 2:1 degree in law - do you?”

*snigger* argumentum ad verecundiam
M Says:
9th July 2007 at 4:30 pm
“Those of us who’ve been to Ealing Southall can attest to the number of people who’ve stopped us in the streets and said they’re backing Nigel Bakhai as the challenger to Labour.”

Not quite the same as being hopeful of winning or coming second. I wish more Lib Dems actually did believe they had a chance, it might divert their campaigning away from other areas where they could do more damage.
Joe Taylor Says:
9th July 2007 at 4:32 pm
Actually, I can back up what Richard’s saying there - a whole table full of people in a local takeaway intercepted me and told me, unprompted, that they were voting Lib Dem - and I was only going to get my lunch!

I got a very, very good feeling about this election from being there on the ground - it’s a completely different experience reading about it here in the office.

Don’t let yourselves get befuddled by the Tory air war!
M Says:
9th July 2007 at 4:34 pm
“Don’t let yourselves get befuddled by the Tory air war!”

hear hear! Keep up the campaign in Ealing Southall
Mike Says:
9th July 2007 at 5:14 pm
Has anyone seen Nick Clegg, Chris Huhne or David Laws in Ealing Southall? Are they avoiding the campaign because they think we can’t win and they’ll be ‘untarnished’ by it?
Cheltenham Robin Says:
9th July 2007 at 5:17 pm
From what I saw in Ealing, the Tories have got little else apart from their air war.

Their loudspeaker cars that drive around all day are just annoying people and there is Scepticism about Tony Lit (the ten minute Tory) who is clearly in 3rd place.

The vibe on the streets is that there is good support for Nigel Bakhai but don’t take my word for it - get down there for a few days and help Nigel and the hardworking campaign team.
Paul Walter Says:
9th July 2007 at 5:57 pm
I would back up what Cheltenham Robin says. Tony Lit looks very beautiful on his photo posters and his Corsas have very loud loud speakers, but I canvassed 200 households in Southall yesterday and not one person told me they would be supporting Tony Lit. Instead I got a lot of people telling me they felt let down by Labour and would be supporting Nigel Bakhai. I also found much evidence of LibDem literature having been delivered but only the odd Tory leaflet lying in porches etc. I also did not see a single Tony Lit poster in a house or flat. The only posters I saw were “mega posters” on a few commercial premises which led several residents to remark that it is only the prosperous traders who are supporting the Conservatives.
M Says:
9th July 2007 at 6:00 pm
The good people of Southall like to tell people what they want to hear. Many tell each candidate they can depend on their support. I urge Lib Dems to keep campaigning hard though.
Hermione Says:
9th July 2007 at 6:08 pm
We in the Lib Dems are very good at telling each other what we want to hear also. I think we need to get serious. I agree we need to campaign hard, but we also need to acknowledge this one is going to be tough!
Laurence Boyce Says:
9th July 2007 at 6:44 pm
I also found much evidence of Lib Dem literature having been delivered but only the odd Tory leaflet lying in porches etc.

Is that because you were nicking them?
It's a three horse race Says:
9th July 2007 at 6:56 pm
Here are the facts.

The LibDems are in third place in Ealing, have chosen a long-time failed candidate, and are now seriously contesting that an en-masse defection of TEN councillors to the Tories is a good thing for the Yellow Birds!

It smacks of yet more tired two-horse race claptrap from a failed party.

Good luck in Ealing - it’s a comedy watching the yellow perils fail.
Stuart Says:
9th July 2007 at 6:58 pm
Why should the LibDems win in Ealing Southall?

Perhaps because our candidate lives in the constituency, and is active in the local community. The Tory is from elsewhere, despite daddy owning a radio station there.

Or maybe because we came second last time - with the Tories pushed into third place.
H-Lad Says:
9th July 2007 at 9:21 pm
I agree - LibDems tell each other what they want to hear. The is a lot of gushing posting here trying to cheer up the troops methinks. I may well go to help in Southall but will be honest about what I find. I am going there in business in a few days so will report on the poster war!
sam Says:
9th July 2007 at 9:42 pm
Chris Huhne has certainly been - there was a photo of him out delivering leaflets in the rain on Andy Mayer’s blog a few days ago.

I’d be surprised if Nick and David haven’t also been - most of the Lib Dem Mps have put in at least one appearance and some have been several times.
Lib Dem member Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:00 pm
H-Lad:- would you mind replying to one of the comments from myself or others querying whether you are the Liberal Democrat party member that you claim to be?

The evidence seems to be that you are a fake (sorry if that is a blunt word) as you have ignored these queries, you display no knowledge of what your local party is doing, you display no knowledge of communications with party members (at least the ones I receive) and you are always talking the party down.

If I put those all together that equals a Tory or Labour lying about who they are.

I am happy to be put right and to apologise, but are you willing to reply to any of these points?
Andrea Says:
9th July 2007 at 11:46 pm
“and are now seriously contesting that an en-masse defection of TEN councillors ”

weren’t they just 5? Are there been 5 further defections?
Daniel Bowen Says:
10th July 2007 at 12:13 am
40 - Rik Willis please post under your own name.
Angus Huck Says:
10th July 2007 at 12:45 am
Before the permanently smirking Hugh Grant impersonator posed so gloatingly with those 5 ex-Labour councillors today, he should surely have asked himself WHY Walworth Road had to intervene to prevent Gurcharan Singh becoming the candidate.

