Labour wins a landslide and the Borough of Barnet turns red!

 Before I wrote this blog, I re-read the blog I wrote after Boris Johnson won a hefty majority in 2019. How things have changed. At the time, it seemed like Labour was damaged beyond repair. It seemed like the Tories would be in power for another decade. Boris Johnson's popularity was at it's height and locally it seemed to me that Labour was finished. The anti semitism in the Labour party had seemingly done for Labour locally. The election had been rather toxic locally and the Hendon Labour candidate David Pinto-Duschinsky had been given a proper duffing up by voters at the ballot box and  a very hard time at the local hustings. In Finchley, the Lib Dems parachuted in Luciana Berger and would have won had Labour not run a hard kamikaze campaign. In Chipping Barnet, Theresa Villiers got a nasty scare and the Lib Dems returned the favour for Finchley, keeping the Tories in. I despaired.

Since then, things have changed beyond all recognition. Boris gave way to Truss, who was outlasted by the lettuce. Rishi Sunak came in and gave us all an object lesson why being clever does not necessarily mean you have any common sense. I wanted to say some nice things about Sunak's time as Prime Minister, out of fairness and balance, but I genuinely cannot think of anything positive that he's done in that time. Imagine spending your life building a political career, reaching the pinnacle and then achieving nothing apart from the virtual destruction of your party. At a stretch, you could say that he's undone some of the economic damage that Liz Truss inflicted on the UK. The UK isn't seen as quite the basket case it was when he took over. Should we congratulate him for undoing the chaos his own party inflicted on us?

Anyway, enough of the past. Lets have a look at last night. On Tuesday, I gave my predictions for the local seats.

My prediction is as follows

Hendon - Labour by 5,000 votes

Finchley - Labour by 3,000 votes

Chipping Barnet by 2,500 votes. 

So how did I do? Lets start with Hendon. I got the result right but the margin rather wrong. 

The turnout was 55.4%

Here are the results in order of the candidate's surnames.

• BAILEY, Gabrielle Louise     Green Party     Votes: 2,667
• ENDERBY, Clareine     Liberal Democrats     Votes: 1,966
• GIBSON, Jane     Social Democratic Party     Votes: 139
• JOGIA, Ameet     Conservatives     Votes: 15,840
• PALEKAR, Imtiaz     Workers Party     Votes: 1,518
• PEARL, Joshua Leon     Reform UK     Votes: 3,038
• PINTO-DUSCHINSKY, David (ELECTED)     Labour Party     Votes: 15,855
• REND, Ben     Rejoin EU     Votes: 233

Labour's David Pinto-Duschinsky won by a mere 15 votes after three recounts. I am amazed by this result. Just about no one I know who previously voted Conservative was doing so this time. Last time out Matthew Offord won by 4,000 votes. 

OFFORD, MatthewCon        26,878    48.8%

PINTO-DUSCHINSKY, David    Lab    22,648    41.1%

ENDERBY, Clareine    LD    4,628    8.4%

VINCENT-KIRBY, Portia    Green    921    1.7% 

Turnout 66%

The first thing to note is an 11% drop in turnout. The Tories have shed 11,000 votes since 2019, which is massive. It appears that 3,000 of those went to Reform, and 8,000 simply stayed at home. As for Labour, David Pinto-Duschinsky has shed 7,000 votes. It seems that all of them simply stayed at home. As you will see from my predictions, I did not anticipate this. I assumed that he would get around 22,000 votes and Jogia would get 17,000 when I was doing my sums. I can understand why local Tories would be so fed up, I thought there would be more excitement for Labour given the prospect of winning. I have to surmise that the tory strategy of talking up the risks of a supermajority, to some extent, worked.

In our political system, if you win by one vote, you win. As he goes home for a bit of rest, Pinto-Duschinsky will not really care too much about the margin. He has the gig for five years and he has time to make a name for himself. Ameet Jogia, the Conservative may feel he 'did well' coming so close. I think this would be a huge mistake if the Tories think that. He's shed over 11,000 votes. I thought his campaign was awful. I have no doubt that, on these numbers, Matthew Offord would have won, had he not legged it. He had a very strong personal vote, mostly amongst our most conservative religious groups. I would have expected Offord to have got 2-3,000 more votes than Jogia, just through alliances he's built up over the years. Jogia's campaign strategy was appalling. Making a campaign against McDonlads in Mill Hill was plain idiotic. If he'd highlighted Labours plans to allow green belt development as a central plank, I have no doubt, he'd have got more than the 16 extra votes he needed to win. It is clear that Hendon is a very Conservative leaning seat and that Jogia threw it away, rather than doing well to keep it so tight.  I spoke to one of my friends from Mill Hill Synagogue yesterday. I asked how the hustings there went. He said "They hated all of them". When the local Tories do their post mortem, I'd suggest that they see this as a missed open goal, rather than a great performance.

As to the other parties. Reform clearly nicked enough votes to let Labour in. I am not exactly sure that their supporters will be too chuffed, although it must be said that the Green/Lib Dem vote is bigger than Reform, so both sides could claim that they've suffered from this effect. 

