Brian Coleman and the Barnet Eye - One year on

It is just over a year since Councillor Brian Coleman sent me an abusive email in his official capacity as a Councillor, resulting in him being found guilty of Barnet Councils Code of Conduct, by the Council Standards Committee. It is believed that this breach cost Councillor Coleman in the region of £10,000 in expenses and has cast a massive shadow over his tenure as Mayor of Barnet. Mr Coleman will go down in the anals of history as the only Mayor of Barnet to be found guilty of breaching the Standards Code whilst in office. Strangely enough, after the verdict was announced, Coleman went out with his Barnet Conservative mates, on a champagne binge. For a man who'd been found guilty, wasted £10,000 of his own money on his defence and had his name permanently tarred, it seemed to me like a rather odd response. It was clearly the case that he was relieved, because he was expecting far worse (an indictment of the standards committee??).

To beat the charge, Coleman had lied through his teeth to Standards Investigator, a point not even considered by the committee, odd given that I'd shown this was beyond doubt. I was later told that the committee had limited the punishment as they knew Coleman would most likely appeal had a harsher sanction been applied. This would have incurred more costs for Barnet, which was a consideration.

I was interested to reflect, a year on from the origin of the spat, on how Mr Coleman had progressed. It is without doubt true to say that Mr Colemans influence has been diminished. Even his former allies have taken to winding him up via their Twitter feeds


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His attempts to oppose the rise to power of Lynne Hillan failed and yet again, he was marginalised. His intervention in the Brent Cross planning decision further pushed him from the centre of power within the Tory party. He has been shut out from the centre of power, subsequently making a fool of himself on the Paul Ross radio show on BBC London 94.9,announcing that "Barnet was full of Grit" shortly before Tory Cabinet member Councillor Daniel Thomas announced that it had run out.
He seems to have been silenced by the Tory hierarchy. His GLA website shows that he's not made a press release since the 11th December (this for a rent a quote like Mr Coleman, is tantamount to joining a trappist order). His recent radio turns have become pantomime affairs, turning up to defend disgraced Tory lackies such as suspended Brent Councillor and Boris ally, Bertha Joseph, who took hundreds of pounds of charitable donations to spend on ballgowns.

What about the Barnet Eye blog. I'll let you into a little secret. Shortly before I got the email from Coleman, I'd actually decided to end the blog. I had become completely dissillusioned with the Labour Party, which I'd been a member of for many years. I couldn't see any way that Labour could win in Barnet, even though Tory Barnet Council was a complete basket case, and I was starting to feel like a dog howling at the moon. We had a trip abroad scheduled for Easter and I'd decided that this would be the date when my blogging days ended. Then Coleman sent his email and I thought "hang on, this guy is a bully, he's not fit for public office. If I back down now, he'll think he's won". I felt duty bound to carry on, even though my heart wasn't on the job. I made the decision to carry on the blog, until the case had been decided and then when I won (which I always new I would), wrap it up with a "Job Done" story.

What I didn't expect was for Coleman to lie through his teeth about me. He made up porkies such as claiming I'd stood for Council before to the Investigator, that I'd insulted his mother (he said this on Radio to Vanessa Feltz, who then backtracked and vindicated me when she saw my comments), he claimed I was "anti-semitic" which given that his lawyers had pored over every inch of the blog and knew that the opposite was true, was a horrible slur. There are many other porkies and deliberate innacuracies in his testimony. On the day of the hearing, I sat and listened, with no right of reply, as his lawyer, one of Londons top lawyers, spent two hours attacking my character.I had no opportunity to refute any of this to the committee. Despite all of this, despite the unfairness of the process, I won.

I was enraged. I reversed my decision to end the blog. I thought to myself "If Coleman is going to lie and say that I'd stood for council before, I'll give him his wish".  A chance encounter with Jack Cohen, leader of the Barnet Lib Dems, persuaded me that I should go down this route. I decided though, that if I stood, it wouldn't be on  a "Brian Coleman" dictated platform. It would be on the values that I believe in and for the principles I believe. I believe in respect, honest open government and value for money. I believe that public service is an honour and that the people of Barnet have been let down. Brian Coleman is a dinosaur in Barnet, he will be around for a while, but he is merely a symbol of all that is wrong with Barnet's Tories.

It has been interesting to talk to people whilst canvassing. Many people have raised the Coleman issue with me. I have heard all sorts of stories about our beloved Mayor. He has been called the "Marmite Mayor" as people love him or hate him. Whilst I've seen plenty of evidence of the latter, I've yet to have the dogs turned on me by a "Colemanlover". One old boy who lives up the road told me "I've voted Conservative all of my life, but Brian Coleman is a bloody disgrace. I cannot possibly vote for the Conservatives in the Council Elections whilst he is Mayor". Over the years I've had much humourous banter with this particular old boy. He used to borrow my drain rods, when his bogs got blocked, sadly now I have to do it for him. He's not the only Tory in Barnet who needs his turds removed !