Barnet Council Deputy Leader Daniel Thomas backs Police investigation of Helen Michael

The email exchange below is between the Dr Julia Hines - a Barnet resident and Councillor Daniel Thomas who is the Deputy Leader of Barnet Council. Councillor Thomas comes out fully in support of the Police investigation of Helen Michael, Leader of Barnet Traders and seemingly accuses Dr Hines of hypocricy in suggesting that she sets one standard of behaviour for the Council and one for individual.

One wonders whether Councillor Thomas has issues with reading. He clearly doesn't understand the point made by Dr Hines. She doesn't refer to wrongdoing by the Council, she refers to flyposting by the Conservative Party. It seems that Councillor Thomas wants to ignore this. What Dr Hines also neglects to mention is the Brunswick Park Conservative leaflet, which Mr Nick Walkley, Barnet Council CEO noted breached election law, has not been persued. Mr Walkley was the person who complained to the Police about Helen Michael.

Whilst Councillor Thomas is happy to act as a rather blunt tool for Nick Walkley, the Barnet Eye is of the opinion that this rather shallow and ineffectual councillor should not throw stones at Dr Hines, whilst in his own glass house of hypocricy. The Barnet Eye is of the opinion that the police investigation into Helen Michaels is a complete waste of time and resources. Up until now, we had taken the same view about a police investigation of the Conservative Party and their Brunswick Park Leaflet.

It has become apparent that the Local Conservative Party are of the opinion that Helen Michael deserves investigation. As such, the only logical conclusion is that they would also support a Scotland Yard investigation of the Brunwsick Park Leaflet.

As such, I have sent the following email to Councillor Thomas and copied the Leader, Mr Nick Walkley CEO of Barnet and Jeff Lustig, Head of Legal
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Dear Councillor Thomas,

 

Having read with interest your response to Dr Hines, as a resident of Barnet, I am formally requesting that in your role as Deputy Leader oif Barnet Council, you instruct the returning officer, Mr Nick Walkley, to formally issue a complaint to the Metropolitan Police concerning the leaflet issued by the Conservative Party during the Brunswick Park By - Election. Mr Walkley has already deemed the leaflet to breach election rules.

 

Whilst I personally believe that nothing useful will be achieved by such an investigation, applying the logic you set out below, I believe you have no option but to ensure that the matter is fully investigated.

 

Any failure to do so, will open the council to charges of harrassment, bias and lack of impartiality. It is also clear that if a single individual with no background in election law can be investigated for a breach clearly brought about by lack of knowledge of the law, a breach by a political party, who have training for agents in such matters, is clearly a far more serious issue.

As you are keen for all breaches to be investigated, I believe you will be in dereliction of your duties as deputy leader unless the Brunswick Park leaflet is dealt with in exactly the same manner as the Helen Michael poster. It is worth noting that many thousand leaflets were distributed, wheras the Helen Michael leaflet was limited to a few dozen.

 

Regards

Roger Tichborne

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The email below details the exchange between Councillor Thomas and Dr Julia Hines.

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From: Councillor Daniel Thomas
To: julia hines ; "Old, Cllr Graham Conservative" ; "Greenspan, Cllr Eva Conservative"
Sent: Thursday, July 5, 2012 9:11 PM
Subject: Re: Helen Michael

Dear Julia,

Thanks for the note.

I cannot speak for the person who has lodged a complaint and the Police who decided to pursue it.

On a general point, it appears to me that those who are quick to criticise the Council when they believe it has broken rules/laws (and there's nothing wrong with that!) prefer the enforcement of rules to be more lenient for individual members of the public.


