Withdrawn Labour Kenton by-election leaflet contained racist slur

From Kilburn Times website

The Kilburn Times LINK is now covering the story about the row between Tories and Labour in the Kenton by-election which I alerted readers to yesterday LINK.

The leaflet purported to contain a copy of a survey filled in by Michael Maurice the Conservative candidate.

It is clear from the leaflet above that as well as the claim that the candidate himself would not be voting Conservative that the leaflet attributed racist views to the candidate including the claim that the Coalition's immigration failure was 'rapidly leading the United Kingdom towards inevitable Armageddon and ultimate destruction.'

An independent handwriting expert employed by Michael Maurice proved it was not the candidate's handwriting and he is reported to be taking up the matter with the police.

Cllr Reg Colwill, Maurice's election agent,  warned that in the event of a close result the Conservatives would call for a re-election.

Protest against Brent budget cuts Monday 6.30pm Brent Civic Centre

Brent Fightback will be demonstrating outside the Civic Centre on Monday at 6.30pm as councillors prepare to vote on a budget that will see the closure of the Stonebridge Adventure Playground, the beginning of the likely end of Energy Solutions, the closure of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre (unless Careys come up with the goods) and the shifting of the cost of school crossing patrols from the Council to individual schools (if the schools agree to spend their money on them).

Last weekend Brent Fightback presented an invoice to the Liberal Democrat and Conservative offices in Brent for the money taken from Brent Council since the Coalition took office.

Kenton Tories force Labour to withdraw 'nasty leaflet' 'full of lies'

I met Cllr Reg Colwill while out campaigning in the Kenton by-election earlier today. He claimed that Labour had been forced to apologise for, and withdraw, a leaflet that they had put out attacking the Conservative Candidate Michael Maurice. The Tories alleged the 'nasty' leaflet was 'full of lies' about their candidate.

According to Colwill, Labour are printing an apology that the Tories will distribute.

Since being recognised as the official opposition by Labour the Kenton Conservatives have been quiescent in contrast to their Brondesbury Park Conservative counterparts.

The spat may change this.

The other candidates in the Kenton By-election, where voting takes place on Thursday, are:

Michaela Lichten GREEN
Vincent Lo LABOUR
Bob Wharton LIBERAL DEMOCRAT

Brent Labour slams down the shutters over Council Tax debate

My grandad, brought up in the Victorian era, had a rich collection of' 'naughty' sayings and rhymes.   Apparently innocuous when said slowly, they were rude when spoken quickly. He delighted in encouraging his grandchildren to utter them at speed and would then gleefully accuse us of swearing.

One was 'I chased a bug around the room, I'll have his blood, he knows I will.'

Another, which came to mind today after I heard about last night's meeting of the Brent Labour Group, was:

'She shuts the shutters and sits in the shop.'

Well the shutters have come down on last night's meeting as the hunt for the leakers intensifies and I expect some councillors have been accused of s*itting in the shop!

The meeting was called at short notice to discuss the controversial issue of the possibility of a Council Tax increase before Monday's Full Meeting of the Council.

Cllr John Duffy had challenged the decision of Michael Pavey and Muhammed Butt to ignore the Group's vote in favour of a council tax increase  at the previous group meeting and wrote a letter of complaint to  the Constitutional Officer of the Labour Party at this affront to democracy.

Whether the short notice group meeting was a result of a ruling by the Labour Party authorities or the Cabinet trying to head off a public revolt is not clear.

There was clearly a possibility that there would be a split when it came to voting on the Council tax rise and even the potential for an amendment to raise the tax. Elsewhere on this blog I have listed some of the services that could be saved even with the comparative small sum of £1.4m over two years. This could include Energy Solutions, School Crossing Patrols,  Stonebridge Adventure Playground and the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre.

Anyway, with a little bit of what used to be called Kremlinology in the old days of the Soviet Empire (when I worked at Reuters, TASS the Soviet Union's news agency was in the same building so I am used to interpreting nudges and cryptic silences about totalitarian regimes) I guess that a formal vote on a Council Tax rise was taken and that it reversed the previous vote in favour of a rise.

I would conjecture that this was the result of pressure from the leadership and a bigger turnout from the 56 strong group than the 30 or so who had attended the previous meeting. I also assume that the leadership offered no crumbs in return.

I could be wrong and that really the meeting was about whether to support the Lib Dem amendment to reduce Council Tax for cat owners and aroma therapists,  or the Brondesbury Park Conservative's motion to reduce  Council Tax by 2.5% to be paid for by closing the Civic Centre's Melting Pot restaurant and replacing it with a Super Casino.

All will be revealed on Monday - or, more likely - all will be concealed on Monday.

You can watch the live streaming of the meeting on Monday from 7pm HERE