The Turnout was 63%

• DEANE, Alex     Conservatives     Votes: 17,276
• DONNELLY, Brendan Patrick     Rejoin EU     Votes: 486
• HOYLE, Sarah     Liberal Democrats     Votes: 3,375
• MURPHY, Katharine Margaret     Party Of Women     Votes: 318
• PARSONS, Steve     Green Party     Votes: 3,107
• PEZZULLI, Bepi     Reform UK     Votes: 2,598
• SACKMAN, Sarah (ELECTED)     Labour Party     Votes: 21,857
• SHAD, Michael     Independent     Votes: 272

Sarah Sackman comfortably beat my prediction of 3,000, winning by 4,500. More heartening for Sarah was that even if every Reform voter went back to the Tories, she'd still have won. It was great to see both the Lib Dems and Greens beating Reform. I consider Sarah to be a friend and am delighted. I suspect that she'll get a top job at some point in this parliament. In truth, this seat went exactly as I expected it to.

As you can see from the results last time, Freer got in due to a split vote. The Lib Dem vote was boosted by anti Corbyn candidate Luciana Berger. This factor disappeared this time. I must note a classy tTwitter post in Finchley from Alex Deane, the Tory. this is how you do it ( I note no such tweet in Hendon or Barnet) - Well done Alex

Not the result we’d hoped for but I’m proud to have been the candidate for @Finchleytories. Thanks to everyone who helped the campaign.

Many congratulations to @sarahsackman who will be a great MP for a great part of our city.

— Alex Deane (@ajcdeane) July 5, 2024

 Here are the results from last time

*Mike Freer (C) 24,162 (43.84%, -3.11%)

Luciana Berger (LD) 17,600 (31.94%, +25.33%)

Ross Houston (Lab) 13,347 (24.22%, -19.58%)

The Tories shed around 7,000 votes. This was very much in line with my expectations. I have to say that I am more than happy to see the back of Mike Freer. My personal experience of him was of a very unprincipled, thin skinned and dishonest character. His rather nasty comments about my family when my Mum died in 2008 in the Hendon Times were perhaps the most disgusting thing I've personally experienced (with the exception of his mate Brian Coleman taunting me about my prostate cancer). 

And finally we go to Chipping Barnet. 

Turnout was 65.5%

• DURRANT, Mark James     Liberal Democrats     Votes: 2,614
• FARBEY, David Samuel     Green Party     Votes: 3,442
• HADDOW, Hamish     Reform UK     Votes: 3,986
• HEWISON, Richard     Party: Rejoin EU     Votes: 379
• LAUER, Kay     Independent     Votes: 182
• TOMLINSON, Dan (ELECTED)     Labour Party     Votes: 21,585
• VILLIERS, Theresa Anne     Conservatives     Votes: 18,671

Of the three seats, this had the highest turnout and the biggest Tory vote. I expected this, given that Theresa Villiers was the incumbent and has a bit of a loyal following. My prediction was pretty close. the Reform vote technically could have saved Villiers, had they all voted Tory, but to be honest I suspect most of them were sick of the Tories and would probably have stayed at home. In my estimates, incumbency can give you 1,500-2,500 votes if you do a decent job. If an MP helps someone, they generally are well disposed towards them. Villiers has been active in protecting the green belt and associated with a few local campaigns. It wasn't enough to save her in the current circumstances, but I think she can draw some comfort in outperforming her fellow Barnet Tories.

A few things I note. Firstly, why was the turnout 10% higher in Chipping than in Hendon? I suspect this was actually down to the fact that there was a perception the Tories had a chance. It was in play. I suspect that many in Hendon assumed that the Tories would simply lose and couldn't be bothered to vote. If I was Labour, I'd take a long look at their strategy in Hendon, when the dust settles. My guess is that 15,840 people who voted Tory are the absolute hard core, who would vote for a Donkey if it had a blue rosette. David Pinto-Duschinsky should have polled 18-20,000 this time by my estimates. I do think that locally Labour make a mistake by concentrating on getting their hardcore vote  out, rather than reaching out to those who are there to be persuaded. This nearly cost them.

And finally a few words on the national results. As a Lib Dem, I am delighted with the party's performance. In terms of seats, the best in my lifetime. I am also rather chuffed to see some rather horrible Tories consigned to the dustbin. Top of the list, Jacob Rees-Mogg (who was my brothers MP). I was not surprised that Jeremy Hunt survived. He has often given the impression that he's the last sane and rational Tory left in Parliament. The Lib Dems ran a strong campaign, but it was always going to be harder to unseat someone on the left of the Tories. As I suspected, Reform performed atrociously in terms of seats. It was clear to me after their Nuremberg Rally style event on Sunday, that the party is very badly run as a political machine. No doubt Farage will claim he is the real victor, but he isn't. He's put together an organisation that gets millions of votes, but he is really the only recipient of the benefit. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with 30p Lee as they jostle for attention. Both men seem very vain and narcissistic to me. Is Reform big enough for both of them. I predict that by the end of this Parliament, one will be an Independent (or a Tory). 

