How has your Brent Councillor done this year?

The end of the year is a good time to review our councillors' performance. The table below gives an overview of attendance at committees between July 8th and today. Some councillors have many more committees to attend than others and opposition councillors often complain that the present system gives them very little voice (and thus motivation to attend?) when decisions are rubber-stamped by the Labour only  Executive and committees with in-built Labour majorities.

The Green Party has policy on this:

The Green Party believes that local authorities run by single party cabinets, or by directly elected mayors, are not in the best interests of local democracy. They take decision making powers away from councils as a whole and place them in the hands of a few individuals, leading to the disenfranchisement of those councillors who are not in the ruling party and the citizens they represent. We would therefore reintroduce the committee system across local government at all levels, which provides for direct member involvement in decision making.

The Greens also have a policy of recall if 40% or more registered electors request it.

The columns below in order list: Name, Party, Number of Required Attendances, Actual Attendances, Percentage Attendance and Additional Attendances at meetings where their attendance is not required. The latter are often meetings where a councillor represents the interests of his/her ward to the committee. Barry Cheese has the best record on that count.

Councillor Abdi Aden	Lab	12	9	75%	2
Councillor Michael Adeyeye	Lab	2	2	100%	0
Councillor Emad Al-Ebadi	Lab	9	7	78%	1
Councillor James Allie	Lab	5	3	60%	0
Councillor Mary Arnold	Lab	12	12	100%	0
Councillor Javaid Ashraf	LD	6	5	83%	0
Councillor Joyce Bacchus	Lab	5	4	80%	0
Councillor Eddie Baker	Con	10	5	50%	0
Councillor Jack Beck	LD	3	2	67%	0
Councillor Lincoln Beswick MBE	Lab	2	1	50%	0
Councillor Daniel Brown	LD	15	8	53%	1
Councillor Muhammed Butt	Lab	14	13	93%	2
Councillor Barry Cheese	LD	6	6	100%	10
Councillor Bhagwanji Chohan	Lab	9	8	89%	8
Councillor Shafique Choudhary	Lab	9	8	89%	6
Councillor M Aslam Choudry	Lab	11	9	82%	2
David Clues	Ex LD	5	0	0%	0
Councillor Reg Colwill	Con	9	7	78%	0
Councillor George Crane	Lab	15	13	87%	0
Councillor Mark Cummins	LD	11	11	100%	1
Councillor Mary Daly	Lab	6	5	83%	3
Councillor James Denselow	Lab	16	11	69%	0
Councillor Helga Gladbaum	Lab	10	10	100%	1
Councillor Simon Green	LD	5	2	40%	0
Councillor Patricia Harrison	Lab	19	16	84%	2
Councillor Sami Hashmi	LD	12	11	92%	6
Councillor Claudia Hector	Lab	10	10	100%	1
Councillor Krupesh Hirani	Lab	15	11	73%	1
Councillor Alison Hopkins	LD	12	11	92%	0
Councillor Jean Hossain	Lab	12	11	92%	0
Councillor Ann Hunter	LD	10	8	73%	0
Councillor Ann John OBE	Lab	9	5	56%	0
Councillor Lesley Jones	Lab	11	9	82%	0
Councillor Sandra Kabir	Lab	10	8	80%	0
Councillor Suresh Kansagra	Con	6	5	83%	0
Councillor Dhiraj Kataria	LD*	16	13	81%	0
Councillor Chris Leaman	LD	5	3	60%	0
Councillor Janice Long	Lab	10	10	100%	0
Councillor Paul Lorber	LD	9	7	78%	6
Councillor Roxanne Mashari	Lab	17	12	71%	1
Councillor Hayley Matthews	LD	6	2	33%	0
Councillor Margaret McLennan	Lab	12	12	100%	0
Councillor Jim Moher	Lab	14	12	86%	1
Councillor Ruth Moher	Lab	21	20	95%	1
Councillor Colum Moloney	Lab	3	3	100%	0
Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray	Lab	9	6	67%	0
Councillor Kana Naheerathan	Lab	2	1	50%	0
Councillor Benjamin Ogunro	Lab	4	4	100%	0
Councillor Tayo Oladapo	Lab	3	3	100%	1
Councillor Bhiku Patel	Con	4	4	100%	0
Councillor Chandubhai J Patel	LD	12	3	25%	1
Councillor Harshadbhai Patel	Con	14	11	79%	4
Councillor Harihar Patel	Con	7	6	86%	0
Councillor Ramesh Patel	Lab	11	8	73%	1
Councillor Michael Pavey	Lab	17	15	88%	1
Councillor James Powney	Lab	12	9	75%	0
Councillor Carol Shaw	Con**	2	2	100%	1
Councillor Ketan Sheth	Lab	18	12	67%	0
Councillor Krupa Sheth	Lab	6	5	83%	0
Councillor Harbhajan Singh	Lab	9	7	78%	0
Councillor Gavin Sneddon	LD	3	1	33%	0
Councillor Bobby Thomas	Mayor	2	2	100%	0
Councillor Zaffar Van Kalwala	Lab	11	8	73%	1

