Thursday 18 December 2008

Barnet Council censures Councillor

This week on of our best know Councillors has been in the news. He's made openly sexist comments in the media and given advice about fire safety which contradicts the policy of the fire authority of which he is chairman. He has admitted this was done purely for political advantage, as the comments were aimed at a respected female MP from another party.

I got a phonecall from one of my many Barnet moles who said "Did you hear about the Council censuring one of our best councillors at the council meeting (on Tuesday)". Having been up at my sons school, providing a sound system for the Christmas concert, I hadn't. I replied "It's about time the Tories had the guts to put Brian Coleman in his place. He has had that coming for ages, since his comments about the Olympic team having blood on their hands"

"No Rog, you've got it all wrong, they censured Jeremy Davies". I was dumbstruck. I know Jeremy quite well and he's a great councillor. He is diligent, hard working and well respected in Mill Hill. My mole continued "When he asked for the right to defend himself, the Mayor wouldn't let him".

Now I don't know the ins and outs of what happened, but I know this. Many local Tories vote for Lib Dem Jeremy at Council elections, as they trust him. He's been at the forefront of all sorts of local campaigns. Like his Mill Hill Tory counterpart, John Hart, he's Mill Hill through and through. I respect and like both men.

This is an act of political bullying by the ruling Tory group. They may have had some fun at the council meeting, but in denying Jeremy Davies the right of reply they have diminished themselves. The British hate bullies. This will backfire on them. Deputy Leader Matthew Offord is standing in Hendon. If he's prepared to stand for this and condone it, then he too is diminished. I'm not a Lib Dem, but I believe fair play and the right to defend yourself.

The Barnet Tories under Mike Freer have become playground bullies. They are rapidly gaining a reputation for being deeply unpleasant. They clearly found the whole thing a real hoot. My advice to all of you. If you like bullies and you believe that good honest, hard working councillors should be slurred without the right to reply, vote for Mike Freer. If you find this sort of thing disgraceful, tell Mr Freer you will vote for someone else. Tell all your friends what he's making the Barnet Tories become. 99.99% of the Conservatives I know are honest, decent people. Only they can deal with the .01% that have taken over the Barnet party. Do rank and file Tories really condone this disgraceful behaviour (arrogance, sexism, bullying)? Not from what they tell me. Wake up and smell the coffee.

15 comments:

Amanda said...

What a load of crap actually what happened was he started spouting random crap on an item which wasn't listed as a debate and the Mayor asked him to sit down, but instead he was rude!

Rog T said...

"AMANDA"

I wasn't there, but Cllr MacDonald and Cllr Palmer have detailed these events on there blogs. Cllr Jack Cohen has also detailed this in his blog on the Edgware Times.

I would love it if you got in touch with me directly and gave me a full account. I will happily print a retraction if your claim can be proven. You are calling three Barnet councillors liars. I would suggest that this is a serious claim and you lodge a formal complaint.

Rog T said...

Dear "Amanda",

You know, I have a little theory. I think the penny has dropped and you realise that I'm right. You realise that people hate bullies, so you are now reverting to type and telling porkies to try and get away with it.

If your disgraceful comment has an ounce of truth you would have lodged an offical complaint against the three Lib Dem's for bringing the council into disrepute (section 5 of the code of conduct).

Time to put up or shut up

Anonymous said...

RogT,

"99.99% of the Conservatives I know are honest, decent people. Only they can deal with the .01% that have taken over the Barnet party. Do rank and file Tories really condone this disgraceful behaviour (arrogance, sexism, bullying)? Not from what they tell me. Wake up and smell the coffee."

You make the fatal mistake.

The so-called "Conservative Group" have no connection to the Conservative Party locally or nationally.

There is nothing the three local associations or the Party Board nationally could about the Group even if they wanted to. The Group is a law unto itself. Not that the Group of Councillors do anything anyway nor do local party members know the half of what is going on.