And as for the Conservatives? A period of bloodletting will follow. The right will want them to move to the area occupied by Reform. The sensible ones will point out that it is the Lib Dems that did the damage and these voters will not return if the swivel eyed mob take over. 

And finally. Thank God it's all over. Not just the election, but the fourteen years of Tory misrule. I really don't think it will be easy for Sir Keir Starmer. He may well find that by the start of next year, he's got to deal with a Fascist government in France, Donald Trump in the USA and heaven only knows what else. We already have a Fascist in Italy. It could be that he's alone as a liberally minded leader in the G7. I don't envy him.

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The female vote will swing it for Sarah in Finchley and Golders Green

I live in the Hendon Constituency. The election campaign here is really rather boring. There is a straight choice between Matthew Offord, who has been the MP for the last five years or Andrew Dismore, who was the MP for the thirteen years before that. As such we all know what they are like, what they will do and how they will do it (or not do it). As in the vast majority of seats we have two rather dull white middle aged blokes trading insults as politely as they can. In short, it is a very boring contest, which even the local Tories expect Dismore to walk.

Breaking the mold of the old boys club

However in our neighbouring constituency of Finchley and Golders Green, one which I have strong ties with as I went to school their and my son still attends the local school, the contest could not be more interesting. The encumbant is Mike Freer, who is perhaps Parliaments highest profile LBGT candidate. Mike won many plaudits for his support of the same sex marriage bill, which when passed he took full advantage of to get married to his partner. I suspect that whatever happens on Thursday, Mike's speech will be the pinnacle of his political career. It is fair to say that Mike is not without strong local support in certain sections of the community. Prior to becoming MP, Mike was the Leader of Barnet Council and was the force behind the One Barnet program, which saw the council outsource its services to Capita. As this has been a bit of a disaster for local residents, with cock up after cock up, Mike has not been keen to claim credit in his campaign. A recent Ashcroft poll put his Labour opponent ahead, and Mike immediately did what Mike does when he's under pressure. He says stupid things. In this case, he suggested that he can represent Jewish people better than a Jew!

Which brings us to his opponent, Sarah Sackman. As you've probably guessed, Sarah is not a white middle class bloke either. She is a very effective and capable barrister, who has got stuck in to local issues. Where Mike has managed to sniff out support in some areas not normally strong in support for the Conservative party, Sarah has also reached out far beyond the typical Labour core vote. Appearances at events organised by the Federation of Small Business has given her the chance to explain her family background of small business and hard work. At recent event, everyone I spoke to was highly impressed by her. Not all will vote for her, but even the fully committed Tories told me she was an excellent candidate. She has a monumental task in trying to overturn Mike Freer's 5,000 majority, but I believe she will. Talking to many local family and friends in the community, she has one massive advantage over Mike that I've not seen mentioned anywhere. Sarah connects extremely well with female voters. Not only that but she has spent the last year or so working extremely hard for their concerns. I first met Sarah through the save Friern Barnet library campaign. At the time she wasn't a candidate, just a local person who wanted to save an important community asset. Then she became involved in the successful campaign to Save Mapledown school services for handicapped people. It was 100% clear to everyone that Sarah was right. Her arguments were compelling, and the services were saved. What was interesting though was that the person who broke ranks with other Tories to save the school was Tory Councillor Maureen Braun. Whilst I thought her case was strong, Braun picked up on the fact that Sarah was appealing for hard working mothers to be given help. On an emotional level, this swung it. As Braun is a hard nosed Tory councillor of many years, I was amazed at this. However having seen Sarah in action, I have come to realise that with female voters she has an especially strong appeal.

This view has been reinforced by her performance at various hustings and meetings I've attended, where the men felt she made a good case, but the women thought she was a brilliant candidate. I personally dismiss opinion polls in tight seats, they mean nothing. I don't dismiss the evidence of my own eyes. In 2010, Mike Freer was fighting Alison Moore, the Labour Council Leader. Moore is a poor public speaker, an uninspring candidate and her campaign had the air of simply going through the motions. She got exactly what she deserved at the polls. A sound trashing. Since then, we've had the Tories try and shut Friern Barnet Library, decimate the High Street businesses with crazy parking policies, upset core Tory voters with the CPZ hike, the attempted closing of Mapledown school services, the attack on nursery provision in Finchley and the cock up that is the One Barnet outsourcing. Add into this mix an intelligent and hard working campaigner who is an excellent public speaker and you soon realise Mike Freer has a serious fight on his hands.

