What has happened to Mill Hill's missing councillor?

 Back in 2022, three councillors were elected for Mill Hill ward. All three were elected as Conservative councillors. Between then and now, something rather strange has happened. If you check the Barnet Council website you will see this.

It appears that one of our councillors, Laithe Jajeh is now standing as an independent coucillor. He has not turned up to any of the meetings which he is required to attend, although he did make it along for a Planning committee. This is his attendence record.

Councillors are normally required to attend two full council meetings a year, or they are booted out. His councillor surgeries have been cancelled until further notice.

When I first noticed that Mr Jajeh, who I have always got on well with on a personal level, had left the Conservative group, I rang him. He told me he was busy and would call me back in the evening. He rescheduled three times and then I heard no more. One of his former Conservative colleagues, who I get on well with, informed me that he was asked to leave the group as he'd stopped attending meetings. 

All Barnet Councillors get paid an allowance. Here is what they get.

London Borough of Barnet

Members Allowances 2023/24

A statement of the total amount paid to each Member of the Council in respect of allowances in the financial year 2023/24 is set out below:

Name		Total Payment (Gross) 2023/24
Ernest	Ambe	£10,809.00
Richard	Barnes	£10,809.00
Zahra	Beg	£10,809.00
Andrea	Bilbow	£10,809.00
Rishikesh	Chakraborty	£10,809.00
Anne	Clarke	£23,793.00
Pauline	Coakley Webb	£25,978.00
Dean	Cohen	£10,809.00
Philip	Cohen	£17,990.00
Joshua	Conway	£10,809.00
Sara	Conway	£25,978.00
Geoffrey	Cooke	£10,809.00
Alison	Cornelius	£10,809.00
Richard	Cornelius	£10,809.00
Edith	David	£10,809.00
Valerie	Duschinsky	£10,809.00
Paul	Edwards	£25,978.00
Claire	Farrier	£19,567.00
Shuey	Gordon	£10,809.00
Eva	Greenspan	£10,809.00
Jennifer	Grocock	£10,809.00
Rohit	Grover	£10,809.00
Kamal Bahadur	Gurung	£10,809.00
Lachhya Bahadur	Gurung	£10,809.00
Marianne	Haylett	£10,809.00
Ross	Houston	£37,453.00
Anne	Hutton	£12,071.00
Giulia	Innocenti	£10,809.00
Andreas	Ioannidis	£10,809.00
Laithe	Jajeh	£10,809.00
Humayune	Khalick	£10,809.00
Paul	Lemon	£10,809.00
David	Longstaff	£10,809.00
Linda	Lusingu	£10,809.00
Nick	Mearing-Smith	£10,809.00
Katherine	McGuirk	£10,809.00
Michael	Mire	£10,809.00
Arjun	Mittra	£19,567.00
Giulia	Monasterio	£15,805.00
Alison	Moore	£25,978.00
Ammar	Naqvi	£23,793.00
Nagus	Narenthira	£19,567.00
Matthew	Perlberg	£10,809.00
Alex	Prager	£10,809.00
Simon	Radford	£15,805.00
Barry	Rawlings	£44,445.00
Danny	Rich	£19,567.00
Timothy	Roberts	£19,567.00
Ella	Rose	£18,305.00
Gillian	Sargeant	£10,809.00
Alan	Schneiderman	£25,978.00
Mark	Shooter	£10,809.00
Elliot	Simberg	£10,809.00
Caroline	Stock	£10,809.00
Daniel	Thomas	£25,978.00
Liron	Velleman-Woodcock	£10,809.00
Antonakis	Vourou	£10,809.00
Lucy	Wakeley	£10,809.00
Sarah	Wardle	£10,809.00
Emma	Whysall	£15,805.00
Nigel	Young	£19,567.00
Peter	Zinkin	£10,809.00
Zakia	Zubairi	£10,809.00

 The ones who get more than the basic £10,809 have jobs with additional responsibiliities, such as committee chairs etc. I've highlighted Mr Jajeh's allowance. It was pretty clear that neither Mr Jajeh or his former colleagues wanted to talk too much about what was going on? Why? I've no idea although, I suspect that no one in Barnet Council wants a by election in an opposition ward. For Labour it would be a needless distraction as they run the council and for the Tories, it would be a potential banana skin and they'd have to explain what happened. 

It is all very well to have a cosy conspiracy of silence, however the reality is that the Mill Hill Taxpayers are paying £10,809 a year for a disengaged councillor.  It all seemed rather puzzling. Yesterday, when I was walking down Mill Hill Broadway, I noticed something that may explain the mystery of Mr Jajeh's disappearance. Barnet Council have supported the installation of a Succah, a small hut which forms part of the celebrations of the feast of Sameach. 

I small sign from Barnet Council, on headed paper had the inscription 

"Cllr Val Duschinsky and Cllr Elliot Simberg together will Barnet Council wish the Mill Hill Community a chag succot sameach.

We are delighted to support another first for Mill Hill. The Mill Hill Succah. We look forward to seeing the succah in the square as a permanent fixture in the community calendar. Kind Regards Barnet London Borough"

I immediately noticed that Mr Jajeh had not signed up to wish the community well for the season. One has to presume that  before the Council put an official notice on the hut, they would have sought permission from the local coucillor to add his name to to the best wishes. Is this an oversight or has Mr Jajeh deliberately snubbed the local community? If it is an oversight, I would expect an apology and a clarification from Barnet Council and Cllr Jajeh respectively. If it reflects Mr Jajeh's position on the erection of the hut, surely the people of Mill Hill are entitled to know what his views are.

Some sort of clarification from the local Conservatives should be issued. After all, they sponsored Mr Jajeh and he was elected under their banner. There will not be another council election until 2026. I do not think any Mill Hill resident will be happy to see over £21,000 of taxpayers money be paid to a councillor who doesn't attend meetings or sugeries. That is enough to fund a teaching assistant for one year at a special school. If nothing else we are owed a proper explanation. There is nothing on the Hendon Tories website to explain this strange sequence of events.