UKIP start shedding councilllors

Quietly UKIP are losing councillors who are resigning, being suspended or defecting.

Cllr Dave Whittingham of Fareham Borough Council has returned to the fold as a Conservative - after a spell as an independent and then a UKIP councillor. Welcome back.

Brian Hawes, who was a UKIP town councillor in Haverhill in Suffolk has resigned after saying: "We don't give leaflets to black people."

Lincolnshire county councillor Cllr Chris Pain, who was the UKIP group leader has been suspended from the party. He has some dispute with the UKIP national chairman Steve Crowther the details of which have not been disclosed.

They have had some seats they gained in May already lost in byelections. Eric Kitson resigned as UKIP councillor in Worcestershire after making anti semitic posts on his Facebook page. UKIP lost the byelection to an Independent and Health Concern candidate. In Norfolk Labour gained a byelection from UKIP in Norfolk when a UKIP councillor resigned after admitting to shop lifting.

Pendle Labour councillor defects to Conservatives

Welcome aboard to Cllr Abdul Aziz of Pendle Borough Council who has dfected from Labour to the Conservatives. Cllr Aziz represents the Walverden Ward in Nelson.

Cllr Aziz said:

“I woke up and saw Pendle Labour, their President Azhar Ali, and Leader Mohammed Iqbal for who they are. They run their Councillors like a dictatorship. You aren’t allowed an opinion or to disagree, or you’ll be sidelined, this happened to me and I had the party whip removed. That isn’t what I was elected for. I stood up for what I believed in and they didn’t like it. I wanted the voice of the residents to be heard, and the Conservatives are the party to allow me to do that."

“I have been considering my position for some time now, and have regularly been meeting local MP Andrew Stephenson and Leader of the Council Joe Cooney over a period of months. Nobody is working as hard for Pendle as the two of them. They are the best people to take Pendle forwards, and I want to be part of that progression”.

Councillor Aziz’s defection brings the size of the Conservative Group to 19, and to its highest level in thirty years. The Conservatives are now only six Councillors short of an outright majority.

Five Respect councillors quit

All five of the Respect councillors in Bradford Council have resigned from the Party. Two of them had already been suspended after criticising the announcement by the Bradford West MP George Galloway that he would be standing for Mayor of London.

Respect still have a couple of councillors in Tower Hamlets. I'm not aware the party have any elsewhere. They have none in Birmingham or Newham where they had representation in the past.

Earlier one of the councillors Cllr Ishtiaq Ahmed had been suspended after saying:

"People are always asking me: where's George? This weekend I had more than 20 calls from constituents asking me why George is talking about London and not Bradford. As councillors we have only had one strategic meeting with him in the past year... I'm always reading on his Twitter feed about his appearances in Westminster, his Edinburgh Fringe show, his tour in Scotland – it sometimes feels as though he goes everywhere but Bradford."

I suppose that Respect may gain a few defections from Labour if Mr Galloway gains a high profile for opposing military action over Syria. However his Party - with two councillors out of over 20,000 - looks very much like a one man band. It seems to be more of a fan club than a political party - and one where no criticism of the Supreme Leader can be tolerated.

Hampshire Lib Dem councillor defects to Conservatives

Cllr Adam Carew, of Hampshire County Council and East Hampshire District Council, has defected from the Lib Dems to the Conservatives. Cllr Carew remains a liberal with a small l. He says the Lib Dems are "shambolic" and "extremely unpleasant."

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said:

"I'm delighted to welcome Adam to the Conservative Party - the true home of progressive Liberals.

"He brings a wealth of experience - especially on campaigning to protect Britain's environment and on green issues.

"It's fantastic to have him on board."

Cllr Carew was also a Lib Dem parliamentary candidate. He stood against James Arbuthnot in Hampshire North East in 2005, coming second.

Why do the media ignore Labour's local government splits?

Cllr Susan Hall, Leader of the Conservative Group on Harrow Council, says Labour in London is imploding - but you won't read about it in the Evening Standard or see it reported on the BBC

When four Conservative councillors left their Group in Merton a few weeks ago, it was national news. It fed into a national narrative of Conservative loses linked to UKIP that was easy for journalists to
perpetuate. Yet, in London and beyond, it is Labour which is beset with stories of splits, divisiveness and strife.

In Harrow, the Labour leader of the Council, alleging discrimination and taking eight colleagues with him (including the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, two past Mayors and various committee chairmen), quit his Group and set up a new ‘Independent Labour’ administration. Recognising that no party had a majority on the Council, and that it would therefore be near impossible to get things done, we stepped in to prevent Labour sacking him as Council Leader. We now occupy two non-executive and
non-voting positions on Cabinet – allowing us to better scrutinise Harrow’s administration.

This split in the Labour Group was unheard of in Harrow’s history; the most sizeable shift in the political dynamic since the Liberal Democrats were all but wiped out in 2002 after incorrectly submitting their nomination papers. It also effectively wiped out 50% of Labour’s gains in council control made in May’s elections.