I wasn't too sure how the votes would go until I found out about the local Tory smear campaign against her. She is being attacked for all manner of completely irrelevant reasons on the doorstep by rather naive Conservative canvassers. I was chatting to a couple of locals and they were telling me that a rather fresh faced Tory canvasser told them she "wasn't local" as if this was big crime. As Sarah had played a massive part in the campaign to save a local nursery school (a campaign Mike Freer studiously ignored), they simply found this insulting. They also were rather wound up with how Mike Freer had hijacked the campaign to keep the No 13 bus. The problem with making silly claims is that people see through them and actually find the person concocting the wild stories to be untrustworthy. The Tories tried the same tack with Tony Blair, claiming he was really very left wing and would hike taxes. They tried this in 1997 and people saw straight through it. They tried it again at the next two elections and it failed equally miserably, especially as people knew Blair was more right wing that half of the Tory party.

What I find quite fascinating is whilst most male voters simply see these attacks as "par for the course", the female voters I've spoken to are really put off by the whole attack dog mode of behaviour. Many in the Finchley area have not forgotten the way the local Tories initially closed ranks against Helen Michael when Brian Coleman assaulted her. It was only when the BBC showed the CCTV footage of the attack that many privately admitted they'd been hoodwinked. Sadly for the local Tories, Mike Freer's failure to condemn Coleman for his assault is an albatross around their neck with local female voters.

The recent Ashcroft poll which put Sackman ahead in Finchley was flawed in several ways. One of which is that the poll asks what party people will vote for, not by candidate name. It has been shown time and time again that when voters recognise the name, they change their preference. Sackman has worked hard to build confidence and trust and I believe this will give her at least another 3-4% of the vote. It is quite noticable when you look at the twitter comments for Freer and Sackman, just how many more female voters seem drawn to Sackman. The pictures on the street also look far less "staged" and there seems to be a bit more warmth in the pictures with locals.

Have a look and see for yourself

Mike Freers twitter picture feed
https://twitter.com/search?q=%40freer4fgg&src=typd&mode=photos

Sarah Sackman twitter picture feed
https://twitter.com/search?q=sarahsackman&src=typd&mode=photos

They say every picture tells a story.

As we move into the last day of campaigning and it becomes ever clearer that Mike's campaign is in deep doo doo, I expect all manner of scare stories and bizarre, unsubstanciated allegations from Mike Freer's camp. It is what the Tories do. When I was standing in 2010 in Mill Hill, the Tories put a leaflet out claiming I wanted to build a massive football stadium on the Green Belt at Copthall for Kentish Town FC. Given that Kentish Town FC are in a very low league and get an average crowd of 30, this was clearly nonsense (what they didn't tell anyone was that they'd lined up Saracens RFC to go into Copthall in a 10,000 Rugby stadium). It did however scare a few people into voting Tory. So if you see some wild, unsubstanciated stories eminating from Mike Freer and his friends, I suggest you take a few pinches of salt with them. Things are going to get very interesting. 

Have the Conservative Party let convicted woman beater Brian Coleman back in? *** Updated 3/5/2015

Of all the local Politicians in our neighbourhood, none is more infamous than disgraced former Conservative Mayor Brian Coleman. Less than two years ago, he was expelled from the Conservative Party after being convicted of a vicious, unprovoked assault of Cafe owner Helen Michael at Tally Ho Corner. Coleman received a large fine for the assault and his disgrace was completed last year when he lost his seat on Barnet Council, receiving a mere 265 votes when standing as an independent councillor in the elections. Despite the fact that Coleman was exposed as a complete liar at the trial, having spent six months telling all manner of porkies to the Police and denying the assault, until the CCTV footage showed the vicious assault. Coleman eventually pleaded guilty to the "assault by beating" of Ms Michael, having wasted months of Police time.

You may think that Coleman would be a bit repentant having gone from being one of the leading Tories in London to a shamed convict. You would be wrong. Only this week, Coleman stated on Twitter that he should have been given the freedom of the Borough for his attack on Ms Michael. Here is the exchange. Steve Ciobo tweeted his disgust at the execution of prisoners in Indonesia. See what you make of Colemans response

Steven Ciobo ‏@steveciobo Apr 28

There are few greater displays of abuse of State power and regressive thinking than the death penalty. #RIP

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 Apr 28

@steveciobo complete rubbish , well done Gov of Indonesia for standing up to pathetic liberals like you

Rog T ‏@Barneteye Apr 28 Walthamstow, London

@BrianColeman251 @steveciobo Brian, just out of interest, what is an appropriate punishment for a man attacking a women in the street

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 Apr 28

@Barneteye The Freedom of the Borough in my case clearly !

As you can see Mr Coleman thinks his attack was clever. The Barnet Eye believes that there is no place in public life for such a person. We happen to think that assaulting women is something which only a coward would do and only a complete idiot would boast about. Sadly though, Colemans Tory friends such as Mike Freer, the Tory candidate in Finchley and Golders Green take a rather different view. Despite Coleman admitting his guilt, Freer has never spoken out about Coleman. The two are good friends and go back a long way. Coleman engineered the palace coup at Barnet Council which made Freer council leader, propelling him into the position where he was elected MP for Finchley and Golders Green. Whilst Freer has been very vocal about issues such as same sex marriage, where he personally has benefitted from the legislation, he has been far less vocal on the subject of violence against women, something his friend  seems to think is a laughing matter. 