Kind regards,

Cllr Daniel Thomas

Finchley Church End Ward

Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance

London Borough of Barnet

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From: Julia Hines
To: Old, Cllr Graham Conservative; Thomas, Daniel Cllr Conservative; Greenspan, Cllr Eva Conservative
Sent: Thu Jul 05 19:11:06 2012
Subject: Helen Michael

Dear Graham, Eva and Dan

What possible purpose is served by Helen Michael being interviewed under caution about her posters?

http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/helen-michael-interviewed-under-caution.html 

http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/broken-barnet-interview-with-thought.html

If you do not know Helen personally, you can see her here. It is a really moving piece I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0htkLBEirk 

As I understand it, she produced posters which said Vote Boris, Sack Brian, but failed to put her name and address or the name of the printers on them, a breach of election law. As soon as she was warned about this, she took them down and reprinted. I understand that a small number of her posters were flyposted (but not by her). 

Official Conservative party election posters were photographed having been flyposted on bus stops during the same election by Dan Hope. 

With best wishes

Julia 

Guest Blog - 5 Reasons Labour Won a Seat in London's Borough of Barnet by Nancy Parker

By Nancy Parker,

The council of the London Borough of Barnet has long been dominated by the Conservative party, so how did a candidate in May's by-election become the first Labour party councillor elected in ten years? What concerns could have led residents to vote for Labour candidate Andreas Ioannidis over the Conservative candidate Shaheen Kauser Mahmood?


1. First – The concerns of many residents over the closure of local libraries may have been significant in Ioannidis’s victory. Ioannidis has not only pledged to fight for libraries threatened with closure, but to launch an effort to reopen the Friern Barnet Library, which was shut down by Conservative cuts earlier this year despite campaigns to save it.

2. Second – Parking charges are another significant concern to Brunswick Park locals. Huge increases handed down from the Conservative council have led to a great deal of dissatisfaction among residents as detailed by the Barnet Eye: http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/barnet-council-getting-it-wrong-on.html

3. Third – Locals have also expressed their unhappiness with the One Barnet programme instituted by the council, which involves outsourcing work to private corporations. While the council called it a “transformation” and presented it as a necessary budget-tightening measure, the programme includes large reductions to the local workforce. Ioannidis stood against the programme.

4. Fourth – In addition, Brunswick Park residents faced Conservative-led cuts to the police force. The ward no longer has its own police sergeant but has been forced to share its sergeant with another ward. Ioannidis positioned himself in opposition to this policy, pledging to fight these cuts.

5. Fifth – Finally, many people throughout Barnet and other boroughs are concerned about a proposed waste treatment plant at Pinkham Way. Residents feel they were left out of the planning process, and many expressed concern about health risks and noise pollution. Ioannidis campaigned against the construction of the facility.

Conservative seats in Barnet have long been considered reasonably "safe." The victory of Andreas Ioannidis in the ward of Brunswick Park has now shaken that way of thinking. Whether the election of a Labour candidate is merely an anomaly, however, or indicates a real shift in Barnet politics and thought remains to be seen.

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Author Bio

Nancy Parker was a professional nanny and she loves to write about wide range of subjects like health, Parenting, Child Care, Babysitting, nanny background check tips etc. CLICK HERE TO EMAIL NANCY.

The Barnet Eye always welcome guest blogs. Please click on the link in the top right hand corner of the blog to submit blogs to the Barnet Eye.

Brunswick Park Byelection - Barnet Tories in disarray

News reaches the Barnet Eye that the Chipping Barnet Conservatives are in a state of panic at the very real prospect of losing the ward. I've had reports from both Conservatives and Labour supporting activists and councillors that there is a very big shift towards a tactical vote to show the Barnet Conservatives that a change of course is necessary and urgent.

There also seems to be a big issue with trust with regards to what the intentions are for the future of Osidge library. It has not escaped notice that the neighbouring library at Friern Barnet has been closed and Councillor Robert Rams has spoken on many occasions on concentrating Library provision at the "three key libraries, one in each ward". It also appears that there are very real issues with the candidate which the Conservatives have chosen. People are aware that she is playing fast and loose with the truth. She has claimed to simply be an ordinary working mother, but evidence has emerged that she is a very active member of the Conservative party, with links far and wide. She has a senior role in the Conservative Muslim Forum which for some reason she mentions nowhere in her leaflet. Whilst this organisation is a mainstream body, which is highly respected, one wonders why the candidate is so loathe to play down her association? You would think that as a member of a powerful organisation, she would be keen to extoll the virtues of the organisation and her leading role in it.


