OH DEAR GUESS WHO IS IN REAL TROUBLE????

We have had a look at the Registers of Interest forms for all 51 of the elected councillors.

Now what you may not know is that ALL elected members are Legally required to complete this form and return them to the councils Monitoring Officer within 28 days from their election.

This is not only a Legal requirement it is also a requirement of the Councils Constitution. And part of the Members Code of Conduct.

2 Members have failed to complete and return their forms as of 8.12.10 we think they have had more than their 28 days, they are:

S. Ashraf and J. Channer

we would have expected either the Group Whip or the Group Secretary to have made sure that these were done, they didn't now the members will have to face the consequences.

Some of the others are lacking detail, they have failed to put their address:

Baldwin, AS Jamu, Letchford, Miles, Mullane, Perry, Ramsay, Saeed, Tarry, Vincent, Wade, L Waker.
Do we take it that these do not live in the borough?

Baldwin claims on his form that the Labour Party paid to him his Election Expenses?????????

Douglas claims that he is employed by the MP for Barking Margaret Hodge, now either he has made a mistake, or, Hodge has forgotten to list him as an employee with the House of Commons.

Obasohan, claims that he has a Cleaning Contract? is he the employer? or an employee?

Vincent, as well as not listing his address he has failed to list his employer.

Does make you wonder what class of members they are if they fail to complete a simple form correctly.

We would hope that the 2 members who failed to Register within the legal framework are now dealt with, and it is made public.

TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT PRESS REVIEW OF THE PANTO

`Its a shame that the only reporter the Dagenham Post could get along to last weeks meeting was John Phillips, not known for his sense of humour.

First headline reads "First victory in library protest" as all will know by now the Cabinet were not supporting the closure, but of course the Emperor and his cronies want to give the impression that they have stopped this one. We are amazed at Cabinet member John White alleged statement. Perhaps he had a brief dose of amnesia and forgot he is a Cabinet member......at the moment.

Baron von Letchford it now appears represents a very small community in his ward as several times during the review we are informed that he represents Becontree Tenants and Residents Association odd that as we see no Declaration of Interest in the minutes, still if that's all he is representing we do hope that his other ward colleagues are picking up the slack...........but then we know they are not.

One of the 3 ugly sisters at the meeting, who just happens to be the group whip has obviously not been paying attention to what the Community Associations are telling the Council, they are of course more than happy to take over the lease of the community halls, but the ugly sister was going on about "blank cheques", no idea where that idea come from.

As always the Ugly Sisters go out in 3s, so Carpenter and Twomey had to put in their two penny worth. It appears that these 2 have turned up at all of the Select Committee meetings, and very vocal they have been. It then makes us wonder why Evilyn failed to put herself forward for membership of any of these back in May, but then we know she threw her toys out of the pram because she failed to get the positions at the AGM that she believed she was entitled to and had been promised.

Really its a waste of time going on with the Press Review as its obvious to us that the reporter was not paying attention.

So we will give you a quick update on what may be happening at the Assembly this evening.

First off we have learned from the bnp website that they are proposing to demonstrate outside the Town Hall tonight, we doubt the many will turn up, a bit too cold for them, but if they do just watch and see which members take on the grandstanding role in the chamber.

2 of the Ugly Sisters will be putting up Motions this evening, firstly Evilyn, she wants the Council to lobby government for additional money for the Adult College, laudable, but is it a pressing need at this time?

The other Ugly Sister, Twomey, his Motion is far more damaging, basically he wants the Council to hand over to Housing Associations Council properties because he thinks they are the only ones that can bring in the funding to regenerate certain areas.

Well we don't have to look to far to find where that idea came from, was it Circle Anglia or East Thames?

Perhaps Twomey should learn to walk before he can run, he should pay attention to the tenants of the council who have already voted overwhelmingly that they want to stay Council Tenants, that is why the Labour Group aligned its self to the Defend Housing campaign, and that is strengthened by being Council policy.

Aside from tenants wishes what about the staff that would have to be made redundant, estate officers, managers, caretakers, to name but a few, obviously Twomey has not thought of that, or has he, it wont impact on his publicly funded wage packet.

Still we will sit in the gallery tonight and watch the panto and report back.

JUST WHAT ARE THE COUNCIL TAX PAYERS GETTING FOR THEIR MONEY?

Lets have a look at the attendance of councillors for their 1st 6 months in office. We have tried to break this down into easy blocks with best 1st and then on a downward spiral.

Please bear in mind that some of the members are only on 1 or 2 committees or none at all and just turn up for the Assembly or not as the mood takes them.

100% - 90%

Alasia (91%), Channer (100%), Clee (100%), Geddes (100%), IS Jamu (95%), Ramsay (100%), Rodwell (93%), Salam (94%), Smith (92%), Twomey (93%), Vincent (93%), Worby (92%).

80% - 90%

Ashraf (81%), Burgon (82%), R Gill (83%), AS Jamu (81%), Keller (84%), Letchford (86%), McKenzie (83%) Poulton (80%), Reason (87%), C Rice (88%) L Rice (87%), Wade (83%), P Waker (81%), White (82%)

We would suggest a cut off line here for the middle, all those in this block should be questioning themselves.

70% - 80%

Butt (76%), Carpenter (70%), Douglas (79%), N Gill (75%), Hunt (71%) Hussain (73%), Kangethe (71%), McCarthy (78%), McDermott (77%), Miles (79%), Mullane (76%), Perry (77%), Rai (75%), Saeed (75%), Tarry (79%).

60% - 70%

Collins (62%), Davis (60%), Ogungbose (67%), L Waker (67%).

50% - 60%

Alexander (53%).

We would suggest that the next 2 bands are coming close to taking the p....s

40% - 50%

Aziz (46%).

30% - 40%

Obasohan (38%).

This last band is taking the p.....s

20% - 30%

Baldwin (22%), Barratt (25%), Couling (29%)

So there it is in Black white and red, not very good reading is it????

Over the next couple of days we will be putting together a post on their Register of Interests, and Hospitality's, some glaring discrepancies there.

A VERY EARLY PANTO IN THE BOROUGH

On Wednesday evening quite a few of us turned up to view what we thought was going to be a Safer Stronger Select committee meeting, which according to the Agenda would be debating the options for cuts that came under its remit.

We very soon learned that we were to be entertained by a one off performance of "The Emperors New Clothes". With of course the Lead Member Rodwell in the starring role of Emperor.

No sooner had the Lead Member been informed by officers that it was 6.0pm and time to start he stated that he had a bus load of family and friends on their way who he had 'sold' tickets to, about 40 of them we were told, so we had to wait for them to arrive.

Very embarrassing for officers and Senior Members, but then this would not be the first time that night they would suffer embarrassment.

Well the scene was set and the Emperor opened the show, now we have been made aware that in the report on Options ALL members of the select committee would have been aware of which options the Cabinet were NOT supporting.

Now bearing this in mind, we do ask why? the Emperor made such a drama over Libraries, knowing full well that the Cabinet would NOT support closure of any of the 5 suggested. Is it as we would suggest that the Emperor is tilting at windmills and wanted his audience to recognise that he would save their libraries all by himself?

Why we ask did the Emperor force a vote on each of the options? so totally not within the remit of a select committee, does he not understand that a Select committee is NOT a decision making body? or was he just trying to further embarrass members in front of the public?

The next very amusing scene of this very lack lustre panto was the to do over Community Halls, the Emperor had already been informed by a Senior Cabinet Member that the Community Associations were all supportive of the proposals that they take over the running of the Halls, but, no the Emperor was not having any of this, he obviously was not prepared to listen to the community, he wants things to stay as they are, and even to increase funding to the halls. Now Baron Von Letchford who we all know is very fashion minded was not going to be out done by his Emperors new outfit.

There was a very heated and should we say foul language tirade between the 2 of them. You only had to look at the faces of Senior Officers and Members while this was going on to realize that they had both overstepped the mark, their conduct was appalling, and we wait to see if the Standards Board and the Labour Group deal with this as they should.

