The London Evening Standard LINK today said that it had seen e-mails that showed a 'former Labour staffer' had been told to conceal Cllr Oladapo''s death because Cllr Butt did not want a by-election in Kilburn. The article quotes 'Labour insiders' as saying Butt did not want a by-election in case an 'unsupportive' candidate was elected affecting his chances in the leadership election.
Cllr Michael Pavey, who is contesting the leadership, has called for a full investigation into these 'very serious allegations'.
The Kilburn Times has published a story on the Standard story which includes comment by Muhammed Butt and Cllr John Duffy LINK
Cllr Michael Pavey, who is contesting the leadership, has called for a full investigation into these 'very serious allegations'.
The Kilburn Times has published a story on the Standard story which includes comment by Muhammed Butt and Cllr John Duffy LINK
22 comments:
Well Cllr Butt has form for this given what he tried to do with Councillor Zaffar Van Kalwala.
Can all the Labour Cllrs reading this just check in so we know you are okay.
I for one am getting sick of this now. It is obvious there is a nasty campaign against cllr Butt being played out just before the AGM and it shows how dirty and low the likes of Pavey are.
Why is Pavey commenting, why would they not be asking the family or indeed any other Cllr? Because Pavey is behind this story.
Say what you like about Butt, this campaign is low and nasty. It actually makes me like him more.
Pavey can't attack Butt on the budget because it was Pavey's budget. He can't attack him on a range of political decisions because Pavey was in agreement.
This latest attack is nasty and I think people should read Pavey's obituary dated 19th April
"The last month has been difficult. One of my best friends in the whole world, Cllr Tayo Oladapo, passed away following a long and courageous battle against serious illness".
If his best friend in whole world didn't know, then how could Butt have known? In fact, the investigation should check if Pavey did know and kept it quiet until he got his ducks in a row.
Unless he was never his best friend and he just wrote this to make himself look good.
Pavey = dirty and nasty. I never thought I would say this, but I am - I back Butt tomorrow.
If this allegation proves to be true I feel very saddened for some of Tayo's former colleagues, some now retired as councillors, and their feelings over this....See earlier guest blog by Helga Gladbaum and her tribute.
Classy, eh?
Never mind, Mr Butt, there'll always be a place for a man of your calibre working with that nice Mr Hamilton in Welsh Ukip.
(Or Reykjavik Plaid Cymru, or Bratislava SNP, or the Wensleydale Shining Path or even Hezbollah Frinton-on-Sea).
One door closes, another opens .......
Political dirty tricks by his opponents? Or the truth about Cllr. Butt and his manipulation of Brent for his own ends coming out at last?
Perhaps we will never get the whole truth, but I know which I consider to be the most likely!
Philip.
I was told part of this story on the 16th March. To wit, that the family would not engage and that the police had been involved, and that Tayo had died in January.
It did not come from Pavey, with whom I've no contact whatsoever.
Tayo was a thoroughly decent courteous man who deserved better.
Not only is the above commenter sick of this. The poor council tax payers, especially those residents in Wembley are sick of the shenanigans that have been going on. It is sad to see what levels so called responsible adults will descend to in pursuit of power and pursuance of their egos at the expense of those that elected them to represent the "common man". They should be ashamed of themselves!!! With the latest release I hope the above commenter at least will have the decency to withdraw the above allegations and eat humble pie.
We now have the full text of the email, from a Labour Party worker attached to Brent for the May 5th London Election campaign, in a separate blog above. This is a key sentence from it:
'I find it extremely inappropriate that Cllr Butt involved myself - a junior member of staff - in investigating Cllr Oladapo’s death and deeply concerning that he appears to have misled both Brent Council and Labour Party staff regarding his knowledge of this sad occurrence.'
When I made genuine allegations of multiple breaches of the Brent Members' Code of Conduct against Cllr. Butt last year, the Council's Monitoring Officer refused to even refer them to Standards Committee. I hope that she will now take urgent action on these allegations - Cllr. Muhammed Butt's actions in apparently misleading the Council and fellow councillors over the death of Cllr. Oladapo, if true, are breaches of the general conduct principles of honesty, integrity, openness and leadership.
Philip.
"why is Pavey commenting"
Pavey is commenting because unlike some heartless, selfish individuals he clearly wants justice for his friend and fellow colleague.
We all read his blog post and he wrote that out of respect, not to look good. The only snake around here is Butt, did he even show his condolences or was he too busy concocting ways to conceal the poor guys death for his own gain.
Disgusting.