To my complete amazement, yesterday Brian Coleman tweeted that he's been readmitted to the Conservative Party.  Helen Michael, who had been a Tory voter until Brian Colemans parking policies wrecked her business and then assualted her, was paid a visit by the Labour candidate Sarah Sackman, with Labour front bencher Ed Balls. Unlike Mike Freer, Sarah Sackman takes the issue of  violence against women seriously. Ed Balls told Helen he wanted to show that not all high profile male politicians are thugs who beat women up and some actually want to put a complete stop to such horrible behaviour. 

Barnet Blogger Mrs Angry tweeted a picture of Helen receiving flowers from Mr Balls. Coleman, as is his want, immediately started taunting his victim Ms Michael. What followed was an exchange of tweets between myself, who was disgusted at Colemans continual harrassment of Ms Michael and Coleman, where he suggested the Tories have let him back in

Mrs Angry ‏@BrokenBarnet 22h22 hours ago

Flowers for @BuzzingHelen from ed balls pic.twitter.com/jTXg74iWrV

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 18h18 hours ago

@BrokenBarnet @alan_s01 @BuzzingHelen well , well , well ........people will draw their own conclusions

Rog T ‏@Barneteye 18h18 hours ago

@BrianColeman251 @BrokenBarnet @alan_s01 @BuzzingHelen Brian you may be a cock but unlike Helen you have no Balls & dont use your Ed!

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 17h17 hours ago

@Barneteye @BrokenBarnet @alan_s01 @BuzzingHelen #labourstooge

Rog T ‏@Barneteye 17h17 hours ago

@BrianColeman251 @BrokenBarnet @alan_s01 @BuzzingHelen #ToryEmbarrassment

Rog T ‏@Barneteye 17h17 hours ago

@BrianColeman251 @BrokenBarnet @alan_s01 @BuzzingHelen cleverest thing the Tories did was kick you out of the party

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 17h17 hours ago

@Barneteye and indeed readmit me

I was completely amazed by Brian Colemans claim. Could the Torys really want to be associated with Coleman? Are they so desperate for members that they would let such a complete pariah back in? We immediately started making enquiries. We sent messages to friendly sources in the local Tories, who usually are pleased to confirm the truth of stories or set the record straight. None replied. We tweeted to Mike Freer. No reply. We contacted friendly sources in the press to see if they could find out. They contacted the Tory CCHQ, who promised to get straight back to them. As of now, none of these sources have got back. In fact our press sources seemed to suggest a certain world weariness at the request, indicating that they realised the car was going over the cliff. Given that Coleman launched a scathing attack on all his Tory Council chums when he was kicked out, we are completely amazed that they would consider readmitting such a nasty, convicted felon to the party. Of course Coleman may be lying, if he could lie to the police about assaulting Ms Michael, he can clearly lie about anything. Surely though if this was the case Freer and the Tories would have denied it immediately.

If Coleman is telling the truth, we can only speculate as to why Freer would take such a risk. Being associated with Brian Coleman is election poison. One has to assume that Freer understands the risks, so what would make such a risk worth while? Given that Coleman clearly has no base of support following his Totteridge Council debacle, what benefits could Freer possibly get? Well Mike owes Brian big time, for his patronage. When Freer was council leader, he protected Coleman when he was found guilty of breaking the councils code of conduct.  Despite this only being the first of a whole string of breaches, Freer never said a dickybird. When Coleman launched the crazy parking policies that lost him his seat on the GLA, Freer defended him and his policies. Even after Coleman assualted Helen Michael and was arrested, the local Conservative party did not suspend him. It was only when the national party stepped in that his membership was revoked.

The  situation is quite clear. The Conservative Party have to come clean about Brian Coleman. Have they let him rejoin. If this is simply another example of Coleman telling porkies, why has it taken so long for anyone to say?

Does Mike Freer think violence against women is funny?

As the picture in this weeks Jewish News shows, Mike clearly is not too concerned with sensitivity around this issue. One would rather hope that such prehistoric attitudes had been buried in the past. The blog was started by a tweet from local blogger Mrs Angry. I will give her the last word as well. I think it is 100% clear how the local Tories should have reacted to the whole Brian Coleman issue. It is time for them to bring their attitudes into the 21st Century

I wait to see what the Tories have to say about Colemans comments. I trust the good sense of the people of Finchley and Golders Green to consider what sort of party they want to see representing them.

Regardless of all of this, it is clear that a vote for the Conservatives in Finchley and Golders Green is an endorsement of Brian Coleman and his behaviour. Mike Freer has had many opportunities to take a stand and say that violence against women is unacceptable. He also had many opportunities to set the record straight regarding his views on Brian Coleman and his attack on Helen Michael. I googled Mike Freer to see if he'd made any parliamentary interventions about violence against women. The only thing I could turn up was where he contribiuted to a debate on the subject of domestic abuse to remind everyone that it can occur in same sex relationships as well..