Oh what next Goresbrook Leisure Centre, it has been judged by professional engineers to be coming to the end of its life and recommended for closure in 2013, but, again the Emperor was having none of this.

So........we the council tax payers would ask the Emperor just where he proposes to put the cuts? So that he can keep his little pets in place. Are we going to see less streets being cleaned, are we going over to fortnightly rubbish collection? are more front line staff who deliver the services going to loose their jobs?

On looking through the list of members of this committee we reckon only 5 of them actually pay council tax. 1 of them we know has 3 wage packets from public money, another has 2.

They are not going to feel the pain, certainly not if this panto is anything to go by. Its about time the players in this little farce and certainly the Emperor woke up to the fact that they are there to represent the best interest of the residents in this borough, not their own little pet projects.

The Broadway Theatre is supposed to be able to fund itself with just a little help from the council, what about those residents in the borough who do not have a community hall in their ward? why should they pay for something they cannot access.

The consensus of opinion from residents is they want their streets clean, they want weekly rubbish collections and they want to feel safe. The fluffy bits are ok when you have the money, but in times like these you must give the bread and butter services that the council tax payers are paying for.

So at the end of what was an embarrassing Panto for officers and public alike, the Emperor slew NO Dragons and we could all see his blue and white boxer shorts.

A TIME OF SACRIFICE

As anyone living in Barking & Dagenham, or outside with any interest and a computer can click on the councils website and after a little hunting can find in the agendas for the select/scrutiny committee meetings the Options for cuts.

This is because the council has to find some 48 million in cuts we read, in the reports and in the local press.

There is also on the agenda for the Executive the proposals for increase in charges.

None of these reports are making for easy reading, council staff will loose their jobs, services will be cut altogether or trimmed down.

We can fully appreciate that difficult times such as these call for difficult decisions, and we know that as well as the staff that will loose their jobs it is the residents of the borough who will feel the most pain of these cuts.

But, just what cuts are the elected members making? well we can always assume that the usual tea, coffee and biscuits for meetings will get cut, at least for the first 3 months and then quietly make their way back, but, what else? Nothing!!!!!!

Well lets have a look at one prominent member, he has his own business registered at Companies House, he works for a Registered Charity in the borough, his wages for this job come from public funds. He receives as all members do just over £10,000 per annum on top of this he receives a little over £3,000 as a Lead Member on a select committee, these monies come from public funds. He also receives £7,500 per annum as a non Exec member of the PCT again paid out of public funds.

So quite a nice little income really, just how much is he and the other 50 members of the council prepared to sacrifice to share the pain that the community they were elected to represent are going to feel?

How about the option that for the financial year April 2011 all 51 members offer up their basic £10,000 per annum?

This we are sure you will know makes a good saving of in excess of £510,000 quite a tidy sum, which could very well mean that some council staff do not loose their jobs.

And lets face it no councillor should depend on that £10,000 per annum, you never know when a by-election could be called.

So the question we pose to the members is are you up for the sacrifice?

OH DO GET A GRIP!!!!!

Many of those who are contacting us now are pointing us in the direction of Minutes of council meetings, especially those of Select committees which do sometimes make for very interesting reading.

Let us firstly offer some words of advice, at the beginning of any agenda there is an item asking members to declare any interest, it appears that many of the new members either do not know what this means or choose to ignore it, which if they carry on could cause them problems.

Recently the Safer and Communities select committee received a report consulting them on the proposed new way forward for Council Grants.........now any member who had taken the trouble to read the report beforehand, and of course had any common sense would have realized that working for a voluntary sector organization that is funded by the council should have declared an interest at the beginning of the meeting. Of course we were surprised to see there were no declarations of interest minuted. There should have been!!!!

Then we come to the discussion no doubt started by the Lead Member who wants to see more council grant funding go to Tenants and Residents Associations, (well we all know the reasons why that is).

Well lets air an argument we understand from our sources that has been going on for a long time with regard to funding for these "elite" groups. (a) they are funded from the Housing Revenue Account, therefore no resident who is not a council tenant should benefit from the funding given by the council to these groups, and they should in fact be only Tenants Associations. (b) and why,( if has been suggested that the funding for these groups comes from the General Fund) when cuts are going to come, probably to much needed council services, should the council tax payers money fund "elite" groups such as these.

We should all be thankful that in the Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting where these appalling suggestions were reported that the wise heads in the Cabinet NOTED the report. At least the council tax payers in Barking & Dagenham can take some comfort that the Cabinet Members will use their experience and good, sound judgement to kick the irresponsible suggestions put forward by certain self seeking members who FAIL to declare their interests into touch.

We will continue to monitor the progress in the Minutes.

NORTH STREET MAFIA OUT IN THE COLD

Just how did they get it so wrong? being driven by Hodge to support 2 losers, Oona King and David Milliband will now consign Barking CLP and M Hodge MP to Siberia.

The mafia will now learn how the party punishes, as will Hodge.

The rest of us will just sit back and watch.

A great day for the "true party members" well done Ed.

JUST WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

Now this information is in the public realm, you don't have to make a Freedom of Information request, you can just check out on the councils website. And its about time local residents did so, they would then find in black and white just what meetings their duly elected councillors are not attending, and if they are not attending they are failing to represent the residents of the ward.

We will focus on just 2 areas this time round, Louis Couling, all the fuss about how great she would be as a councillor, she has only attended 1 council meeting since being elected, wonder how the residents of Goresbrook feel about that?

Standing at the very bottom of the list at the moment are the councillors for Mayesbrook ward, one of whom has only a 15% attendance record since May, and the other 2 are not much higher.

It will be clearer as time goes on just how many of them are just there for the money and don't want to do the work, or in some cases are totally incapable of doing the work.

And although we have not been able to access the attendance figures for the groups political meetings we are given to understand that the Barking councillors consistently fail to turn up for those as well.

One other question we have been asked to raise re Mayesbrook ward, how can a resident attend a surgery with issues that maybe of a sensitive and confidential nature when the councillors persist in holding their surgery in a local cafe?

STORM CLOUDS ARE GATHERING

We have been reliably informed by insiders within Barking CLP, that, during the summer recess the North Street Mafia have been planning how to bring down the Leadership within the council Labour Group, a group we are told they feel NO loyalty towards because of course "they" are not leading it!!!!

We understand that their first salvo will take place at the Group meeting due to take place this coming Monday. Where we have been told they will attack one of the Cabinet members who they believe has fallen down on the job, whose service they believe is crap, of course it isn't, but, as usual when you get enough people shouting, as they no doubt will it wont be easy for the Cabinet member to get a word in.

This is just the start, their plan we understand is to pick them off 1 by 1 until they can then force through a vote of no confidence in the Leader who selected the Cabinet.

Should be an interesting and entertaining meeting on Monday, especially as the Chief Whip is very firmly in the North Street Mafia, BUT, there is of course always a glimmer of hope, that is that the stupid fools have failed to inform the Chairman in writing 7 days before the meeting that they are going to bring the issue up.

If they haven't of course that stops the conversation dead.

Lets wait and see shall we?

WHISPERING CAMPAIGN

Looks like the honeymoon period at the council is over.

We have been informed that one of the junior councillors has started a very nasty campaign against a very Senior member.

The junior councillor has been identified as representing Alibon ward.

The subject of the campaign is that the junior member is spreading it around that the Senior member is guilty of "gerrymandering" during the run up to the elections in May.

The he is claiming that the Senior member made sure that works, such as roads, street cleansing and real detailed clean ups were concentrated in wards that the Senior member had close colleagues in. The junior member states that no such works were done in his ward, and in fact where officers were intending to go in and do works they were routed to another area.

Now just a word of advice for this junior member, "just bear in mind that this Senior Councillor has been around for a long time. He also has very good working relationships with a close group of journalists"

So if you are going to be so stupid as to spread lies such as this, just be careful who you talk to because the Senior Councillor referred to sees all and hears all.

