Carry On At The Council - Hugh Rayner must stay

There has been a concerted campaign against Hale Ward Councillor Hugh Rayner. The Labour Party has been vocierously calling for his resignation as both Mayor of Barnet and as a HAle ward Councillor. The Barnet Eye is disgusted with this partisan behaviour by the local Labour Party, which everyone knows has nothing at all to do with the behaviour of Hugh Rayner and everything to do with trying to force a by-election in the marginal Hale Ward where they stuffed up their campaign in May. There is no earthly reason why Hugh Rayner should stand down, when he exemplifies all of the qualities and talents of the local Conservative Party. None of the rest of them are going to stand down for behaviour far worse than Mr Rayner, so why should Labour pick on him?

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Brian Coleman when he committed numerous standards breaches, becoming the only Mayor to have a standards complaint upheld against him when in office.

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Brian Coleman when he was arrested and charged with assaulting Helen Michael outside her business in September 2012 (the National Party eventually stepped in to spare their blushes).

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Tom Davey for putting numerous obnoxious messages on facebook belittling the disabled and people on benefits.

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Brian Gordon for blacking up in a highly patronising attempt to impersonate Nelson Mandela.

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Mike Freer for gambling with Council funds in Icelandic banks, despite credit ageny warnings. They actually made him an MP as reward.

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Leader Richard Cornelius for signing a contract with Capita worth a billion pounds and not even reading it.

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Matthew Offord for mismanaging the Aerodrome Road Bridge project to such an extent that an  £12 million budget overspent by another £11 million.  He was also made an MP.

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out Rueben Thompstone for misleading the people of Barnet about the finances of Mapledown Special School in comments to the press, pretending they had huge reserves that could be spent on after school schemes.

The local Barnet Tories did not kick out John Hart for racially mimicing a local woman of Sri Lankan heritage whilst chairing the Hendon & District residents forum.

We could go on, but we think you get the idea. The Tories all voted to waive the need for Hugh Rayner to declare financial interests when voting on matters concerning housing issues at the Council, so they clearly all think his behaviour is absolutely fine.

So the Barnet Eye thinks that the Labour Party is totally wrong to pick on Hugh, when all he is doing is simply displaying the values to which all his colleagues subscribe. I want him to carry on as Mayor so that between now and the Election, he can remind us exactly what sort of a character you need to be a successful politician if you are a Barnet Tory. We say Carry On Hugh..... We need you to keep reminding us.