Sometimes defectors can be more trouble that they’re worth, especially when their motive for changing horses has more to do with personal spite or desperation than a genuine Pauline conversion.

Remember those 22 Labour councillors in Islington who defected to the SDP? A right shower they were. Anyone recall Jim Wellbeloved (”Mr James Muchdisliked”), Michael O’Halloran (sober sometimes), or the curmudgeonly John Grant? Did they do the Alliance an ounce of good? Er… nope. They just added to the impression tha the SDP was a lifeboat for failed, discredited hacks.

Just be thankful Singh and his cronies didn’t join the Lib Dems.

As for David Cameron, he is behaving like the shallow prep school brat we know he is.
timcrowley Says:
10th July 2007 at 7:50 am
Mr Huck
The tone of bitterness and desperation in your comment is clear for all to see.
As Corporal Jones used to say in Dads Army.
“They dont like it up em”
As i said in my previous posting those that live by the sword will die by it so you better get used to the Tories campaigning more aggressively against the Lib Dems.
The older grassroots might be disaffected but a lot of younger Conservatives who became disillusioned with the party in the 1990s are now returning and they are hungry for the fight.
I am not saying they will win Ealing Southall but it is a portent of things to come.
Anonymous Says:
10th July 2007 at 9:17 am
‘Has anyone seen Nick Clegg, Chris Huhne or David Laws in Ealing Southall? Are they avoiding the campaign because they think we can’t win and they’ll be ‘untarnished’ by it?’

Yes, Laws was there yesterday.
Grammar police Says:
10th July 2007 at 9:26 am
“The older grassroots might be disaffected but a lot of younger Conservatives who became disillusioned with the party in the 1990s are [spending their time pretending to be Lib Dems whilst posting on Lib Dem voice and yet calling for the deletion of any post that doesn't follow the party line on Conservativehome]”

Well, at least they’re not out campaigning.
Angus Huck Says:
10th July 2007 at 10:16 am
“The tone of bitterness and desperation in your comment is clear for all to see.”

No bitterness, no desperation, Mr Crowley.

Just mild amusement at the trouble the clown, Cameron, is letting himself in for (if grammar schools were not sufficient, that is).

The US military industrial complex, who dispatched Frank Luntz to get Cameron the leadership must be wondering why they bothered.

Cameron has the worst discriminatory judgment of any Tory leader in history. Even Ted Heath, when MI5 told him to stop having sex in public lavatories, had the sense to listen.

No, Mr Crowley, Lib Dems are well used to aggressive Tory campaigning. Even in Sutton, where Lib Dems have consistently wiped the floor with you for over a decade.

(Oh, and those 22 Islington councillors. All but one lost his seat at the subsequent election. Maybe that’s the portent of things to come, young Mr Crowley.)
timcrowley Says:
10th July 2007 at 10:39 am
Mr Huck

I may well lose my seat at the next election but the voters will decide that and we live in different times to the Islington debacle.
When the voters of Sutton see how the Ruling Lib Dem cllrs are voting through retrospective allowance payments we will see how the electorate react.
David Cameron hasnt made them do that.
The emperors new clothes have even begun to fall off in Sutton with the announcement in the annual report that the council is in the bottom qtr of value for money in waste management even though this is meant to be the councils flagship policy.
Mr Huck i feel flattered that you called me young.I might now have to use that in my literature.
Hope to meet you one day.

Regards

The young Crow
Angus Huck Says:
10th July 2007 at 10:53 am
Don’t think I’ll ever have the pleasure of your acquaintance, Mr Crowley. We mix in rather different circles.
Paul Scully Says:
11th July 2007 at 6:57 am
53. Angus Huck

You may wish to widen your circle so that you can get little more rounded view of the world.
Sean Ludlow-Harris Says:
11th July 2007 at 8:48 am
I’m terribly sorry, and certainly don’t wish to be partisan but Mr. Huck certainly does appear to be rather sore on this point.

Imagine, but for a moment, that the mass of defecting councillors went from Labour to the Lib Dems rather than the Conservatives. The Lib Dems would be hailing this as a shining example of the appealling success of their party.
We now know that nothing could be further from the truth. The stultifying effect of Sir Menzies’ leadership is causing considerable internal anxiety in the Lib Dems which is far more akin to the ungovernable Tories of old.

It seems to me that the Liberal Democrats are becoming the New Nasty Party. And it’s obvious given the last election in Sutton and the considerable gains made by the Conservatives that the allure of voting Lib Dem is now waning.

Sorry, Mr. Huck, but that’s how it looks to me.
proudandloud Says:
13th July 2007 at 11:13 am
‘Has anyone seen Nick Clegg, Chris Huhne or David Laws in Ealing Southall? Are they avoiding the campaign because they think we can’t win and they’ll be ‘untarnished’ by it?’

Yes, I have seen all of them there.

Five Labour councillors switch to the Tories in Ealing

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