IN MEMORY OF DON HEMMETT

We have learned this morning of the death of Don Hemmett, a life long member of the Labour Party, a formidable trade unionist, and a great Ward Councillor for the residents of Valence Ward where he lived for many years with his wife Astrid.

Although over recent years Don has had his health problems, they never stopped him working on behalf of his community. Residents knew that they could knock on his door or telephone him and he would work tirelessly to deal and resolve their problems.

Being disabled did not nor should it have ever stopped him being an effective ward Councillor.

Already we hear that since May of this year residents had contacted Don voicing their concerns about the inability of the newly elected councillors to deal with their problems, and even though he was no longer a councillor Don still tried to help.

The mafia at North street should now be hanging their heads in shame, their decision to get rid of Don and replace him with what????? we are convinced brought about Dons final illness.

The mafia have no soul, and no feeling for the community they claim to represent not like Don Hemmett who will be very sadly missed by his family, his true friends and the community he represent so well for many years.

Don we salute you.

POULTON REFUSES TO UNDERGO TRAINING

Some will remember a few months ago the councils Standards Board received a complaint made by residents of Thames ward after councillor Poulton was very rude and aggressive towards an elderly resident at a meeting.

The Standards board issued a directive that Poulton should write a letter of apology, and that he should not Chair any council meetings until such time as he had received training on how to be a Good Chairman.

Firstly, Poulton has not complied with the directive to write a letter of apology, and now we hear that he has refused to undergo the training, even though he has been appointed Deputy Chair of the planning committee, which could mean that at some time he may be called on to chair the meeting.

Talk about sticking 2 fingers up at the councils Standards board, but, more importantly its the 2 fingers he is sticking up at the residents of Thames ward.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF THE PROMISES?

Many voters in the Barking constituency were promised a new and exciting team of labour councillors, who would work for them and be available when called.

You would have seen in a previous post that at least one of them is not living up to that promise with councillor Channer not responding to residents complaints.

Now it certainly seems that the newly elected councillors for Barking are taking 6 weeks holiday, if you look at when they are advertising their next surgeries, those of course that are holding surgeries, and there is not many of them, they have closed down until September, much in line with the House of Commons recess, many would say that they have been instructed by their Leader M Hodge that they cannot function when she is not around to supervise.

Word is leaking out from the council chamber that many are not even attending council meetings, but, they are still picking up the money!!!

It is also being said that those that are attending meetings have to attend briefing meetings at North Street first, so that they toe the North street line.

Really the only line they should be following is the line their communities set, but, of course they are not concerned with that are they??

A LESSON THAT MUST BE LEARNED

We have been told that one of the newly elected North Street mafia is refusing to take up a very real problem that has been brought to them by residents in the ward.

We have also been told that despite the fact that this newly elected member has stated that they can be contacted 24 hours a day, you can contact them, but they wont do anything according to residents.

The reason why, according to residents is that the councillor is a member of the organisation that is causing all of the problems.

We will of course watch and see how or even if the problems are resolved.

WHY

Papers published this week on the councils website show that councillor Barry Poulton has still not complied with the instructions of the Standards Board sent out several months ago, that he writes an apology to the elderly resident he abused at a meeting, and also that he has to undergo training before he can chair any council meetings.

Just goes to show the lack of respect for the residents of Thames Ward, but, also the lack of respect for the councils own code of conduct and the Standards board itself.

It must now be the job of the labour group itself to see that councillor Barry Poulton complies with these directions, otherwise it could be said that not only has Poulton no respect, but, that the labour group has no respect either.

SECRETARYS FOR NEW WARD COUNCILLORS

We have been reliably informed that residents who are phoning councillor Aziz (he is the only one in the ward who has put a land line telephone number) with problems are being told they will be called back and to leave a message.

Sure enough they are called back, when school is out by councillor Aziz son who we are told is telling residents that he is the Secretary for the ward Councillors for Gascoigne, he will be the one who will take all the details of their problems down, he will then investigate and come back to them in 7/10 days.

It is no small wonder then that the majority of residents are refusing to give their personal information to an outsider, and we are told that an awful lot of residents are not happy at all.

NAUGHTY NAUGHTY

North street really do believe in rubbing the noses of the voters right in it don't they.

Have you seen the latest leaflet they are putting out for the by election in Goresbrook ward? by the way North street you really should train your delivery boys better, they wasted an awful lot of your money putting 100s of leaflets out in River ward.

Anyway, the headline Back Lollipop Louise, and there she is in her council uniform holding the tools of her trade (not gone down too well with the Electoral Commission that one we hear). 71 years old, makes what M Hodge was saying on the doorstep out to be a lie, when she was telling voters she was putting in new, younger and more dynamic councillors.

Lollipop! more like an empty sherbet lemon that one, and North street have proved it themselves by saying that she did not realise the rules on standing as a councillor. Well if she and the agent could not read and understand the easy to read fact sheet sent to all candidates and Agents how on earth is she going to read and understand complex council reports?

And as for the deliberate lie that the rules had been changed come on give it a break those rules have been in place for some 20 years. Louise was devastated that she made a mistake, nope devastated she got caught. Still we are pretty sure she will explain all that to the judge.

We will post more on the alleged claims of success by Letchford and Clee later.

Oh just one other minor point, how can an employee of the MP who is paid by the tax payer act as the Agent in this by election, why haven't the Local Government committee followed their own party rules and met to select the Local Government committee election Agent?

JOHN BROWN ENVELOPE DAVIS AT IT AGAIN

We have been reliably informed that John (brown envelope) Davis has not wasted any time in getting up to his old tricks.

We have been told that John (brown envelope) Davis is sunning himself with his partner in Cyprus thanks to a restaurant owner in the borough who Davis managed to persuade him to give up his home for a week or two so that they could enjoy a free holiday.

We do wonder if this gift will be entered in the Councils Gifts and hospitality register?

WHY CANT THE NORTH STREET MAFIA BE HONEST WITH ITS OWN PARTY MEMBERS?

Dropping through Barking Labour party members doors this morning is a letter from Laila Butt we are told.

We would draw your attention to a sentence that is really making some members angry, in fact they are asking the question "do that lot think we are all stupid?"

Have a look at the sentence that's causing so much anger:

"Through a bureaucratic error which the BNP have ruthlessly exploited, one of our elected councillors, Louise Couling, has to fight again her election to the council."

When all know there was no bureaucratic error, there was Electoral Malpractice on behalf of Barking Labour Party, which we have been told is under investigation by New Scotland Yard, but please don't call this an error, there was no last minute change of the rules, all candidates were given the rules in black and white, there are persons to be held to account but don't pass the blame on it sits where it should with North Street.

And as for asking for donations, we don't think anyone will be opening their wallets to pay for your mistakes.

JUST A QUITE WORD

As we are pretty sure the scum who choose to send through vicious, nasty and threatening comments about several individuals who have nothing whatsoever to do with the running of this blog should have realised that we are not going to publish their foul shit.

But we do ask the question, "is this how you get your rocks off"? are you so repulsive to women that you sit and have your dreams over a keyboard?

Well lets just warn you that your little messages are now being tracked, and if we have anything to do with it you could end up being someones Bitch in Brixton.

Yes we have friends in high places too, and just remember yours is no longer in government.

HERE IS A PUZZLE FOR YOU

One of the councillors re-elected this time made a number of rather puzzling claims in their bid to be re-selected. So much so that we have spent a large amount of time checking out their claims.

Lets see if you can find an answer to the mystery that unfolds.

The candidate claims to have finished university in the early 1970s, then started their professional career in Barking & Dagenham. Ending up we understand as a head of a department in South London borough. Now even in their cv it appears that this professional career ends in 1980. Certainly all our investigations prove this to be so. Now isn't it rather odd then for an individual to choose to end their professional career at 31 years of age, and to have no other traceable employment from 1980 other than for approx 6 weeks every summer since.

And isn't it even odder that this person did not join the trade union that represented their profession until some 10 years after they ceased to work.

We can find no evidence at all they would support a retirement from this profession through ill health of this individual.