Members of the Barnet Alliance for Public Services are giving out leaflets explaining why a tactical vote will be the best possible result for Barnet. Following the demise of Brian Coleman due to such tactical voting, Barnet Council have undertaken a strategic review of parking policies. Only a resounding rejection of the mess they have created will drive the message through that we can't wait any longer for reform. If you want to help end the parking chaos, join the Barnet Alliance at New Southgate station tomorrow between 5pm and 7pm and help make a change for the better.

 

The great Barnet conservative delusion

I am truly dumbfounded. I was told that the Barnet Conservatives have concluded that the staggering humiliation, Brian Coleman received at the GLA elections was "not their fault". They have decided that a "nasty media campaign, lead by bloggers" did for Brian and that it was nothing at all to do with them and their policies.

I am sorry to say that if this is whatthey truly believe, rather than just a biot of convenient spin, they have lost the plot. Brian Coleman was the figurehead for the toxic parking policies, the abolition of  Pay and Display, the huge CPZ cost hike and a raft of other measures, designed to upset local people. The trouble for the Conservatives, is that they all agreed with him. He's in a cabinet of 11 and they all endordsed the policies. Even worse, they are still persisiting with them. Councillors like little Bobby Ramsbottom believe that abolishing parking charges in one car park in their ward will save them, but Coleman lost 40,000 votes. 99% of these have never been anywhere near Booby's favourite car park. They ditched the Conservatives because these stealth taxes have added immeasurable cost and hassle to their daily lives. Tinkering at the edges and making a few cosmetic changes will fool nobody.

There is a by-election in Brunswick Park coming up. The only way to ensure that the Barnet Conservatives get the message is to vote for someone else. Even if you are a staunch Conservative, consider this. Losing the Brunswick Park by election will not cost the Conservatives control of the council. It will however show them that they have lost their way in regard to their parking policies. A vote for the Conservatives in the Brunswick Park by election is a vote for the delusion that Brian Coleman is the only problem. If they lose the seat, they will be forced to face up to the fact that they need a root and branch review of their policies. I had hoped that the Coleman result would force this reality upon them. Sadly they have stuck their fingers in their ears and are shouting "LA LA LA" as loudly as they can.

The choice is yours. Vote Consrvatives for stealth taxes and delusion or Someone else for sanity.

Brunswick Park and the changing face of Barnet Politics

It was anticipated that there would be a bit of interest in the fact that I was announced as candidate for the Lib Dems during the week. It's fair to say that this blog has attracted a bit of attention to me and a lot of people who aren't natural Lib Dems have pledged to support me, some overtly and some covertly, at the next election.

What wasn't anticipated in the least, and what consumed an inordinate amount of time was the number of natural Conservatives who contacted me yesterday from Brunswick Park ward to say that they cannot possibly vote for Lynne Hillan or Andreas Tambourides and asking if we'd like them to deliver leaflets etc. As a result, Brunswick Park has risen to the Lib Dem no 1 target seat (where we have no existing councillors). Quite a few have said that they will continue to vote for Lisa Rutter, to show that they are still, at heart, Conservatives. Basically they will lend us their vote for this election, for two of the three seats, to show they are sick and tired of what has been going on at the Town hall and Hillan and Tambourides antics.

If you live in Brunswick Park and want a change and you want to help this happen, please CLICK HERE to send me an email and I'll get in touch to tell you how you can help us. It might be by delivering a few leaflets, it might be by putting up a poster. Every little helps and the only way you can make things happen is by doing something. I hadn't really anticipated much involvement with the politics of Brunswick Park, but when a Tory tells you "we've got to do something about Hillan. Please help", then you have to listen. I'm just pleased that people seem to trust me enough to bother to get in touch. I hope this little blog today is the start of a change in Brunswick Park.