* Defected from Labour to Liberal Democrat

** Defected from Liberal Democrats back to Conservative

Clearly committee attendance is only one measure and the amount of casework and how much of it is successful is important as well as the degree of visibility and engagement of each individual councillor with their residents.

Please note some of these non-attendances may include illness. Apologies for absence are included on the Council website - click on councillor's name.

Lib Dem's Chief Fundraiser selected for Brent Central

The official party  press releases on Ibrahim Taguri, the Liberal Democrat's chosen parliamentary candidate for Brent Central, have mentioned his background in charity fundraising. However he ended his role at Compton Fundraising Consultancy in 2009 and since then has been the Liberal Democrat's national Chief Fundraiser, raising nearly £2m in 2013. The press releases did not reveal this.

Taguri came to the attention of Channel 4's Michael Crick LINK when he found himself not so welcome a guest at the Liberal Democrat's 2011 Annual Corporate Day. 80 business people had paid £800 each to attend meetings, seminar and break-out sessions:

Among those they’ve been meeting are the junior business minister Ed Davey. And tonight 200 business people are due to attend the party’s business dinner where premium tables cost £5,000 for 10 people.

Among those I came across this afternoon were business people from tobacco companies. We get better access here than from the Department of Health, Stephen Stotesbury of Imperial Tobacco told me.

But party officials were clearly embarrassed and upset by our presence. They kept turning their backs on our camera, and eventually asked us to leave the corridor outside the hall.

One party official, Ibrahim Taguri, kept insisting it was just an opportunity to get its message across to business. We later discovered, though, that he’s the Lib Dems’ chief fundraiser.

 Taguri lived in Willesden Green and attended Latymer Upper School and Reading University. He is an avid Spurs fan and on Twitter follows the Lib Dem line of claiming that the Lib Dems have stopped Tory excesses on issues such as  young people's housing benefit, the  Human Rights Act and employment rights. He was strongly critical of the racist van campaign

After he selection he tweeted:

Delighted & humbled to be selected as Lib Dem Candidate for Brent Central where I grew up. A special place with great people Sarah Teather has been and continues to be a true champion for our community and I hope to carry on her great work.

Sarah Teather has said she will support his campaign which should make for some awkward moments on the doorstep.

Lib Dem's shortlist for Brent Central

As Labour votes for its Brent Central parliamentary candidate I understand that the Lib Dem shortlist for Sarah Teather's seat is:

Lauren Keith, a member of Mapesbury Lib Dems who works in Public Relations
Ibrahim Taguri who is the Lib Dem's chief fundraiser
Anuja Prashar, a lecturer in economics
Ajmal Masroor, a broadcaster and London based Imam

Sarah's secret: A Lib Dem reflection on Sarah Teather

I have published Labour and Green views on Sarah Teather's decision not to stand again. Here, in a guest blog, is the view from Alison Hopkins,  Liberal Democrat councillor for Dollis Hill

Sarah called me on Saturday to tell me personally of her decision not to stand again in 2014. I was and am very saddened, both on a personal and professional level. I’ve known her for many years, first coming into contact when, like thousands of other Brent residents, she helped me with a problem that no one else had managed to fix. I then got to know her better through her sterling and invaluable efforts to help the campaign against the Brent Cross plans, which meant chaos for Dollis Hill and the wider Brent area. I still remember how trenchant and forthright she was at public meetings with the developers and I realised then that this was a woman with a sense of purpose, fiercely intelligent and not afraid to say what she thought.