So its a mystery, a puzzle, our investigations have not finished yet, but of course if you recognize who we are referring to and have any info please let us know.

SHAME ON YOU

If the word that has reached us is true, then we can only assume that North Street and Barking CLP have no respect for the community of Barking.

If they did would they be putting up Louise Couling again in the by election in Goresbrook Ward.

Knowing full well that this by election has to be held because she and they broke the law.

Knowing full well that Louise Couling could face criminal proceedings in the Crown Court, because even though she knew only too well that she was disqualified from standing as a candidate in the recent local election because she was employed by the council. A fact that was well known to the Agent Darren Rodwell and to the London Regional organiser they still went ahead.

Now taxpayers money is going to be spent running a by election, when in Barking and Dagenham services are facing cuts and so are staff.

To claim as he has, that she was only a part time employee and a junior member of staff is no argument Rodwell the rules are there to be followed as you will no doubt find out over time, this is only the first of what could be a number of by elections over the coming months, because you and your mafia failed to heed any advice given to you.

And just what are the voters going to think? that all you can come up with is an individual who has already been caught out in a fraud, that you are thumbing your nose at the voters in Goresbrook Ward telling them that is what they deserve.

Well lets wait and see just what happens.

A REQUEST

We have been asked to remind Barking CLP again that they are holding monies that do not belong to them.

As has been stated on this blog before Barking CLP some years ago set up a Share Club, not many members contributed to this, but, those that did at least had a chance for a return on their money in the monthly draw.

Tom Fitzhenry holds these funds and is trusted by all, but, we are told that no draw has been held now for well over a year.

Legally Barking CLP and its officers have no right to this money, and to either run the draw now or to close the Share Club the CLP will have to write to ALL share club members who were still contributing at the time of the last draw which we understand was Christmas 2008, even though members may have withdrawn since then.

We have been told that some of these ex members are concerned about the misuse of this funding and that they are seriously considering taking legal advice on this issue.

So we would suggest to Barking CLP the easiest and safest way round this would be to write to the Share Club contribute rs.

STANDARDS!!!! WHAT STANDARDS

How can you have an elected member of the councils Standards Board who allegedly owes the council some £4,000 in unpaid Car Parking fines, sitting in judgement on other members?

Talking of Standards, has Barry Poulton written the letter of apology to the elderly lady in Thames ward yet?

AND WE ARE EXPECTED TO BELIEVE THIS

Just imagine the whining and pleading voice of Darren Rodwell.

"this was just a stupid silly little mistake. we believed that because she was only a part time member of council staff it would be all right for her to stand (nope) it has been done before (nope) and they (the government) have recently changed the rules (rubbish that's been the ruling for many years).

Sorry Rodwell you deliberately set out to defraud the electorate.

NEWS FLASH

So if the very reliable rumour we have heard is true, its proof positive that North Street get no where by cheating.

Very expensive lesson for them to learn, but, then politics is a game of hard ball. And just whose neck will be on the block? Darren Rodwell he, who they all believe is a Saint!!!!!

Well we would suggest his halo is around his feet at the moment. Or the individual concerned? who really should have read the papers they signed first. Now not only have they lost their job but their seat as well. And the very real possibility of a Criminal conviction to boot.

A very expensive lesson that one, and there will be more, of that you can be sure.

HANG ON TO YOUR HATS

We have had confirmation early this morning that the s....t is about to hit the fan, has Barking CLP got deep pockets?

NOW JUST WHO HAS MORE MONEY THAN SENSE

We have been informed that the 2 candidates who stood for Barking in the Local elections who between them owed the council over £4500 in council tax were seen going into the cashiers section at the council on Tuesday 4th May with bundles of £10 and £20 notes in their hot little hands to pay off their debts.

The question that now needs to be asked is just who bailed them out, Barking CLP doubtful, the Labour Party maybe or was there another more wealthy donor to their cause?

Still the money has been paid, but can Barking CLP legitimately put these down as election expenses?

WHAT A TREAT IS IN STORE

Having just looked through just how many of the North Street mafia have now got their noses in the trough, IE additional pay for either Chair or Vice Chair, this is going to be a delight to report on.

Not a clue, useless, yet given or voted themselves areas of responsibility that really required them to serve at least a year just learning their way around.

Still we will watch and see, and of course report to you. Just 2 for you to ponder on at the moment Tariq Saeed Lead Member for the Public Accounts select committee, no this is no joke.
Failed King Rodwell Lead Member for Safer Communities Select committee, just a question there Rodwell should you not declare a Personal Interest?

The fun has just started.

Oh and while we are at it Letchford, suit, shirt and tie please, you are not on the beach at Southend you know.

EASTBURY WARD the truth is out

Can we refer our readers back to our posting on this ward back in July last year where we gave you an idea of just how corrupt North Street were in their interference in this wards AGM. Which led to Rob Chapman banning them from Barking CLP AGM and indeed forcing the Ward to then re-run its AGM.

Well it now appears that Mr Riaz who did so much work for North Street to bring this about has decided to come clean.

We are very reliably informed that all that Mr Riaz did IE claiming he lived at a certain address in the ward, visiting ward members and getting them to sign bits of paper which were then used in a lie. Mr Riaz working with Laila Butt and Abdul Aziz visiting BME members telling them that the ward members were racist and would not put forward a BME candidate.

All of this and more was done at the direction of one person in North Street, a person we might add who has no right whatsoever to get involved in local party politics as his salary is paid by the British taxpayer through the House of Commons.

Yes you guessed it Mike Haywood, and it appears that so angry is Mr Riaz at the way he was treated by North Street after doing everything that was asked of him, that he is fully prepared to make a written statement in law.

Now while we of course can only put down in print the allegations made by Mr Riaz, we are told that he is making them widely and loudly.

Perhaps now the London Region of the Labour Party and also the General Secretary of the Labour Party will give the complaints we know that were made to them a second look.

Justice may prevail.

THE KING FAILED TO GET HIS CROWN

Live as we post this blog we hear that even with his and the North Street Mafia total immersion into corruption, Darren Rodwell FAILED to be elected as Leader of the Council.

Justice prevails.

PANIC AND RECRIMINATIONS AT NORTH STREET

Well its started. we hear that Louis Couling is blaming Liam Smith because she cannot take up her seat in the council chamber. No sorry you stupid old woman, nobody to blame but yourself and your Agent. You should have read the paperwork that went to ALL candidates. And more importantly so should your agent.

Then the biggest and most laughable news guess who North Street are going to run in the Goresbrook by election wait for it, Dominics Mummy, Pat Twomey.

Well lets just put this marker down on behalf of all the the de-selected councillors who did not get through North Streets corrupted selection process.

Try that and you and London Region will find yourselves in the courts. Pat Twomey never got through your so called Independent panel as did many others, you do not have the right just to impose a failure. Never mind labour party rules, there are other avenues, such as the Equal Opportunities.

So try it and then wait for the backlash.

HIGH LEVEL MEETING AT NORTH STREET

We have heard that this weekend a high level or should we call it low level meeting was held at North Street.

The meeting was lead by Mike Heywood with a guest appearance by ex councillor Pat Twomey, now why they should have brought her on board is beyond us, obviously they wanted her to teach them how things are run in the Labour Group, they could have saved themselves the trouble because she never had a clue.

Still why were they there? it seems the carve up for positions on the council was to take place, obviously the King Darren Rodwell is going for the big prize of Leader, the rest will be allocated and serve as he directs.

Now just to make sure he has got enough votes visits have been made to a number of Dagenham party members to bring them to his aid, we don't think he has a chance.

One very large and quite serious disappointment for North Street will be the knowledge that they do not have a full slate, Louis Couling will be barred from taking up the position as councillor, she knows it, they know it, and we hear the police know it. There is a hefty fine or prison sentence that goes with what she has done, we wonder if North street will pay the fine, and then be ready to pay out for the by election which will come along very quickly.

REVIEW 4

PARSLOES Ward, really the only candidate for Labour on the ballot paper who is worth a mention is Bert Collins, a good man, works hard for his people, not only in the ward but across the borough........the other 2 are not worthy of having their names on the ballot paper let alone a further mention on here.