Worse still that unlike in the selection of the member of parliament, where members of the party have a say, the members of the local party are shut out from the selection of Councillors. Apparently, in Chipping Barnet Association the Councillors even vote for and change the rules affecting their own (re)selection. When I first ran every Conservative Party member in my Ward came to a general meeting and voted. Now the selection is now done in private and by as few as 3 people! Councillors are also mainly the Chairmen of the Branches that will make the selection decision.

These lot are the biggest bullies I've seen in politics. And they've been at it for several years.

P.S. It's now crystal clear that 'Amanda' is a Councillor. I hope she's not using her Council computer as that would be too funny if it came to be searched....

Rog T said...

Dan,

You clearly know far more about the shenanigans than I do. All I can say is that it reminds me of Militant Tendency and their tactics. We all know how much good that did Labour in Liverpool. We all know how the public like bully boys.

Anonymous said...

That's really unfair on Militant. They did actually believe in something however repulsive! They were quite open and honest about breaking all the rules too.

Brian Coleman aka Mr Toad has GOT to go said...

Quite right Rog. Happily there is plenty of censure of Brian 'Mr Toad' Coleman going on elsewhere. Not least at:
__________________
Brian Coleman (aka Mr Toad) has GOT to go!:

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24061317432

MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/mr_toad_has_got_to_go
__________________
Incidentally Rog, I reckon the latest song on the MySpace page might be up your street.

:-)

Anonymous said...

My dear Mr Toad.. how about some wider engagement in the issues... is getting a bit repetitive, it's almost like your using the comments to boost your google page rank (heaven forfend)!

Brian Coleman aka Mr Toad has GOT to go said...

I take your point Mr Hope though I fear the Google page ranking is beyond redemption and is not, therefore a motivation.

Wider engagement in the issues is all very well, but what is the point when the borough is run by a clique of self-serving, unrepresentatives - their style epitomised by Coleman - who don't give a toss what you, I, Rog T or anyone else might say, think, or do?

When we have some representatives that have an interest in the issues themselves, and in the people that their decisions on those issues affect, I will prioritise engaging in those issues. Until then, I will prioritise trying to get rid of the incumbent, couldn't-care-less, King-of-bilge: Mr Toad.

Brian Coleman aka Mr Toad has GOT to go said...

Well ok - its a *bit* of a motivation but only in a very small way.

Honest.

Julie said...

The group didn't censure, Barnet council didn't censure, the mayor censured in accordance with the council's constitution.

Cllr Davies knows full well the item couldn't be debated as there wasn't enough time and the mayor simply enforced the time.

It's a harsh world isn't it....poor Cllr Davies, and he thought politics would be so nice!

Rog T likes to use wide language to paint his pictures.

Rog T said...

"Julie",

You clearly are a Friend of Freer and you clearly think bullying and intimidation is fine.

Nuff said !!!!

Sad really

Julie said...

Dan Hope was happy to go along with things when it benefited him and now they don't everything is wrong and unfair!! Hehe! You have to laugh!

Poor old Dan, it's been a couple of years now and he's still not over it! Now he's reduced to trying to take revenge via comments on blogs that only 0.01% of Barnet's population actually read! Bless him. Hopefully he will stand as an independent or something and get back on the council to make up for his £13k pa pay cut. He will be a lone voice for fairer and nicer politics - just as he was so vocally when in office.

Where there's bitterness, there's Hope!

Rog T said...

"Julie",
Maybe only 0.01% of Barnet read these blogs, but you'd be surprised at which 0.01% of the population that is. Don't suppose you'd bother to have left 8 posts tonight if I was totally off the scent?

As to Dan, we learn through experience. Seems to me he's learnt quite a lot through his experience with the Barnet Tories.

Julie said...

I'm only leaving posts so that that 0.1% have a more balance read! Plus it's a pasttime of mine to argue with socialists and alienated tories - not many of those in barnet so I have to go online for my fun!!!