I'm sure the investigation will look into All the Cllrs and Pavey will have nothing to worry about, the only snake lurking around Wembley is Butt!
Philip, the truth always comes out in the end!
Just like it is now.
Butts true colours are starting to show.
Sad.
If Butt is still in post at the start of the next football season I'll appear at the first full council meeting in September in Gary Lineker's underpants.
Mike Hine
Well, well, well, Butts controlling and manipulating ways are exposed once again....
" the councils monitoring officer refused to even refer them to the standards committe"
Why's that then? The person to afraid to speak out against Butt just like others????
Will there be room for both of you?
Lineker, possibly. Butt, certainly not.
Mike Hine
Truth revealed because we no longer want to cover up his shit. Voting for Mikey Pavey.
16:49 . It should also be noted that Brent consistently obfuscated over 2014 electoral practices, and subsequent issues including the use of polling stations which were not objective. As it were.
As the saying goes you live by the sword you die by the sword. Butt should have realised that if you play a dirty game to get to where you want to get to, it's only a matter of time before someone else does to the same to you. Karma. He deserves everything he gets
But that's the trouble with even STARTING to 'cover up his shit'. You're implicated and collusive, so about as trustable as him,
Dear Anonymous, 13 May at 16:49,
I don't know how much, if any, influence Cllr. Butt had over the Monitoring Officer's refusal to refer my complaint against him to Standards Committee. She claimed that the multiple alleged breaches of the Members' Code of Conduct by the Council Leader, which I had brought to her attention, were 'outside the scope of the Code.' If you have the time and interest, you can read my response to that claim at:
http://wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/standards-at-brent-council-open-letter.html .
The Monitoring Officer's own report to Standards Committee for 2015 discloses that she used the "outside the scope of the Code" reason not to consider 9 out of the 16 complaints of misconduct which she received against Brent Council members during that year. Other reasons were given for not referring any of the other 7 complaints to Standards Committee either, leaving the committee unable to consider whether any of the complaints should be investigated. None of the complaints received against councillors in 2014 were referred to Standards Committee either. This certainly gives the impression that Brent has a problem which is wider than just being afraid to speak out against Cllr. Butt!
Philip.
Could it be that Brent's "obfuscation" over 2014 electoral practices had something to do with the then Returning Officer for the borough, Christine Gilbert?
She was appointed to the supposedly temporary role as Brent's interim Chief Executive by Council Leader, Cllr. Muhammed Butt in September 2012, but he managed to keep her there for three years, so that she was Returning Officer for both the 2014 Brent Council elections and 2015 General Election.
Although she had previous Senior Officer experience at both Harrow and Tower Hamlets Councils, and as Chief Executive of Ofsted, she was also the wife of the disgraced former Labour MP, Tony McNulty (remember the MP's expenses scandal!?).
I have no evidence of any electoral irregularities by Ms Gilbert, but given some of the other matters which were covered up during her time at Brent, it does make you wonder!
Philip.
Philip, given how chummy she, Butt and Ledden all were, I think you're spot on. I still have all the email correspondence from the time, including that from residents. I met with Electoral Services after that election, and they made many promises. None were kept. I know I'm not the only one who was deeply worried and I also know I'm not the only one who objected to the use of the PPC as a polling station later on.
Gareth Daniel would have acted differently. Which is probably why he's no longer with Brent.
Alison,
I did refer to Gareth Daniel at the end of the Deputation that I was not allowed (by Fiona Alderman, Brent's Chief Legal Officer) to present to the Full Council meeting on 7 September 2015. What I would have said is:
'In a farewell message to the Council’s staff in September 2012, after he had ‘agreed with the political leadership to move on’, Gareth Daniel said:
‘I believe that personal integrity is the foundation for good governance, and without it everything else is lost.’
The ‘few months’ we were promised it would take to recruit a new Chief Executive has turned into three years, and the high standards he set have been allowed to slip. I would urge both councillors and Council Officers to make answering my two questions the first step in putting high standards of conduct at the heart of how our borough is run, under Carolyn Downs’ stewardship.'
The "two questions" referred to were about the alleged "pay off" made by the Council to Cara Davani, when she left her post as Brent's HR Director (to take a "career break", according to the Council) at the end of June 2015. All that was required were simple "yes" or "no" answers to two questions I had put publicly to Christine Gilbert on 9 July 2015. Those questions have never been answered!
When Cllr. Butt was elected Leader in May 2012, he promised that under him Brent Council would be open and transparent. As you say, you can't rely on promises being kept!
Philip.
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