THAMES Ward, Well what a motley crew, Cameron Geddes, nobody on Thames knows what he even looks like, well the same has been said at North street it seems as he don't turn up there either.
Living in the past young man, sees life either through the bottom of a bottle, or on his playstation.

Josie Channer, once again very few on Thames knows what she looks like, other than her neighbours and they are none too happy either. It is said that in her application to go forward for selection she claimed to have worked for Her Majesty's Prison service, there are some now who would said that perhaps she had been detained by the same.

Barry Poulton, well known on Thames View estate for litter picking, abusing elderly residents, holding his surgery at his garden gate so all can hear, exaggerating issues, there are never 2 black bags with Barry always 202. Well known at council functions for hanging around at the end so he can empty the biscuit plate or even sandwiches into his bag. Obviously not big on cooking.

His claims of what he has done are so well documented and disproved that most just ignore him now.

One of these candidates it is said owes the council and incredibly large amount of money in council tax. They should really make sure the Bailiffs letters are not left pinned to the door for neighbours to read.

Will these 3 get elected? most unlikely. George Shaw your failure is just around the corner.

VALENCE Ward, very little is known about these 3 other than Maureen Worby, the question should be asked if she was not good enough for Dagenham why should she be good enough for Barking, well she is not. In fact very little work has been done by any of these 3 in this ward.

So there you go, a whiz through to top up where we started back in July, not made much improvement have they? in fact they don't instill any confidence in you at all do they?

Our feedback from North Street is that they have all been told that they are not allowed lunch or tea breaks tomorrow, they are not even allowed home to use the toilet. Darren Rodwell the King has given them their orders, they have we hear been told that any who do not follow his orders will be expelled from the party.

Would you really want to be in such a party?

We will give you regular updates during the day tomorrow.

ROUND UP No 3

LONGBRIDGE Ward, honestly the only one on here who is worth a comment is Linda Rice, heaven knows what the voter will get if they even bother to vote for her. Another of the North Street mafia who does not believe in being part of a team.

MAYESBROOK Ward, Ralph Baldwin, Mr Mystery man this one, parachuted in from who knows where, claims to be ex Army, claims to be a BSc, claims to be.....claims to be......and it goes on and on. He certainly does NOT come from the borough, a labour party plant we hear.

George Barratt, nice old man who it seems has got carried away with his own PR doing very little in the ward to get elected.

And finally we come to Dee Hunt, well what can we add to what we have written before, will her understanding with the BNP set up in 2006 carry her through this time? there are many who say NO, but then can she honestly say that she has worked and represented her voters over the last 4 years?

REVIEW part 2

EASTBURY Ward, Jeanne Alexander, Jim McDermott and Hardial Singh Rai, totally marginalised by the North Street mafia, no support or help given or offered. With a little bit of additional resources this ward could have been taken by Labour, but perhaps there is some truth in the tale that North Street have already got a fall back position on this one with the spectre of Mohammed Riaz who is posing as a Lib Dem , is there a chance that if he were to snatch the victory from these 3 labour candidates, who were democratically selected by the ward members, that Riaz would do what he has been set up to do which is cross the floor to Labour.

GASCOIGNE Ward, Saima Ashraf, Abdul Aziz and Dominic Twomey.

Saima Ashraf only speaks when given permission to by Aziz. Twomey has obviously decided to adopt the same campaign he used in 2006 which was to go it alone, there is no team work on this ward, Twomey has cut himself adrift, probably because he recognises the handicap.

Anyway there has been much talk of fraud against a High Street Bank in another posting on this site, also the abuse of the benefits systems. Lets just say that 1 of these 3 is guilty of both offences.

GORESBROOK Ward, Jim Clee, Louis Couling and Graham Letchford, what a tribe.

With the exception of Jim Clee who is a nice old boy, very genuine but clueless, the other 2 are a train crash waiting to happen. We hear the the Met Police is already investigating one of these 2 candidates, and North Street cannot say they were not warned. As for Letchford, on his application to go forward for interview for the panel, he wrote that he was retired. Well that's 1 lie for a start, when all know that he is on the sick, with the diagnoses of Manic Depressive.

He claimed in an earlier posting on this blog that of course he spoke to Richard Barnbrook of the BNP as he was the only councillor doing anything, do wonder if he repeated that to the interview panel? once again a clear breach of labour party rules. Observers say that his relationship with Barnbrook over the months has grown, and that there is a very real possibility that a deal has been struck very much the same as that between Rodwell and Bailey.

Just one little further piece of information one of these candidates owes the council an awful lot of money in council tax arrears we hear.

BECONTREE

Well things seem to have got a bit hot in this ward, no sign of Evilyn seems she has run for cover, no longer is she boasting that she will be the next Deputy Leader of the council, it looks very much like she is giving up the fight to keep her seat.

Perhaps she has recognised that the Independents standing have a far better relationship with the community than she could ever have, they at least understand what is going on in the ward, and they certainly do not preach to residents.

James Ogungbose, very nice man, but does he really have a clue what he is doing. We know there were a large number of complaints about the time of night he was delivering leaflets.

Rob Douglas, absolutely clueless, just does as he is told, well doing as he was told got him into trouble the other day we hear, he really should not go into local shops and threaten shop keepers that they will loose their tenancy if they keep the Independents posters in their windows.

Does he really believe that even councillors have that kind of power, no of course they don't, but its worrying that Douglas believes he has.

Becontree is not a safe seat for Labour now.

ALIBON, is this the KINGs seat or?

more like the tale of the Emperors new clothes.

Lets have a look shall we?

Sanchia Alasia - still after all this time nothing more known about her, we hope that at least some voters know her in the ward.

John (brown envelope) Davis well what can we say, despite Hodge and the mafia doing everything they could to get him through, including the fact that he was never interviewed by the so called Independent panel to go forward for selection. He has as all have known been hopeless on the campaign trail.

Its only safe to allow him to turn up for a photograph, the mafia have been warned don't let him near the public, and don't let him anywhere near visiting ministers.

The way that things have been carved up in Alibon ward there will only be 1 place for Labour and that wont be John (brown envelope) Davis.

And now we come to Darren Rodwell the man who would be king.......we hear that he has already selected his Cabinet, there will be NO members from Dagenham in that little cosy group.

He has we understand been condemned by the Electoral Commission with regard to his handling of Postal Vote forms.

He has continued in his condemnation of previous Labour Members in how they run the council, despite the very fact that only just a short while ago the Council was judged to be a 4* Council, 1 of very few in London.

By the way his condemnation of those Labour members goes against the rules of the Labour Party which he claims to represent.

Tell us Darren did you resolve your companies bankruptcy issues?

But, lets set all of his corrupt little ways aside, because they pale in significance to the deal he has struck with Bob Bailey from the BNP, many have been aware of the friendship that exists between them, and now people are coming forward and talking openly about their belief that an agreement has been reached between these 2. Bailey it seems is quite happy to sacrifice one of his own to let Rodwell win a seat. It is even being suggested that certain bnp canvassers are suggesting this on the doorstep.

We of course would like to be in the position to confirm this without any doubt but as yet we are unable to, but we have been reminded that a similar deal was struck in Mayesbrook Ward in 2006.

REVIEW and ROUNDUP

Well as its only a few days till D day we thought we would do a whistle stop tour around the Barking Wards and have a look see just how the North Street mafias candidates have shaped up on the run up to polling day.

Starting of course with Abbey Ward.

Laila Butt, Manzoor Hussain and Tariq Saeed

Well nothing much has changed with these 3, it seems they are now as they have always been of the opinion that being Muslim will get them through.

They are we have been told the laziest lot of campaigners in Barking, the only time they turn up is if its to have their photo taken. The don't do door knocking, and when they can get away with it they give the kids a few bob to deliver any leaflets.

