Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell-Murray (Wembley Central ward) has joined the Conservative Party followed her resignation from Labour.
In a letter to Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, she said:
I am writing to you to tender my resignation from the Labour Party with immediate effect.
I have been concerned at times with the policies of the party nationally and I have been very unhappy with the direction the Brent CLPs have taken. I am particularly concerned with the way Momentum has been influencing and in some cases taking over the party.
Yours sincerely
Wilhelmina Mitchell-Murray
The Conservative Group on Brent Council confirmed that Cllr Mitchell-Murray had joined them and said:
Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray has resigned from the Labour Party citing her dissatisfaction with the direction that the party has taken.
It would appear that the Labour Momentum have an unhealthy influence in the selection of local candidates and many sitting Councillors and activists are unhappy with the situation.
Wilhelmina has joined the Conservative Group. Cllr’s Suresh Kansagra and Michael Maurice have warmly welcomed her saying that she will make an excellent Conservative Councillor and look forward to working with her.
Cllr Mitchell-Murray, asked to comment on her resignation by Wembley Matters, appeared to suggest she would be standing for the Conservatives in the May 5th Council Election. Asked to confirm that she was joining the Tories, she said:
Yes. I have joined the Conservative Party. Others must come to their own conclusions but, I came into politics to serve not to be self serving. I hope to continue to serve the residents of Wembley Central Ward. I hope everyone understand that at age 8 I skipped, to the polling station holding my daddy's hands to vote for the Labour Party. It's up to the residents of Wembley Central Ward to decide if my days in public service are numbered.
I have many friends in the Labour Party and we will remain friends regardless.
I have no further comment to make.
Brent Council leader, Muhammed Butt, told the Kiburn Times on Tuesday:
Wilhelmina’s friends in Brent Labour will be deeply disappointed to hear of her decision. While we respect her choice to leave, we must amicably disagree with her chosen means.
If the answer for Brent is Boris Johnson, then you are asking the wrong question.
Brent Labour is a broad church of beliefs, mirroring the range of thought and experience in our borough.
Notwithstanding, in the aftermath of the elections, I will be requesting to our coordinating bodies that a full review of our diversity monitoring procedures is undertaken.
The resignation appears to be fall out from the current selections for Labour candidates in the forthcoming local Council elections. With the number of seats reduced there has been more competition so in the game of political musical chairs several seats have been whipped away from sitting members.
I understand that Cllr Mitchell-Murray's son who is also a councillor is not standing in the May elections. As it is we now have a Conservative councillor and a Labur councillor from the same family:
The reference to Brent Momentum is particularly puzzling as they have been rather quiet recently and I have seen no evidence of organised slates. What may be the case is that rank and file members are exerting their democratic rights more forcefully and scrutinising candidates’ political credentials more thoroughly than hitherto. This may be upsetting to the more managerialist of the current leadership, including Muhammed Butt, and Momentum becomes an easy scapegoat for him to use. He may sense that in the current process some of his support is slipping away, although one of his greatest admirers, Cllr Krupa Sheth has now joined him in the two member Tokyngton ward.
Muhammed Butt is himself a member of Brent Momentum, or perhaps was, and he as well as some of his loyal supporters have attended their meetings.
Cllr Margaret McLennan, currently Deputy Leader, is not standing again so the post will have to be filled by a loyal female lieutenant. I wonder who that could be?
Who else will be ejected in Butt's candidate purge of the no longer useful supporters? What will he do about those that have the ambitions of taking over the Leadership? Such as Tatler, Nerva, Southwood, Stephens and Knight. In the case of Tatler, will he try to block her selection this week? A difficult time awaits Butt, especially with the power vacumn created by the dissappearance of McLennan, not a great loss for the people of Brent though.
ReplyDeleteI presume this is ironic. McLennan leaving doesn't create a vacuum. McLennan IS a vacuum.
DeleteReally interesting the Momentum reference by Wilhelmina. Mo Butt and some of his supporters joined Momentum and attended at least one meeting that I was at in H&K!!!!
ReplyDeleteShe has done very little for Wembley Central as Councillor so the Tories are welcome to her. Wonder if all her supporters who have kept her in the seat for years will follow suit? I wonder her son who is a Cllr in Harlesden will swap sides too?
ReplyDeleteMembers of the 3rd constituency labour Party in brent, Hampstead & Kilburn, will be surprised to learn that officers such as Steve Crabb and Mike Katz are Momentum supporters.
ReplyDeleteThe news coming through on Labour selection of candidates for the May local elections does look like musical chairs, with some important potential losers.
