Back in 1995/6 when Alan Williams was running Barnet Council in a Lab/Lib coalition (remind yourself bretheren, not all coalitions are with the devil) I happened to chance upon him backstage at a rally to save Edgware General Hospital in Montrose Park. I had organised the music/Pa/Marquee/refreshments for the event. Now at the time I wasn't a blogger (bloggers hadn't been invented). I was just an ordinary Labour Party member who wanted the best for the London Borough of Barnet.
At the time Mr Williams was an all powerful presence at the top of Barnet Council. Unlike the current Tories, he was a decent administrator. It is fair to say I didn't see eye to eye with him on several issues. One issue I had grave misgivings about was the fact that he seemed intent on shutting down all dissent, centralising all decision making and introducing a system of control freakery at the top. I pulled him on this. I pointed out that one day the Tories would get in and then it would be payback time. All the control freakery, all the exclusion, all the anti democratic conniving would then be in their hands and I predicted to Williams that it would destroy Barnet. He dismissed me with the following statement "You know nothing about Barnet Politics, the Tories are finished".
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Cut to 2011. At the Council meeting on Tuesday, someone paid me a very kind and very undeserved compliment. They said "If it wasn't for you, this Borough would be completely F****d". Now this isn't true. There are many people who do far more than me. It's just this blog has been around a bit longer than most, been a bit noisier than most and I've been shouting loudest longest. What my kind admirer meant though was that as a result of blogs, protests and community action there is a feeling that we will very soon turn the corner. I honestly believe that the tide has changed in Barnet. There is one very uncomfortable fact that everyone on the centre & left who want to see a change in Barnet has to face up to. The last non Tory administration was a Lab / Lib coalition. If we are to stop this madness in Barnet, we need to start the campaign now to oust the Barnet Tory Junta. When they first got in, they had a majority of one, so realistically that means three wards have to flip. I believe that by 2014, the Coalition Government will be hated. I believe it is realistic to expect that a proper campaign in Barnet will oust the Tories. The question is what sort of administration will replace them? Due to what has happened nationally, despite the local record of the Lib Dems, there is a huge mountain of trust to climb with the Labour voters who have always lent their votes in Mill Hill & High Barnet. Is there any prospect of these wards flipping to the Lib Dems. I don't believe that this will be possible unless Tory voters wake up to the local problem and vote Lib Dem in protest. Such a campaign "The sane voice of the coalition" is fraught with political risks. If the Lib Dems are serious about remaining a political party in Barnet, they'd better do something soon. What about the Residents Party? I would dearly love to see them have a presence. I believe they are a big part of the solution and need to get campaigning now in Tory wards.
The biggest question is Labour. Any replacement administration will presumably be Labour lead. For this to happen, the Labour Party needs to get out on the streets campaigning, building alliances and doing the donkey work they did in 1992 to win the Council. Wards such as Hale would be winnable if there is a big enough anti Tory backlash. What we need is a new generation of activists on the street. The students loan issue has energised young people. This needs to be focussed into campaigning.
And what if the Tories were replaced. When the Tories took over and Williams departed, they were chuffed to find that he'd concentrated the instruments of power in the hands of such a small number of people. The likes of Brian Coleman soon realised the potential to destroy the old structures of Barnet, build a new Future Shape and destroy the old enemies of Labour and the Trades Unions.
Sadly, they have probably exceeded their wildest dreams of 1992 in their scheming. I guess the only thing which they didn't foresee and can't control is the blogosphere. As I sat filming the Council on Tuesday, in defiance of orders from on high, I felt good to be making a visible protest (which was lawful and peaceful).