What is worrying for all residents and voters in the area should be that they are making promises, there is a strong rumour of a expansion to the Mosque which of course these 3 are signed up to

Also the growth, the very worrying growth in postal votes in Abbey Ward, but, as we have already covered that issue in another posting.

Will all 3 get through? possibly, but, there could well be a couple of surprises the Conservatives have put forward a strong team, and as awful as it is the 1 BNP candidate could cause an upset.

FURTHER INFO ON MET POLICE INVESTIGATION

We have learned this morning that the Mets investigation into fictitious names being put on the electoral role in East London has been prompted by the fact that more than 5,000 last-minute applications to vote have been received.

We also have today a direct quote from the Electoral Commission set out below:

The Electoral Commission condemns political parties for encouraging voters to send postal vote application forms to local campaign offices INSTEAD of town halls.

Parties store information for canvassing purposes, then send the forms on to council election staff who distribute ballot papers to households.

BUT, the practice is open to abuse because application forms include both the signature and birth date of the voter, which could be used by fraudsters to forge ballot papers."

Is North Street that desperate?????

MAJOR POSTAL VOTE INVESTIGATION

We are sure you have all read in the national newspapers that the Met Police are holding a Major investigation into illegal practices in Postal Voting in 12 London Boroughs.

We ask the question why, has Darren Rodwell as Agent for Barking then been putting out leaflets with forms for residents to register for postal votes and then more importantly asking that they return their forms to him??????

It seems that this is in direct contravention of the rules laid down by the Electoral Commission.

THE STORM CLOUDS ARE GATHERING

Our friend on the inside of North street tells us that things are starting to fall apart. Major rows are taking place as Rodwell and Twomey try to exert their power and get people doing it the way they want it done.

Their house of cards is in a state of collapse. We hear that PC plod may be knocking on the door in the next few days, there will be a follow up posting on that when we have all the facts.

Their very expensive glossy leaflet is dropping through the doors across the borough with Hodge MP superimposed in the line up of council candidates.

What makes interesting reading is the centre pages where she and her candidates make claim to all that has been done in each ward. Take Thames for instance they are claiming that they sorted out the cyclone heating, but stupid idiots could not even get the names of the blocks correct its Basset House not Bartletts you fools.

Still the residents in Barking know only too well who has done the work for them, and its certainly not the motley crews they are putting on the leaflets.

And then we come to the threats, a couple of postings back we informed you about Barry Poulton threatening shop keepers over posters, well this dirty little habit appears to be spreading. This will be dealt with in the fullness of time we are told.

WHO MADE RODWELL KING?

A large piece of German newspaper the Speigel has been emailed over to us today, it makes for very interesting and disturbing reading. Obviously Rodwell now truly believes himself to be the Leader for Labour in Barking & Dagenham and a thing like an election is just incidental.

We will just put in a small paragraph of what he says for you to make your own judgement.

Labour and Tories are pressing immigration debate.

Now, it benefits from the wrath of Labours mismanagement. "We have not listened to the people" admits Rodwell. The policy has been in recent years dominated by an old guard retired Ford unionists, who had set up in the City Council comfortable. For ideological reasons, they refused to outsource the construction of social housing to non-profit real estate companies. This had made the national Labour Government as a condition of grants. Thus, since more than ten years, no social housing built in the district - the main reason for the acute housing shortage.

Now we are not about to give this mis-guided young man a history lesson, but, if he feels or believes that he is now in a position to speak to newspapers both national and international on behalf of the borough he could at least take the time to check out his facts, and to learn to speak in English.

The problem with the likes of Rodwell and his mafia is that they have convinced themselves that they are right and everyone else is wrong, where a more commonsense approach would have been to learn how things work, to check out the facts first. Running the council is not like running a Tenants and Residents Association.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Ask yourself this question:

WHY? have the BNP not made more in their leaflets and on the doorstep of the split in Barking Labour Party??????

Could it be .......that the friendship we all know exists between Rodwell (the Leader, yes that's what he is calling himself, more on that later) and Bailey, and of course Letchford and Barnbrook. Has a deal been done? We know for instance that Bailey is doing very little in Alibon ward.

Barnbrook is we hear all over the place where ever there is a camera.

So we will leave it to you, have the Mafia struck a deal with the devil?

STOP YOUR THREATS POULTON - will you never learn?

Isn't it enough that Barry Poulton has just been hauled over the coals by the Standards Board for his behaviour as Chair towards an elderly resident with his ranting and raving, we all know now he was instructed to write an apology which to our knowledge has still not been received.

But, his latest dirty deed really trumps that, would you believe he has been into shops on the ward where the shop keepers have posters in their windows supporting Independent Candidates and told the shop keepers they have to take them down, they are in breach of their Tenancy Agreement and he even threatened that if they did not take them down he would make sure that they loose their shops.

Has the arrogance of this man caused him to leave his brain at home? Does he really want to end up in front of the Standards Board again? this time for making threats and harassing local businessmen.

What the shop keepers choose to put into their windows, as long as its not pornographic etc is their choice, the fact that they choose not to support Poulton is their choice and there is nothing Poulton can do about it.

BARKING PARTY SHARE CLUB MONEY

We have been asked by a number of members who no longer attend clp meetings and some ex-party members all of whom paid into the above to see if anyone will tell what has happened to the money.

The way it has been explained to us the Share Club was set up some years ago, it was agreed that once a month there would be a payout. We have also been told that Tom Fitzhenry ran the Share club as a separate financial matter from the party's usual funds, and all of those who have contacted us have placed on record that they trust Tom totally.

It seems that a draw of the Share Club has not been made since December 2008. So that would indicate that there is quite a good chunk of money in the pot.

Those members who have been or are still members of the Share Club just want to know what has happened to their money.

Its an easy issue to solve really, if the share club has a Bank Statement or a Statement of Accounts to be transparent a copy of this could be sent to all existing members and also those who although now no longer contributing were doing so in the period from December 08 to today.

They do have a legal entitlement to know what has happened to the money, as they are confident that Tom would have explained only a percentage of this money went to Barking CLP direct funds to officers of the party.

THE BOX, THE BANK AND THE CANDIDATE

Firstly lets set the record straight for our readers, we are doing nothing illegal in reporting this tale to you. We have not breached the Data Protection Act at all.

All we are doing is re-telling a tale that has been passed on to us, we have also been told that the Candidate was very free with this information themselves within Barking CLP while lobbying certain senior members to write glowing references on them and in the same letter stating that the bank was awful.

Luckily we are told the majority of those approached refused to write such a letter, but the odd one or two may have got through.

Lets start this by asking our readers, Why would you want to deposit a reasonably large amount of cash in a Safe Deposit Box? We can understand why the alleged jewellery was put in, but not the money, unless of course it was thought to be a way of hiding money.

Anyway we digress, we are told that the candidate went into their bank and stated that they wanted to open a safety deposit box, they were told that they would have to purchase their own box which they did. They returned to the bank with the box and deposited we are told somewhere between £19,000 and £30,000 and some jewellery. Although we would point out that the bank has no way of confirming that this happened.

The story then continues that within a very short space of time the candidate returns to the bank stating that they wish to remove or check something in their Deposit Box, of course being taken by 2 bank operatives to a separate room and then left alone with the box.

It then transpires that the candidate comes out and states that the money that they put in the box is no longer there, and that members of staff at the bank must have stolen it.

The candidate we are told kicked up such a fuss that the bank called the police.

We were also told that the Police did do an investigation into the theft, but, the result of their investigation did not please the candidate one little bit.

We have been told by a number of sources that the Candidate tried to pursue this through the courts and the ombudsman that is why the candidate needed the glowing references.

What we have done on hearing of this very sad tale is to check out with a number of the High Street banks just what were their policies on the opening and keeping safe of Safety Deposit Boxes.

Firstly anyone who actually told the bank that they wished to keep cash in there would be informed that it was not a good way to keep money and that there was easy access to their cash by putting it into an account which would earn interest for them.

Secondly all Banks have a dual control system in dealing with access to Safety Deposit Boxes, at all times when a client wishes to access their box 2 members of the Banks staff would have to be in attendance to bring the box out of a locked room and place it in front of the customer before leaving the room. And the same in returning the box to a locked room.