Four Tory councillors in Hounslow defect to UKIP

The Hounslow, Heston and Whitton Chronicle reports that three Conservative councillors in that borough have defected to UKIP.  It names Cllrs Rebecca Stewart, Beverley Williams and Colin Botterill. Looking at the Council website a fourth is listed Cllr Gillian Hutchison.

So good news for Labour as they seek to retain control of the Council in next year's election. The Conservative woes sound rather similar to Merton.

The Chronicle report talks about the motivation for the departures being "infighting" and "lack of support." The issues seem to be as much to do with the Feltham and Heston Conservative Association as with the Conservative Group on the council. There is a suggestion that Cllr Botterill is to some extent concerned with national issues while his new colleagues were not really. Indeed Cllr Stewart says her problems were "not with the Party itself."

So it is perfectly possible that these councillors would have resigned the whip even if UKIP didn't exist - it is simply a home for the disaffected regardles of their particular grievance.

Four Conservative councillors in Merton threaten to defect to UKIP

The Evening Standard reports that four Conservative councillors in Merton have resigned the whip and are considering joining UKIP. They are Cllr Richard Hilton, Cllr Suzanne Evans, Cllr Rod Scott and Cllr Linda Scott.

If we turn to the Wimbledon Guardian for further and better particulars it seems to be more about personalities than policy. The Gang of Four don't seem to like the new Conservative Group leader Cllr Oonagh Milton, or the new Mayor, the Conservative councillor Cllr Krystal Miller. They thought the position should have gone to the Deputy Mayor Cllr Chris Edge.

It all sounds like a bit of spat. So far as I can tell all those involved are good Conservatives - it's just that one group can't stand the other group. So those in the minority have stormed off. It's not really good anything to do with David Cameron, or the European Union or whether or not the Council Tax should be cut. I often think that the machinations of a local council would make a fantastic soap opera.

I suppose it will all help the Labour Party in next year's council elections - especially if the breakaway group run as rival candidates. But is there a wider relevance? UKIP may well pick up a windfall of four new councillors who would otherwise have sat as independents. UKIP offers the disaffected a home to go to. They may well encourage those elsewhere who are unhappy to feel a bit more comfortable about quitting.

Race row causes Labour to lose control of Harrow Council

Last week Labour gained control of two councils. So far this week they have lost control of one. Harrow has gone to "no overall control" with the departure of nine Labour councillors, including the council leader, to form a breakaway group.

Harrow now has 25 Labour councillors, 25 Conservatives, nine Independent Labour, three independents and one Lib Dem.

The council leader Cllr. Thaya Idaikkadar (Independent Labour Group) has sacked his entire Cabinet and cancelled Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

A statement from the Independent Labour Group says:

It is with great regret that we have had to form the Independent Labour Group. It was  impossible to ignore the discrimination and lack of fairness, equality and justice. Unfortunately attempts to resolve matters have not been successful. The Independent Labour Group subscribes to Labour values and its members remain members of the Labour Party

Councillor David Perry has not given any convincing reasons why he challenged his group leader who was elected leader of the Labour Group a mere five months ago.

Will UKIP councillors return to the fold?

At the last General Election the UKIP manifesto offerered an array of policies. But there was one in particular that was "central to UKIP’s message." It was their unique selling point. The irreducible essence that marked them out as different to the ‘the "LibLabCon-sensus".

It was the following:

"We need a new referendum on EU membership. Only UKIP represents the majority view."

Rejoice. The Prime Minister now agrees. If we have a Conservative Government after the next election this will take place. So the logic would be for UKIP supporters to switch to the Conservatives to allow the in/out referendum to take place.

But UKIP's reaction has been disorientation. It reminds me of an incident at the Live8 pop concert in Hyde Park in 2005. There were 200,000 people who had turned up to show their support for boosting the aid budget - but also to hear Coldplay, Madonna, Elton John, etc.

Just before REM were due to perform there was an announcement from Ricky Gervais:

Green Party councillor quits

The Green Party has a fluffy image but in reality it is a nasty, extremist party. You don't have to take my word for it. David Rogers has just resigned from Norwich City Council where he was a Green Party councillor. He says it attracts the “gullible and the authoritarian”, which he said was a “dangerous combination in party politics”.

Mr Rogers adds:

“I can no longer support the Green Party. I have seen the dangers that the Green Party presents and I must oppose the Green Party.”

There are around 140 Green Party councillors across Britain up from 117 before the General Election. That is modest progress, but out of 21,000 is scarcely a breakthrough. One problem has been defections from their ranks as their true nature is understood. Cllr Paula Black on Devon Country Council defected to Labour saying the Green Party is extreme. Cllr Phil Hardy who was leader of the Green Party group on Norfolk County Council defected to the Conservatives.