Cllr Shafique Choudhary, currently a councillor for Barnhill ward, has taken to the community site Next Door to correct what he says are being told about him on the doorstep, as Labour campaigns for the upcoming Council elections.
He says that it is not true that he has retired as claimed but in fact he was 'deselected' by the Labour Party. In the recent boundary revision Barnhill was allocated only two councillors having previously had three representatives. As Labour Party rules say that one must be a woman it meant that there was only one male position.
I understand that all positions were contested this year so Cllr Choudhary could not have expected automatic re-selection for the post he has held for two years. Furthermore, selections are made by rank and file members at a special ward selection meeting and not by the 'Labour Party'. It appears that he was 'not selected' rather than deselected.
His claim that 'Nepotism is one cause' is an interesting suggestion. Neither of the new Labour candidates, Robert Johnson and Kathleen Fraser, are related to senior Brent councillors as far as I know, although there were at one time unsubstantiated rumours that the other current male Barnhill councillor, Mansoor Akram, was related to Council Leader Muhammed Butt.
Robert Johnson is a former Brent officer who was involved in the redevelopment of the Chalkhill Estate and Kathleen Fraser is a former Labour councillor and Chair of Chalkhill Residents Assoication.
I live in Barnhill ward so Cllr Choudhary is one of my local councillors and he has been responsive on many issues I have raised. We worked together for some time in the cross-party and non-party Brent Cross Coalition that opposed the redevelopment on the borders of Brent Cross shopping centre. A search on this blog will give you the background.
Recently I have worked with Divest Brent on persuading Brent Council to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels. Cllr Choudhary is chair of the Pension Fund Committee as well as Kingsbury Brent Connects.
On Next Door Cllr Choudhary tells readers that the situation is not reversible and goes on:
I am using this media to say all of you thank you from bottom of my heart. Your community is an intelligent community prefer to live kind of of united Group. Also, you know well that you are the custodian of your area, you have a positive vision for both community enhancement and welfare of Barnhill. You have extraordinary strong and intelligent community representatives - nothing matching anywhere in Brent. I have with your kind help and generosity laid strong foundations for further future to build upon and carry on with the progress so far achieved. Please carry on with no hesitation.