Now we are not saying that the candidate lied, we are not even suggesting that there was no money put into the box in the first place, what we are saying is that it appears that the Police investigation did not uphold the claim of the candidate.

Readers of course are invited to make up their own minds.

CORE PRINCIPALS

This has been sent over to us with a request that we ask the question.

One of the Core Principals of the Labour Party is we have been told that the Candidates selected to run for election in the Local Elections "be representative of our society, who can uphold the highest standards of probity and integrity in public life"

Can the North Street mafia confirm or not as the case maybe that the candidates they are putting up conform to these Core Principals?

Of course you will note that we have not mentioned the Local Government committee in this, as all will be very much aware that the Local Government committee has not met to endorse said candidates, even though this is a requirement within the Labour Party Rules.

But then again what do North Street care, and don't get us started on the question of probity.

MANY OF THE OLDER MEMBERS OR NOW EX MEMBERS

Will know who this is, and perhaps over the coming days we will reveal the full story.

But if we were to mention a, safety deposit box, between 20,000 and 30,000 £s and a fraudulent claim against a high street bank.

Perhaps that will wet your interest.

North street cannot say they were not advised/warned

NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED

We have been told that the nominations for the local elections on 6th May in Barking & Dagenham closed yesterday at 12 noon.

We do really hope that for once North Street listened to the advice and the warning given about "their" chosen candidates. We really do hope they checked out that none of them at the 12 noon cut off owed the council any money, because if they did or do then North Street will then pay the cost of loosing at least 3 candidates we have been told about.

But of course knowing the arrogance of the North Street mafia they will try to pull strings to get out of this, BUT do remember we know and so do our informants.

A LITTLE RUMOUR

Just a piece of advice, although the North Street mafia don't want to listen, we would encourage them to ensure that all of their candidates have paid up their Council Tax, as we hear that a few of them may have missed quite a few payments.

As the Agent should be aware there are rules that apply to those wishing to stand for election, and although in the past the North Street mafia have chosen to ignore any rules that are quoted to them this is one set of rules you cannot ignore.

No. 2 IN HOW CAN THEY?

This candidate appears to be one sharp operator, who knows how to play the system to their best advantage, certainly the evidence we have seen proves this.

The first application for Incapacity Benefit goes back about 10 years, and once again the "illness" is depression.

This all changes in around 2001 when it is alleged that the candidate has a heart condition, we have seen evidence that would suggest that the candidate had surgery for this and to all intents and purposes should have made a full recovery.

How can we say this, well we have had a chat with a friend who happens to be a Surgeon, who carries out the operation that was needed on a daily basis.

Obviously making a full recovery one would have thought would allow the candidate to live a normal life, but, it seems that would mean a loss of benefits.

So an application was made for Disability Living Allowance, and todate we have been informed the candidate is still in receipt of that.

Now we are NOT questioning whether this candidate should or should not be in receipt of DLA.

What we are questioning is the reasons they allegedly put down to claim it IE. they cannot walk more than 50 yards, their partner has to dress them, they cannot cross roads on their own because they get dizzy, they have to have a full time carer 24/7 and the reasons go on and on.

Now if the physical condition of the candidate were to be as bad as they claim, how then can they function as a councillor?

But of course many who have related this to us know full well that the claim is false.

But its not the only fraudulent claim this candidate has made, the others have far more criminal implications which we will come to in due course.

North Street cannot say they were not advised or warned to check out the background of their proposed candidates. But pigeons start coming home to roost when you start putting the photos of individuals on leaflets that then go across the whole of the borough.

HOW CAN THE PUBLIC BE EXPECTED TO VOTE FOR?

While we fully support candidates with disabilities standing for the Local Elections, that is one of the mainstays of setting up this site after others interfered to De-select candidates because of their physical disabilities. But to be honest we are having trouble making sense of the latest piece of info to come our way.

It appears that one of the North Street Mafia has been on sickness/incapacity benefits for a number of years, no problem with that at all, but, we are told that the reason they are receiving these benefits is that they have been diagnosed as a Manic Depressive.

This as many will know can be quiet a serious Mental Health problem, and can we believe incapacitate the sufferer for weeks if not months at a time, and many would, we feel question if they were right to stand for office, without of course informing the voters first so that the voters can then make an informed decision.

Lets wait and see if we can have some openess and transparancy from North Street.

SEEMS BARRY POULTON HAS NOT APOLOGIZED

Many of you will have read a previous posting when we informed you that Councillor Barry Poulton had been found guilty of a breach of the councils Code of Conduct for Members, when as Chairman of a meeting he was rude and abusive towards an elderly resident.

The Standards Board instructed that he should write a letter of apology to the elderly lady, he was also told that if he were to be re-elected he would have to undergo training on how to behave.

We have been informed that NO apology has been sent to the elderly lady.

It looks as though Barry Poulton is following in the footsteps of his mentor and master George Shaw who we all know does not apologize to anyone.

This will cost Barry votes big time.

THE CHARITY COMMISSION

We have been informed that the office of DABD in Barking Town Centre is a hive of political campaigning.

It is said that Darren Rodwell and Dominic Twomey both work for DABD which is a registered charity and is also funded by the local authority.

Now it seems that their office has become one centre of operation for Barking Labour Party.

Perhaps Mr Rodwell and Mr Twomey should read the rules of the Charity Commission especially those that relate to political activity.

A VERY STRONG RUMOUR

This story comes from an ex Barking Party member, while we have agreed to print it we take no responsibility for the accuracy of the story sent over to us.

It appears that a very Senior well known Member of Barking party has been caught out doing the tango with another members missus. We don't know the name of the Senior well known Member but we are assured that if we mention that he has a very strong and vested interest in Becontree Builders many of you will know immediately who he is.

Of course out of respect for the injured member in this very sordid and sad tale we will not be naming the dance partner.

But we are pretty sure that you will understand what we mean by tango.

THE STORIES ABOUT HIM JUST KEEP ON COMING

This memory comes courtesy of a Dagenham member.

It seems that back in 2005/06 prior to the last local elections Darren Rodwell was informed that he had missed the boat in being selected to stand for labour as he had only just joined the party.

Rodwell was very angry to say the least as it was said he was of the belief that a place was his by right because he was Chair of the residents association, and according to him all of the work he had done in the community. Of course no mention was made of all the money his "company" had pocketed from the council while doing this "work".

Anyway it is said that Rodwell then claimed that he would stand as an Independent because he firmly believed that only an Independent such as himself could beat the BNP.

Now of course we all know now that Rodwell did no such thing, then, but Dagenham members have long memories and we hear that there is now growing concern that Rodwell is only using labour as a vehicle in his attempt to get elected this time round.

Dagenham members have long memories and they are very much aware that Rodwell does not subscribe to the principles of the Labour Party, and of course there is a lot of evidence now which proves he does not abide by the Party rules.

Concern is growing we hear that if Rodwell were to get elected this time round his first job will be to cross the floor and become an Independent councillor.

Just wonder how the voters in Alibon would react to that???

JUST HOW DOES HE DO IT?

We have been asked by a number of our readers to put this question to you.

It appears that on the London Patriot website, which many will know is the website for the London members of the BNP, there was a recent article about Darren Rodwell and UAF.

We have been told by many who are Labour Party members that when they have in the past tried to make comments on this site, even though the public are encouraged to comment, their comments are never let through the moderation and printed.

It seems Mr Rodwell does not have this problem as his comments have been published in full, and we hear in another article today he has been invited to make his comments on todays article.

Now not to skate on thin ice, but, could this be because of the very friendly relationship between Mr Rodwell and his friends with the BNP?

TEMPERS ARE GETTING FRAYED

We have learned that the officers of Valence Ward are absolutely furious at the high handed approach of the North Street mafia.

We understand that none of the officers or ward members were aware that Mrs Letchford had withdrawn, but, more importantly they were not told that Maureen Worby had been brought in to take her place, they were not invited to take part in her interview. In fact there is no evidence that any interview took place.