Mrs Angry @BrokenBarnet  ·  41m 41 minutes ago

@Barneteye @rozgab @David_Longstaff Such silence speaks for itself: & if it is true that it is even possible for the Tories to readmit him..

Mrs Angry @BrokenBarnet  ·  40m 40 minutes ago

@Barneteye @rozgab @David_Longstaff this says everything you need to know about the innate moral vaccum & misogny of the party.
 

*************** Updated 3/5/2015 *************
The Plot thickens. Yesterday a whole bevvy of local local Conservatives privately and publicly contacted me to say Brian Coleman had not been readmitted. The most categorical of these was from Gabriel Rozenberg who is a Conservative Councillor for Hampstead Garden Suburb. I believe Gabriel to be a honest and trustworthy guy so I pretty much took this tweet at face value and was preparing to update this blog saying as much. Here is what Gabriel had to say

Gabriel Rozenberg @rozgab  ·  16h 16 hours ago

OK, I can confirm that Brian Coleman has not been re-admitted to any local Conservative party. AFAIK he hasn't asked; if he did we'd refuse.

So that seemed to be that. As I was out last night, I got up preparing to update the blog when I noticed this tweet from Brian Coleman in response to Gabriel

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 1h1 hour ago

@rozgab you are of course misinformed

As I said above, Mike Freer is a friend of Brian Coleman. He could settle this matter for once and for all by speaking to Brian and clarifying the matter with a public statement. The matter is quite clear. Either @RozGab is "misinformed" or Brian Coleman is telling outright porkies to damage the local Conservative party, who clearly want us to believe they want nothing to do with him. Brian Coleman has put Gabriel in a difficult position. Mike Freer must either back Gabriel and expose this as a Coleman porkie or make sure Gabriel is given "accurate information". 

What is it to be Mike?

********* Updated 14.30 **********

 Brian Coleman just tweeted this. Seems like our local Tories have mislead us. We look forward to seeing what the Tories have to say, having assurred us he wasn't a member. I feel rather mislead

1. 1. Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 6m6 minutes ago

      apologies please from @Barneteye with promise never to tweet about me again as for @rozgab you are just a silly boy 

      
      

      
      

      
      

      

Why Sarah Sackman would be a great MP for the local Jewish community

Last night at the Finchley and Golders Green hustings, it seems Sarah Sackman was given a hard time over the Labour Party positionon Israel. Here is just one example tweet

Jonni Berger ‏@jonnibgood 10h10 hours ago

The damage to the labour vote for @sarahsackman in #finchley due to their unilateral support for Palestinian statehood evident tonight

Many people in the local Jewish community have justified fears about the what a Labour government may mean to UK policy towards Israel. It seems to many that Ed Miliband has courted the "militant student vote" in drawing up Labour policy. Given the record of Hamas in the Gaza Strip I can well understand the disquiet. It is clear to anyone who is any way familiar with the area exactly what would happen if Hamas ever had the opportunity to get the upper hand militarily with Israel.  This is the fear which the local Tory Party are using to ensure that the community are soundly Tory. 

What the community should consider is that the election will not be decided in Finchley and Golders Green. If you accept the proposition (which I personally don't as the Foreign Office largely set UK foreign policy), that the Tories would be universally good for Israel (again a proposition I don't really believe facts and history support), then surely the logical position is to ensure that as many strong advocates for Israel as possible are elected in the Labour Party to ensure that should a Labour government transpire, there will be effective voices for the Pro Israel lobby.

No one can criticise Sarah's credentials in this matter. Anyone who has seen her campaign for Frien Library, Mapledown disabled school, etc will realise she is an extraordinarily effective operator.  She is a barrister by trade and a very eloquent and brilliant speaker. Surely it is better to have Sarah in the Miliband government tent making the case than Mike Freer on the outside, screaming in vain?

Mike Freer and the Finchley & Golders Green pantomime

A very strange thing has happened in the Finchley and Golders Green election. In the space of three days, Tory candidate has gone into meltdown. On Monday I wrote a blog saying that being an MP seemed to be agreeing with Mike as he looked younger and far more relaxed than he did six years ago when he was leading the Council. Little did I know that a storm was brewing and Mike's notoriously thin skin was about to be stretched to the limit. The cause of the meltdown was former Tory Chairman Lord Ashcroft & respected pollster pollster who is now predicting that Labour will take the seat.

Mike reacted to this news in the way he always deal with difficult news. He got nasty and tetchy. He told the Guardian that his opponent, Sarah Sackman would jump on any bandwagon, in reference to her efforts in campaigns to save local libraries and retain funding for disabled childrens support services. Given that all of the campaigns Sarah Sackman has fought are highly emotive local issues, where even local Tories disagree with the Council, I found it hilarious that Mike would actually draw attention to them in the local paper. What exactly would Mike expect her to say if accused of "jumping on a bandwagon" when fighting for the rights of disabled children. Should she say "Oh, I am sorry I should have let their services be cut, so that Mike wouldn't insult me?" Heaven only knows what he was thinking.

