Time for Councillor Tom Davey to resign?

This evening I was forwarded an email exchange between disabled rights campaigner John Sullivan and Councillor Tom Davey, Barnet Council cabinet member responsible for housing. Mr Sullivan told me that he was too upset for words to write a coherent blog, in light of information revealed by the Hendon Times website today regarding Mr Davey. He has asked me to try and present the facts in a fair and balanced way. So lets start with The exchange

Mr Sullivan wrote the following email to Cllr Davey
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From: John Sullivan 
Sent: 12 April 2014 10:43
To: Davey, Cllr Tom
Subject: Ethnic Cleansing of Barnet Benefit Claimants

 

Dear Cllr Davey,

 

In light of your recent comments and apparent determination to ethnically cleanse Barnet of benefit claimants, which incidentally includes all disabled people and future disabled people in Barnet such as my fifty year old daughter and her peers.

 

Do you think we would be wise to move out of Barnet in order to secure the future quality of life for our daughter before we die, and before your dream of a pure society of the rich and well heeled, completely ethnically cleansed of the benefit claimants and the disabled becomes a reality in Barnet.

 

Or am I reading your rhetoric wrong, am I incorrectly assuming you have openly pronounced your detestation of the poor, the sick and the disabled , and believe they are  not fit to reside in Barnet.

 

Kind Regards

 

Mr J J Sullivan

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Councillor Davey replied
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From: "Davey, Cllr Tom"  Cllr.Davey@Barnet.gov.uk
Date: 13 April 2014 12:29:57 BST
To: "John Sullivan"
Subject: RE: Ethnic Cleansing of Barnet Benefit Claimants

Dear Mr Sullivan

 

All housing allocation policy is clearly set out and avaialble for the public to view. There is not, has not been, and never will be an attempt to "ethnically cleanse" Barnet and i think many residents would find this suggestion deeply insensitive and offensive. I can only apologise if you have misunderstood any comments and offer you fully assurance that the Council and its policies comply with all relevant legislation.

 

For clarification, to the best of my knowledge i have never pronounced "destesation of the poor, the sick and the disabled". 

 

If you have particular concerns on policy, please email those concerns to Barnet Homes and an officer can provide a detailed response. I hope this helps and trust i have answered your question.

 

Best

Tom

  

In this, as you can quite clearly see, Councillor Davey states that he has never, to the best of his knowledge, pronounced "destesation of the poor, the sick and the disabled" which is quite clearly something he sees as " deeply insensitive and offensive" to quote his own words. What sort of a man would pronounce  a dislike of the poor? What sort of a man would not care for the disabled? What sort of a man indeed?

So when Mr Sullivan saw this article in the Edgware Times  http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/11150246.Claims_Tory_Councillor_is__not_fit_for_office__after__disgusting__Facebook_posts/?ref=var_0 , highlighting these Facebook messages from Mr Davey, he felt that it was time for Mr Davey to be held to account





The posts, made by Cllr Tom Davey of Tory-run Barnet Council, were revealed just days after he was caught advocating ‘social cleansing’ in a shocking video.






Davey said the sick joke was “probably misjudgement in hindsight” – but that despite being open to tens of thousands of people in the LSE Facebook network, it was a private joke between friends.
He admitted:

“I have a very dry sense of humour”

Defending perhaps the most disgusting post, in which he says he is “smacking his bitch up…that’ll teach her for ironing loudly whilst the football is on” – Davey said he was being “ironic.”

Just remember, Councillor Davey said in his own email "For clarification, to the best of my knowledge i have never pronounced "destesation of the poor, the sick and the disabled" As Mr Sullivan reminds us, his 50 year old, Downs Syndrome daughter is the "Benefit claiming scum" that Mr Davey berates in his Facebook message.

It is interesting to note that Councillor Davey thinks a disabled black lesbian may have more luck than him in getting a job. Now if Mr Davey was an all in wrestler, the type his political mentor, Councillor Robert Rams is so keen on (http://robertrams.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/who-is-the-labour-councillor-who-has-allegedly-been-summoned-to-court-for-non-payment-of-1400-of-council-tax/), maybe he would have some sort of a point, however Mr Davey was seeking white collar jobs where sound judgement are valued. Is there a clue in his Facebook messages as to why he had such problems?

It is also interesting to note that given the poor Tory record on the subject of violence against women, with Councillor Brian Coleman being arrested for assaulting a woman, that Councillor Davey seems to think beating women up is a laughing matter.

Councillor Davey, in the above link to Robert Rams blog, calls for Labour Leader Alison Moore to resign, based on poor judgement. Our advice for Councillor Davey is to go away, spend some time on the bench and get some life experience. We sincerely hope that he will in time mature, but it is clear that at the moment he does not have the life skills to be a senior official with an important portfolio in local government. If these remarks were dug up from 20 years ago, then that would be one thing, but they were made when Davey was active in local politics in recent years. There was no hint of any sort of apology to those who might be offended. Mr Davey claims that the jokes were "saloon bar humour". Whilst we have no doubt that these are the sort of jokes Councillor Davey shares regularly with his mates in the pub, if you are a politician and on facebook, you should have a little bit more sense.  None of us are perfect, I am sure Facebook and Twitter and even blogger sometimes tempts us to make mistakes and say silly things. Being a dyslexic, I sometimes say things which are misconstrued, sometimes my humour is misunderstood. If someone genuinely claims I've upset them I apologise. In Mr Sullivans case, I am sure he will be awaiting Councillor Davey's apology with baited breath. Because it is clear that not only was Mr Davey being extremely offensive about Susan Sullivan and all her disabled peers. No one can doubt that, in light of these revelations. He mislead Mr Sullivan about his views on the disabled and the poor, who he clearly thinks it is absolutely fine to mock and humiliate.

For the absence of doubt, this story from the Times details how Davey was elected in 2008
http://www.times-series.co.uk/archive/2008/05/02/2243037.Conservatives_hold_on_to_Hale/