As a result of getting to know her better I decided to enter politics properly, having campaigned and worked locally for decades, as I could see that far more could be achieved within a more formal role. I campaigned for her in the 2010 general election and it was one of the most exhilarating, exhausting and rewarding things I’ve ever done – only bettered by being a councillor in Dollis Hill! Our team proved that despite the predictions of victory from Labour and figures suggesting otherwise, we could turn a notional loss into a pretty good win.  I’m absolutely sure that most of that was down to Sarah’s record of working her socks off for local people, knowing Brent in minute detail – I swear she has the electoral roll in her head – and to her brilliant local office.  Brent has had the luxury of a local MP, with help accessible five days a week to constituents: how many other constituencies get that level of commitment?

Her hidden secret is she's also a great pastry cook: the Brent Cross coalition were fed amazing cookies the first time we met her formally in the Commons and she’s notorious for feeding her helpers and staff.  Most people see her serious side, but I’ve been fortunate enough to see her sitting on my dining room floor giggling uncontrollably during my by election.

I’ve not always agreed with her decisions or the way she’s voted, but I’ve never had the least doubt that she hasn't thought long and hard about everything she’s ever done as an MP. I also know that any decision she makes comes from a strong sense of right and wrong, from conscience and from an ethical and moral framework that I wish more people generally had.  She gets angry with injustice, whatever its form, and she won’t pander to the popular or take the easy way out.

One of my neighbours sent me an email about her, and I think it says it all: “Really sorry she’s going. Worked hard and kept her nose clean.”  I’ve no idea what she’ll do next, but I’m absolutely certain that whatever it is, she’ll make a difference to people’s lives for the better, just as she has for the past decade in Brent.

Lorber has a laugh and claims only Lib Dems can beat Labour

Paul Lorber, leader of Brent Liberal Democrats yesterday denied my story that a potential bid for the leadership LINK failed to materialise when the challenger's backer withdrew support. Lorber said that he couldn't help laughing when he read my blog but went on:

There was of course no attempt to challenge my Leadership of the Lib Dem group – although as a democrat I would have no issue if there was.

Two individuals had originally put their names forward for the Deputy Leadership of the Lib Dem Group. One later changed his mind.

As you know it was the Liberal Democrats who won the Dollis Hill by-election despite all the predictions of an easy Labour victory. We also came a good second in the Wembley Central by election.

I think most people recognise that the only party which can beat Labour in Brent are the Liberal Democrats. Despite giving you a clear run in Barnhill Ward you failed to take advantage of this.

A Labour victory in 2014 is NOT a foregone conclusion and what they fear most is an effective challenge which only the Liberal Democrats can mount. What Labour hope for is fragmented opposition votes so they can win with just 40% of the vote.  

There are plenty of places where the Liberal Democrats are 2^nd to Labour where some sensible tactical voting will help to kick Labour out. Todays ‘brilliant’ performance from Milliband will make our task so much easier.

The reference to 'fragmented opposition votes' and 'sensible tactical voting' merits further analysis. What message is Lorber seeking to convey?

The Brent Green Party has not yet started their selection process for the 2014 Council Elections.  Labour Party insiders say that their selection process has produced a slightly different profile of candidates,  moving it closer to the current Camden or Islington model. Brent TUSC have said they intend to put up candidates on an anti-cuts platform and some independent candidates may emerge from the various campaigns that have been fought since Labour took office.

On the parliamentary candidate front Martha Osamore LINK has not responded to enquiries regarding her intentions regarding a bid for the Brent Central Labour nomination.

Lib Dem councillor speaks out on benefit cap 'disaster' for families

It is refreshing to hear that one of our Liberal Democrat councillors spoke from the heart recently, rather than from the party script, when asked about the impact of the housing and other benefit caps and benefit cuts.

In response to a question from a member of a visiting delegation of Swedish councillors and council official  last week, Cllr Barry Cheese (Lib Dem Brondesbury Park) said.

The benefit caps and cuts will be a disaster for families and in particular children who will be forced to leave their schools. This will cause anxiety to the child who will feel insecure and it will have  a serious impact on their learning ability.   The Government created the Pupil Premium to help these very children and now the children it was meant for won't be there.

Teather says why she will vote against the Government on welfare tomorrow

Sarah Teather, Lib Dem MP for Brent Central who was sacked by David Cameron from her government position, explained on the World at One today why she will rebel on the Welfare Benefit vote in the House of Commons tomorrow.

listen to ‘Sarah Teather explains on The World at One why she will rebel on government benefits vote’ on Audioboo