 As if this wasn't bad enough, he has made an even more bonkers gaffe today.He has told Jewish News that he can "represent Jews better than a Jew".  He said  “A non-Jewish MP is able to represent Jewish constituents more forcefully as I can’t be accused of any vested interest. People know if I’m arguing for the Jewish community, it’s what I believe and what constituents want.” 

It appears that Mike is seeking to adopt the "Ali G" approach to the question of race. If it wasn't so hilariously stupid, it could be deemed offensive and patronising.Let's consider Mike's claim in a bit more detail.  Given that Mike isn't from the Finchley and Golders Green area, one has to assume that his interest in Jewish politics arrived at around the same time as he decided he wanted a career in politics. Like many politicians, Mike clearly looked at the demographics of the area in which he lived and decided it was a good move to get onside with various local communities. Now there is nothing wrong with trying to understand your electorate and representing them, but to claim that you can do the job better than someone who has grown up within a culture is completely ridiculous. A few years ago I went to a charity fundraising dinner, where a Jewish friend of mine from Orange Hill School was speaking about the need to support the charity, which raises money for local elderly Jewish people, who need care. My friend is a successful businessman and I'd never really put him down as a great orator. When he spoke, he talked about his family, how his parents and grandparents had fled Germany, how many of his uncles and aunties hadn't and how they'd perished. He talked about how his family had struggled, about how anti semitism had destroyed half his family. He talked about how his grandparents and parents had worked night and day to ensure their children had a future. He told how that by the time he was born in 1961, the family had a successful business, built from nothing. He talked of their sacrifices and the sadness in their heart for lost family members. He then explained how they needed specialist care as they reached the twighlight of their lives and how important the work of the charity was. They needed an environment that understood their social and cultural needs. The dinner was a great success raising a huge amount of money. 

When I read Mike Freer's comments, my mind went back to that. Is there any way that Mike Freer could start to put across the case so passionately? When he is in Parliament, he may speak well if he's had a briefing on a subject, but does he instinctively understand the cultural implications of what is being discussed? Whatever Mike Freer may say about Sarah Sackman, it is clear that having been born and raised in a community, she instinctively will recognise any threats or attacks, without a briefing from a friendly member of the community. To her credit, Sarah hasn't played this card, which in a seat with 22% Jewish electorate could make a huge difference. Mike Freer has. Having had the chutzpah to make such a claim, he now has to watch it crash in flames. Let me give another example of why Mike has been hoisted by his own petard. By any judgement, his finest moment in parliament was his speech about same sex marriage


It should be clear to anyone watching that the reason that Mike could put his case so effectively is because he is representing the gay community. The issue affects him directy and he was able to make a brilliant speech putting his case forward, calling on his own personal experiences. Mike was widely congratulated for this speech and it was widely accepted that the personal element that he referred to helped him make the point.

Sadly however Mike feels that Jewish people clearly can't use their personal experience to the same effect. They need "Big Uncle Mike" to make the case for them. As far as I am concerned, the idea that Sarah Sackman, who is an extremely eloquent barrister, would be less able to represent the Jewish community than Mike Freer is laughable.

The trouble with Mike is that he just doesn't seem to really be clever enough to see the contradictions in his own arguments. In truth he's in a state of panic. His campaign has become like a pantomime, with Mike shouting "Where's my Parliamentary career" and the electorate shouting "It's behind you".

The following tweet seems to sum up the general reaction to Mike Freers statement

Noa Lessof Gendler ‏@NoaGendler 18h18 hours ago

@sarahsackman @Freer4FGG A Jewish MP who'll stand up for human rights is better placed to represent anyone... (1/2)

Noa Lessof Gendler ‏@NoaGendler 18h18 hours ago

@sarahsackman @Freer4FGG ...than someone who'll defend Israel for the sake of his own votes (2/2)

I think that this statement from Mike could be the defining moment in the Finchley and Golders Green election. Whilst I am sure that some people would vote Tory even if a donkey was standing, many will be put off by what Mike had to say. I doubt that anyone in the Jewish  community thinks that only Mike Freer can represent them successfully. I think some may actually be rather disgusted by the implication that a Jewish MP may be perceived as less honest than someone who has simply turned up and grubbed for a few votes, when representing the people they've spent their life growing up with. 

The most illuminating thing about Mikes panto act is the fact that he has chosen this as his battleground. How desperate is that?

Matthew Offord Vs Mike Freer - The split at the heart of the local Tories

We have a  rather odd situation in Barnet. Back in 2009 Mike Freer Mp was the leader of the Council and Matthew Offord was his deputy. I hadn't realised it at the time, but the two were "The Odd couple" of Barnet politics. I sort of assumed they were joined at the hip, how wrong could I have been.

 A tweet yesterday reminded me of this. Kelly Wilson tweeted a message posted by the "coalition for marriage".

Kelly Wilson ‏@KellyLL88 11h11 hours ago

No show at Hustings & now automatic support to @Andrew_Dismore and @alasdairghill. What planet is @Offord4Hendon on?