ReplyDeleteIf Krupa Sheth is moving from Wembley Central to stand in Tokyngton Ward, what happens to sitting councillors there, Orleen Hylton and Ketan Sheth? Do they get the nominations for the new Wembley Park Ward?
And if Mary Miller has been selected for Welsh Harp Ward, alongside two existing male councillors there, where does Roxanne Mashari go? Or is she standing down, or being pushed aside?
If Labour does not select the existing Chairs of both Scrutiny Committees, it would underline the feeling that Muhammed Butt does not like his actions being scrutinised.
Anon 14.26 - I understand Joshua is standing down for the May 5th election.
ReplyDeleteJoshua cannot stand to be selected as he didn't put his papers in before the deadline. Sounds just like him doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteImagine being more outraged at Brent Momentum than the damage Tory governments have done to this country. Ridiculous decision from a politician with little credibility.
ReplyDeleteJoshua didn't get his papers in on time. It is only what could be expected of the absent Councillor.
ReplyDeleteSorry but he's an absolute joke. I'll never forget a big speech he made promising to solve youth crime in Harlesden. Lazy and egotistical
DeleteForget the Momentum nonsense.
ReplyDeleteWilhelmina's "I came into politics to serve not to be self serving" says all you need to know about Butt's Brent Labour!!!
Well, judging by the nine (obviously) cynical remarks left by 'Anonymous' It's reasonable to say that little sleep was lost after hearing about the resignation of the former Labour Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell-Murray.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the appeal of Brent Conservatives in the eyes of Wilhelmina Mitchell-Murray.
ReplyDeleteShe said: ''I have been concerned at times with the policies of the party nationally, and I have been very unhappy with the direction the Brent CLPs have taken. I am particularly concerned with the way Momentum has been influencing and in some cases taking over the party.”
Is it feasible to assume that she doesn't know, or care about the effect that the rule of Boris Johnson is having on us, since “Brexit was done?”
I understand her discontentment and dissatisfaction with Labour and its counterpart: Momentum.
After-all, they lost the confidence of the so-called "red wall" seats
and thereby handed victory to The Conservatives.
However, unless, I've been living in a parallel universe since 2019,
the country is on a downward spiral and that's mainly down to Boris Johnson and the Tories.
So, what's the appeal, other than, hoping that Boris Johnson will use
the war in Ukraine to his advantage and prove to be a political superman in the eyes of the world, by saving us from the inevitable hardships coming our way?
Local councillors should not be tied to political parties - they are elected to help local residents not to base their decisions on political party views or what their leader tells them.
ReplyDeleteOur borough is being ruined by political arguments - when will these councillors listen to residents?
An interesting comment, Anonymous (24 February at 15:31).
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason why people who are not representing political parties shouldn't stand to be local councillors. The main reasons against it, though, is that independent candidates don't usually get elected (partly because they do not have a recognised party name beside them on the voting paper, and partly because they don't have the party "machine" or funding to help with their campaign).
Any individual independent candidate who did manage to get elected would also not get a seat on any Brent Council committees, as you have to be part of a "Group" to qualify.
However, if you look back in local history, there have been groups of councillors from non-political organisations, such as residents' associations or a Ratepayers' Association.
As recently as 2014, the Keep Willesden Green non-political organisation put up a candidate in Willesden Green Ward, who (I seem to remember) got more votes than at least some of the Conservative and Lib Dem candidates, but not as many as Labour.
I know that residents' groups in many parts of Brent are fed up with the way the views of people in their areas are ignored by what seems like the near-dictatorship which Brent Labour, with its huge majority, appears tto have become.
There is still time for the various residents' groups to organise, and put up candidates for the Ward where their members live. Good consultation as to who those candidates should be, good organisation and good use of local social media could get at least some of those residents' association candidates elected, to stand up for the interests of their area.
If more than one residents' candidate is elected, they would be a "Group", and if residents' candidates were elected from more than one area, they could agree to be part of a larger "Residents Group", in order to obtain more committee seats to be shared between them.
Worth thinking about?
But don't spend too long thinking, because you would need to get organised very soon, ready for the May elections, if you agree it is a good idea.
Butt says "If the answer for Brent is Boris Johnson, then you are asking the wrong question."
ReplyDeleteBut is Butt the answer for Brent???
Anonymous said... 24 February 2022 at 11:08
ReplyDeleteNever
When she was 8 Labour was a working class party. Now it is run by the posh and privileged and since brexit the Conservatives became the party of the working class. So it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteYep, Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg:working class heroes.
Delete