Dear Editor,
I am grateful – as so many Wembley residents must always be – to you for maintaining Wembley Matters as a forum for airing matters of public interest, and giving a platform for those unable to rebut accounts of events on matters of importance to them published in other media.
I have now, as of today, resigned from the Labour Party. This means that I am now no longer bound by the code of silence imposed on me by the Party for the last 18 months following a complaint lodged with the Party by a local resident. A silence with which I have scrupulously complied, notwithstanding the barrage of adverse publicity, which ensued when the Party suspended me just over a month after my installation as Deputy Mayor.
Some may be aware that the London Evening Standard reported the suspension on24th June – as stated in their article: “In a leaked internal party email seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), members of the group were informed that Councillor Fraser had been "administratively suspended" whilst a confidential investigation takes place.”) This “leak” was never investigated. The damage to my reputation was clear. I have also suffered national attention - a Daily Mail article dated 17 November 2025 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article- followed by a request from ITN for an interview in relation to this. I made no comment to any of those media enquiries.
I received no help from the Labour Party in a time of severe emotional distress and pressure, notwithstanding that others were apparently free to traduce me locally and in the media. For the avoidance of doubt, the events underlying the complaint dated back to summer 2022, and raised with the Party in January 2024. I heard nothing of it until the Party wrote to me in October 2024, raising 18 different questions giving a tight deadline to respond. I treated them to 14 pages of detailed response refuting the allegations (with 9 attachments of supporting evidence) on 6 November 2024. I then heard nothing until my suspension on 19 June 2025 - just over a month after I became Deputy Mayor, I was told that I would hear “in due course” about a hearing. “In due course” turned out to mean 8 months later.
I received a letter from the Party dated 18 February 2026, which finally informed me of a hearing, in which I was invited to engage. I read it with increasing incredulity, and – finally, I admit – fury. The allegations I completely refuted were essentially repeated; no new “evidence” is provided. They have added insult to injury by amplifying the accusations in the “charges “against me in one ill-written paragraph (defamatory in nature). (I do not know whether it has been shared.) I have responded to the Party’s 18 February letter, as I took the strongest issue with the way the charges were phrased and the seriousness and persistence thereby imputed. However, if the Party did not read them the first time, I had no faith it would read them now, even under a differently constituted Panel.
The whole process of the investigation of this complaint, first lodged in January 2024 has been flawed, has lacked transparency, and the disinterested observer might reach conclusions about the timing of its outcome and potential to maximise the damage to myself, and what I hope is my long-established standing in my community. I cannot omit making a point about the potential for continuing and ongoing harm to the complainant, who, self-describes as a ‘vulnerable person struggling with mental health problems’ who may continue to believe that the Labour Party will be offering support, when it is quite apparent that the Party has already cut them loose. In fact, I have, lost entire faith in the Labour Party although I have continued to serve the residents of Barnhill as an Independent Councillor.
In conclusion, to my response to the Party, I took the greatest satisfaction in saying that there would be no need for a Hearing as I was resigning from the Labour Party with immediate effect. I stand on the principle of natural justice, transparency and fairness. Sadly, based on my own bitter experience, for me the Party I was once proud to stand for no longer represents any of those qualities.
Kathleen Fraser
17.3.2026
Gutted for you kath saw it all happen, The “queen of chalk hill” became too popular and definitely too safe in her seat for some, you'll know who this is, i said its us original wembley should stick together and was over the moon when you got deputy mayor, only to be disgusted by the way you were treated, you allude to it but this suspension rubbish was put in to stop you going for selection and extended to make sure you couldn't go for selection in January, don't worry about leaving, brent west isn't the labour party we once knew and fought for its been perverted and dragged down so much its unrecognisable, your treatment was part of my leaving, but mainly how a party could be infiltrated to this degree and brought so low as it has is unforgivable, i heard the so called reason for it and just said “bollox” kath would never do that its rubbish and the amount of lies i heard over the past 12 months just learnt to shut it out, but i really don't care you were a great councillor and a good friend, hopefully you still are, i heard the “poison dwarf” organiser had more then a hand in it, but to me you of all people never deserved this, hope you keep well mate.
ReplyDeleteWell explained and well done. Unfortunately our one and only Towerblock has the power via her position on the the London NEC, and her job, plus friends in high places, and therefore, anyone she dislikes in the London Labour Party will be attacked and abused. Not forgetting that she wanted her pick for Mayor, and that was not our Kath. Others have been excluded and suspended under Towerblock's direction. The next obvious and popular choice to be Mayor was then bought off.
ReplyDeleteCant blame this one on tatler this was much closer to home
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