 Now I hadn't really heard of the coalition for marriage and when I saw the tweet, I assumed that they were disgusted at Offords stance against Same Sex Marriage. However it turns out that the Coalition for Marriage are not a Coalition for Marriage. They are actually a coalition against marriage, where people are of the same sex. They do not like it when two people of the same sex decide to tie the knot.  Now I am married to someone who is not the same sex as me. That was my choice, which I was completely free to make. We didn't seek anyone elses approval and what we do in private is our business. Whether we go to our bedroom and play tiddly winks, watch football on the telly or other things which are none of your business, well that is our business. We've had our moments, but I think for both of us marriage has been good. We've supported each other when our parents died, in illness and through other disappointments. I can't, in all honesty see what right I've got to deny another human being the right to do the same. Of course there are biblical objections to same sex relationships. There are also biblical objections to eating shellfish, on pain of death. We've moved on. Right wing Christian organisations are militantly against same sex marriage, but Jesus said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" on matters of morality. So I keep all my stones in my pocket when I see someone who makes different choices to me.

As for Mike Freer, another tweet shows he takes a completely different stand on the subject to his former deputy.

PinkNews ‏@pinknews Jan 22

Congrats! Tory MP @mikefreermp and partner Angelo convert their civil partnership to marriage http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/22/congratulations-tory-mp-mike-freer-and-partner-angelo-convert-their-civil-partnership-to-marriage/ …







Apparently Offords stance has caused major tensions in their relationship and the two campaigns have virtually no cooperation at all in local matters. Word reaches the Barnet Eye that privately Freer thinks Offord is a complete idiot and has little to do with him, although publicly hios view is that Offord is entitled to his opinion. Either way "The Odd Couple" have not had an amicable parting of the ways.

I must confess I feel a little bit of sympathy for Freer in this matter. He was supportive of Offord, who was not a spectacularly successful deputy and he feels that Offord has not exactly repaid this in the nicest way. We assume that when Offord was working with Freer and Freer was his boss, he kept his views rather quiet on the matter.

The Conservative Party is a broad church and clearly it does accomodate people with all manner of views. I would rather hope that whatever happens with Mike Freer, no one uses his private life as a reason not to vote for him. I do however take a slightly different view with Matthew Offord. A man who clearly keeps his mouth shut when it's convenient and is keen to discriminate against a sizeable portion of the electorate and even his colleagues and friends, in my mind is a man who really doesn't deserve to be sent back to Westminster.

Kentucky Fried Freer - The chicken flavoured candidate

I was alerted to the fact that Conservative candidate for Finchley and Golders Green Mike Freer  has been dodging election hustings meetings by this tweet.

Gez Sagar ‏@brilliantname Apr 3

Letter in Ham&High says @Freer4FGG was a no show at Mencap hustings. Didn't come to Finchley Society either. #Zipped

This is extremely  disrespectful. It can mean only one thing. Is Mike Freer not proud of his voting record and his performance as an MP? What has he stood up for during his term in office? Surely he believes he has a body of work to demonstrate what a great MP he has been? Surely he believes his hard work over the last five years gives him a strong mandate to continue? Freer has been the MP for five years, his actions are on public record.

Mike Freer's voting record

Sadly as you can see from the infographic, Mike has done little for hard working families and ordinary voters. His main focus has been to protect millionaires and big busienss. His actions are a tacit admission that his Labour opponent Sarah Sackman is a far better candidate and Freer knowns his record is poor.



Anyone who has seen Sarah Sackman in action, as I did at the FSB business hustings will recognise that she is an excellent candidate. It is quite clear tha Freer has also drawn this conclusion and so has chickened out. It is always far easier to look good when there is no one to debate with and no one to mention the more embarrassing aspects of your record (such as support for the Gaddafy family).

My memory is drawn to a business breakfast back in 2009, when Mike Freer was leader of the council. He invited Tom Nathan, CEO of Brent Cross to address us. Mr Nathan was excellent. He said "My philisophy is to keep my friends close and my enemies closer". Freer replied that he preferred to not engage with his opponents, whilst staring sternly at me. It seems Mike has never enjoyed public scrutiny.

Finchely and Golders Green is a marginal seat, being a Labour seat until 2010. Freer benefitted in 2010 from the retirement of Rudy Vis, the popular Labour MP. He also had the massive bonus of being opposed by Labours Alison Moore who was a very unimpressive candidate and has been a disaster as leader of the Labour group in the council. This time he has a decent candidate and he's scared to death.

Back in 2010, Freer even banned filming of hustings, as  he didn't want anyone to see if he screwed up. This tweet from pro Tory Barnet Bugle exposed his behaviour

Barnet Bugle ‏@barnetbugle 11 Apr 2010

@ma499 What happened to the video of the Finchley Mosque hustings? Did Mike Freer ban recording? He did at #hamandhigh one. #fgg #ge2010

 The question the Barnet Eye asks the people of Finchley and Golders Green is quite simple. Do they really want to vote for a man who is so scared of engaging in debate or even letting people share recordings of it? Do you really want to vote for a chicken?