We have all paid the price of the terrible comeuppance which Alan Williams bequeathed to us. His biggest gift to Barnet Council was the Cabinet System. It has been a disaster and a joke. The Tories love it. They will never get rid of it because it suits their distorted view of how power should be used. Would Labour dispense with it, if they ever came back? I hope so, but do I believe so? only if they wake up to the damage it's done. Barnet isn't a national laughing stock because of Brian Coleman, Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper. It is a laughing stock because Alan Williams set up a structure that allowed them to run the council and be answerable to no one. What we need is a clear acknowledgment from the Barnet Labour Party that they understand this and if they get to power they will undo the stupidity of implementing it in the first place
At the time Mr Williams was an all powerful presence at the top of Barnet Council. Unlike the current Tories, he was a decent administrator. It is fair to say I didn't see eye to eye with him on several issues. One issue I had grave misgivings about was the fact that he seemed intent on shutting down all dissent, centralising all decision making and introducing a system of control freakery at the top. I pulled him on this. I pointed out that one day the Tories would get in and then it would be payback time. All the control freakery, all the exclusion, all the anti democratic conniving would then be in their hands and I predicted to Williams that it would destroy Barnet. He dismissed me with the following statement "You know nothing about Barnet Politics, the Tories are finished".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cut to 2011. At the Council meeting on Tuesday, someone paid me a very kind and very undeserved compliment. They said "If it wasn't for you, this Borough would be completely F****d". Now this isn't true. There are many people who do far more than me. It's just this blog has been around a bit longer than most, been a bit noisier than most and I've been shouting loudest longest. What my kind admirer meant though was that as a result of blogs, protests and community action there is a feeling that we will very soon turn the corner. I honestly believe that the tide has changed in Barnet. There is one very uncomfortable fact that everyone on the centre & left who want to see a change in Barnet has to face up to. The last non Tory administration was a Lab / Lib coalition. If we are to stop this madness in Barnet, we need to start the campaign now to oust the Barnet Tory Junta. When they first got in, they had a majority of one, so realistically that means three wards have to flip. I believe that by 2014, the Coalition Government will be hated. I believe it is realistic to expect that a proper campaign in Barnet will oust the Tories. The question is what sort of administration will replace them? Due to what has happened nationally, despite the local record of the Lib Dems, there is a huge mountain of trust to climb with the Labour voters who have always lent their votes in Mill Hill & High Barnet. Is there any prospect of these wards flipping to the Lib Dems. I don't believe that this will be possible unless Tory voters wake up to the local problem and vote Lib Dem in protest. Such a campaign "The sane voice of the coalition" is fraught with political risks. If the Lib Dems are serious about remaining a political party in Barnet, they'd better do something soon. What about the Residents Party? I would dearly love to see them have a presence. I believe they are a big part of the solution and need to get campaigning now in Tory wards.
The biggest question is Labour. Any replacement administration will presumably be Labour lead. For this to happen, the Labour Party needs to get out on the streets campaigning, building alliances and doing the donkey work they did in 1992 to win the Council. Wards such as Hale would be winnable if there is a big enough anti Tory backlash. What we need is a new generation of activists on the street. The students loan issue has energised young people. This needs to be focussed into campaigning.
And what if the Tories were replaced. When the Tories took over and Williams departed, they were chuffed to find that he'd concentrated the instruments of power in the hands of such a small number of people. The likes of Brian Coleman soon realised the potential to destroy the old structures of Barnet, build a new Future Shape and destroy the old enemies of Labour and the Trades Unions.
Sadly, they have probably exceeded their wildest dreams of 1992 in their scheming. I guess the only thing which they didn't foresee and can't control is the blogosphere. As I sat filming the Council on Tuesday, in defiance of orders from on high, I felt good to be making a visible protest (which was lawful and peaceful).
We have all paid the price of the terrible comeuppance which Alan Williams bequeathed to us. His biggest gift to Barnet Council was the Cabinet System. It has been a disaster and a joke. The Tories love it. They will never get rid of it because it suits their distorted view of how power should be used. Would Labour dispense with it, if they ever came back? I hope so, but do I believe so? only if they wake up to the damage it's done. Barnet isn't a national laughing stock because of Brian Coleman, Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper. It is a laughing stock because Alan Williams set up a structure that allowed them to run the council and be answerable to no one. What we need is a clear acknowledgment from the Barnet Labour Party that they understand this and if they get to power they will undo the stupidity of implementing it in the first place
2 comments:
A very interesting blog. I don't know whether it is as a result of Alan Williams changes or not, but I do know that the situation in Barnet means that the ordinary citizen needs protection from the mad house that is the current Tory council. Barnet as presently run is the best argument against the coalition's agenda for greater local powers. It's central government's job to protect us from the local dictators.
True, people have short memories.
As another point to remember is that it was this Labour/Lib-dem coalition in Barnet just over a decade ago, that started the privatisation of our public services, with the 'sourcing out' of elderly care homes to Fremantle. Yes, the same Fremantle which still runs these care homes, in which Legionella bacteria was found in the water systems just recently, exposing residents, visitors, and staff to serious health risks and reminding us what the price of privatisation is.
I was then a new resident in the borough and in the country and a care assistant employed by LBB, glad to be in a Labour run borough.
How shocked I was to realize it is this Labour council who acted against the union representing my colleagues in the elderly day centre and shamelessly went ahead with privatising elderly care services.
So now I wonder - if Labour/Lib-dem are our only hope to be saved from the Tories in Barnet, who will save us from the Labour???
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