Now perhaps a year ago some members and officers in the Ward would not have been aware of the Party Rules and how they apply to the Selection procedure, they are now very well aware of the rules.

They know for instance that the Local Government Committee must meet to confirm the candidates - this we all know has not taken place.

Selection of ward candidates is done by the ward, unless of course there is an emergency, there is no emergency in this instance.

So questions we hear are now being asked, just what does Darren Rodwell think he and his mafia are doing? NO Chair of the Local Government Committee has the power Mr Rodwell seems to think he has.

These issues are we have been told now being taken up by Valence Ward members.

COUNCILLOR BARRY POULTON FOUND GUILTY

We have been very reliably informed, that, following a recent Neighbourhood Management Board meeting on Thames Ward which at that time Councillor Poulton chaired in excess of 20 letters of complaint about his actions were made to the Standards Board at the council.

The complaints were made we are told because Councillor Barry Poulton lost his temper and was extremely rude and aggressive towards an 80 years old female resident.

This case was heard by the Standards Board recently and we have been told that Councillor Barry Poulton was found guilty, he has been instructed by the Standards Board to write a letter of apology, and if, he were to be re-elected to the Council he must undergo training to modify his behaviour in the future.

The elderly resident concerned who does not wish to be named has said that "people like Barry Poulton hold a position of respect in the community and should behave as such", she said that she has lost all respect both for him and his position as a councillor.

As yet there is no sign at all of the letter of apology.

Word from the streets

Just a small piece of news for you all to think over. We have been informed that Rob Chapman has thrown in the towel and walked away from North Street. Last heard walking down the street mumbling "impossible" "bloody impossible".

Next in line for the job for what must have been the shortest time ever was Jennifer, whoever Jennifer is.

But, then we hear Mr Rodwell has decided he doesn't like being out of the limelight, so he has elected himself (very constitutionally minded, is Mr Rodwell) as the Agent, and chief cook and bottle washer.

Obviously no team work there then, just every man/woman for herself. Its getting more and more like Westminster everyday don't you think?

VALENCE WARD

Word on the street is that North Street have dumped Letchfords wife and she will no longer be standing as a candidate. And while they were dropping her off in one gutter they crossed the road and resurrected Maureen Worby from the gutter on the other side.

The suck up patsy John (brown envelope) Davis who is Chair of Barking CLP must be raging on the inside as we hear and many know he was instrumental in getting rid of Maureen Worby from Dagenham CLP.

Just goes to prove the lie that North Street are giving out, that their candidates are forward thinking and progressive when they trot out 2 failures in Cameron Geddes and Maureen Worby.

LETS HAVE A LOOK WHATS HAPPENING

We thought we would bring you up to date on whats going on in Barking CLP and also, thanks to feedback from contacts in each of the wards just what is going on in the wards themselves.

Generally we understand the bubble has burst, the rose tinted glasses have come off and a large number of the Mafia now realize that the canvassing they are doing, the leaflets they are delivering, and the coffee mornings they are attending have nothing to do with getting them elected. It is as its always been about getting M Hodge elected, and we hear that quite a few are no longer happy with this.

Especially as they are told we hear that any leaflets going out in their wards has to have her picture on it.

Still what they really should be more worried about is where has Barking CLP money gone?

Anyway lets do a whistle stop tour of the Wards.

Abbey - we hear panic has settled in, the 3 of them have finally realised they have to work, they cannot pay people to deliver their leaflets, and its just been confirmed that the growth in their ward membership has really dropped off, since December 30 members have lapsed.

Alibon - What can we say, Mr Rodwell is convinced he has already won, and is not particularly worried about his running mates.

Becontree - We hear that Evelyn has decided to take over the ward, totally in breach of Party Rules of course, but then when did rules ever bother Evelyn.

Eastbury - Known in Barking CLP as the "rebel base" so therefore gets nothing at all.

Goresbrook - We understand that Mr Letchford is flying solo as well, but, there is some talk in the ward that he may be getting help from the opposition.

Gascoigne - Odd one this, Mr Twomey was heard to say a few weeks ago "its going great, Im in" yet we hear confidentially that Twomey has stated in honesty that its worse than he ever thought, its no longer a safe Labour ward and he has serious doubts.

Longbridge - Seems the only person you hear about on the ward is Rocky,still we hear on the street that Rocky is in for a real big shock in the next couple of weeks.

Mayesbrook - Well looks like a re - run of 2006 Dee Hunt is off doing her own thing, Baldwin parachuted in from lord knows where, but definitely not Barking telling all and sundry what a great bloke he is, which is certainly not going down well on the street.

Parsloes - More of the same really, Bert Collins as always a safe pair of hands, a good ward Councillor and knows his patch, the other 2 very little has been seen of them.

Thames - with the announcement from Fred Barns this is a lost ward for Labour. We hear that what limited canvassing that has been done over there the doors are more often than not slammed in their face, nothing has been seen of the female candidate at all.
George Shaw really should hang his head in shame at the damage he has done.

Valence - Another loss for Labour, even more disappointing and damaging than Thames, this ward could have been taken from the BNP all it needed was 3 people who were prepared to work and commit to the fight, sadly this has not happened.

So this is just a quick whiz through and over the next week or so we propose to give you an in depth look at each ward.

If you have anything to add please let us know.

One more thing, it is very noticeable some say how the team/group spirit has disappeared in Barking CLP it appears its each man or woman for themselves now. Not something to be proud of is it?

AN INTERESTING READ

As we are quite open to all reasoned arguments we would recommend friends and supporters have a read of the link below, and we thank the individual who states they are neither a supporter of M Hodge or the BNP for sending it over.

http:/borderland.ieasysite.com/preview_002.htm

To the raving idiot

Just a little note to the mad man who keeps sending in abusive comments, and also claims that our postings are racist.

Pack it in pal, please do show us where in any of our latest posts we have made any racist comments. And as for your abusive notes wake up mate they are not getting printed.

FRED DECLARES

So now we know, following an article in yesterdays local newspaper where Fred outlines his reasons why he is standing as an Independent in the years local elections, perhaps there could have been more empathise on the fact that Fred was under enormous pressure from residents in the ward to stand.

Still the die is cast now, Fred announced his running mates Pam Dumbleton and Terry Wade both of whom are well known in the ward.

Well if North Street didn't know before hand they will know now that for the first time in decades Thames Ward will not be returning Labour councillors.

North street have no one to blame for this than themselves.

SOME ODD NEWS FLOATING AROUND

We have heard that there is a black cloud hovering over North Street now, tensions appear to be running very high, and it seems rows break out at the drop of a hat.

We have heard, but, cannot confirm that Darren Rodwell has thrown his toys out of the pram, and is now no longer the Campaign co-ordinator, and that Jennifer, who we understand works for M Hodge and is therefore paid for by the House of Commons has now taken up that role.

We have also heard that certain individuals are giving it out large that Labour is going to win Valence, that M Hodge has done so much work there it is guaranteed.

We would suggest that perhaps someone needs to talk to the candidates there, who are on record as saying they are doing very little, they dont meet together and as far as they are concerned Valence is lost.

Perhaps communication needs to be improved.

THAMES WARD

2 pieces of news this week from Thames Ward, both Joan Rawlingson and Fred Barns have submitted their resignations from the Labour Group.

Both are playing their cards very close when asked what they will do next, Fred has stated that he is keeping all his options open.

Those in North Street should be worried now, because if either of these 2 do stand North street know they will not hold Thames for Labour.

Really should have thought about that shouldnt they?

COMMENT MODERATION

Comment moderation is firmly in place on this blog, we will not post any comments of a racist, violent or abusive content.

So the idiot who has over the last day or 2 tried to post 224 racist comments, save your energy and time mate you will not get through. Stop the stupid threats we dont scare easy either.

FEBRUARY IS A NEW START

As we promised we are giving all friends and supporters and early warning, watch this space and of course the press, there will be we understand some very interesting announcements made this month.