Harrow Labour councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick has been excluded from the party for an old interview with the newspaper Socialist Appeal which has now been blacklisted by the Labour Party.
“Huge thanks to the socialist campaign group for their public support. All Labour councillors should have the strength of character to speak out about such obvious unfairness. Solidarity is what the Labour Party was formed from” said Cllr Fitzpatrick.
A bit naïve to expect support from some who might be a part of the problem, and not even honouring that Cllr Fitzpatrick has an outstanding appeal against her expulsion.
Many pose a question: can a party with such ‘dodgy’ practices be trusted to practise respect, fairness and justice if in government?

A public question for the council meeting on 25 November asked the council to “eliminate the use of vulnerable, untrained road users within its business”.
The question to the councillor responsible for community cohesion, crime & enforcement, who appears more active in out of borough politics, asked to “ensure the Council and its contractors use only those employees who have passed the relevant DVSA test for the class of Motor Vehicle they are operating.”
“I note that Harrow Council’s Civil Enforcement Wardens are using Mopeds with L (Learner) plates. These provisional road users have not completed the most basic of DVSA tests to demonstrate they have the ability to ride safely on the Borough’s roads” pointed out the resident.
[moped is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles]
“The use of Provisionally licenced road users for commercial purposes shows a lack of concern for the employee and other road users.”
“The council have a legal responsibility towards the Training, Health & Safety and Welfare of their employees, and it seems that in this case their safety & welfare is potentially being compromised by use of inexperienced riders for its commercial activities.”
“Whereas the use of provisional riders is common practice for certain businesses, the Council should be a leading light and demonstrating best practice by eliminating the use of provisional licence holders and ensuring that all road users employed by the Council and its contractors employ only those suitably qualified to drive on the borough’s road without L plates.”
This must be a good reminder for the council to show leadership and take public road safety seriously, rigorously monitoring the performance of those responsible for it.
It would be professionally sound to ensure that the elected councillors are suitable for the responsibility given to them at the cost of the taxpayer’s money and don’t use their position for any attention-seeking/ career-building activities.

Many Labour Party members have been expressing concerns about the nature and quality of the present Labour leadership that seems to be following the Blair model of governance in many ways, including systematic exclusion of the dedicated party activists/socialists!
What is happening at the national level apparently reflects in the ethos and practices of the local constituency Labour parties, with the latest victim being Harrow councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick (photo) who has been expelled from the Labour Party and has now issued a public statement (extracts below):
“I received yesterday afternoon a letter from the Labour Party expelling me as a member of the party.  My offence, that I spoke to Socialist Appeal in May 2020 about why I had applied for the role as General Secretary of the Labour Party. Labour proscribed Socialist Appeal this summer and has retrospectively applied the rule.
As some will know I have been subjected to a sustained campaign of harassment since 2016.  Those responsible are a small group of men holding positions in the party, some elected. Many people in the local party are very aware of who is responsible. I have complained of this harassment multiple times.  Many members locally have witnessed it. Very little has been done to hold those responsible to account.
I am disappointed that so many in Harrow Labour have failed to speak up. Sadly, career aspirations so often get in the way of principles.
I so wish my case was an isolated incident. That was has happened is somehow unique to Harrow.  But sadly, I have come to understand that it is not. So many women have told me their stories. Of how similar abuse has impacted on both their physical and mental health.  Many have resigned from the roles, some have left the party.
The common thread to all those who are  abused in this way? We are socialists. Altruism appears to be so alien, a concept to some in our party.  So frightened are the establishment of socialism that it appears they will stop at nothing.”
Councillor Fitzpatrick has  been a Labour councillor since 2014.  She secured an increased majority in 2018. She has held the position of Chair or Vice Chair of the Harrow Labour Group. She was selected as a Parliamentary Candidate in 2017 (looks some vindictive local Labour members have not been able to live with this!!). Cllr Fitzpatrick was very recently elected to Labour’s National Women’s Committee with a majority of over 100,000.
Tweets supporting Fitzpatrick are rapidly pouring, including the following by Aghileh Djafari-Marbini who herself suffered harassment during the Brent and Harrow London assembly member’s selection:
“Top brass should hang their heads in shame. No wonder they struggle so hard with the word socialist they are all antithesis to all socialists and socialism. The red flag will fly in Harrow despite these people”.

While the  government and local politicians mark their interest in public health by asking to have Covid booster jab, they fail to ensure that the booster data are effectively and properly linked to the vaccination records held at the national or GP level.
As a policy matter, booster data are not included in NHS COVID Pass with the implications as highlighted below.
(Marilyn Ashton is a councillor and deputy leader of  the Harrow council Conservatives.)

At the local level, many Harrow GPs have not received the booster data for their patients, vaccinated months ago. Their workload has increased due to the calls from the worried patients who can’t access their booster data and have been told by most unhelpful NHS 119 to contact the GP or the centre that administered the vaccine.
The Harrow Monitoring Group understands that some Harrow GPs have contacted the Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG) and the Healthwatch Harrow about the missing booster data and implications but feel ‘banging the head against a brick wall’!
We also understand that most of the data not yet linked to the Harrow GPs is specific to the Byron Hall which the Harrow council had declared as Harrow’s mass vaccination centre.
The two sections at the Byron Hall centre, managed by HCCG doctors (clinical directors), look after patients for vaccination from the GP surgeries on their respective lists and seem to have different ethos.
One that looks after surgeries in the posh parts of the borough, is apparently well managed and organised, keeps the patients well-informed and has processed the electronic booster data more successfully.
On the other hand, the collaborative network, opened on certain days, seemingly has not linked the booster data to the GPs surgeries on its list (no information available to contact this network).
No doubt the pandemic has created additional pressure on the public services but hiding behind it and  running down services by inefficient authorities and agencies, is totally unacceptable.

Perhaps those in the Labour group responsible for promoting community cohesion in Harrow need to sharply focus on the reported inclusion/exclusion practice by Blairite Labours, like apparently in the Harrow East Constituency Labour Party (CLP).

*It has been reported that the meeting consisted of 16 people, including a London assembly member and his mentor, the Harrow West CLP chair.
‘The Labour right is rotten with Islamophobia, as highlighted by the Labour Muslim Network report on the topic. Keir Starmer and David Evans promised to implement its recommendations in full, but appear to have done nothing and are taking no action against most right-wing Islamophobes in the party’ reported at the SKWAWKBOX.

 

What happens in macro, happens in micro!

The report of the recent equalities survey and qualitative interviews of Harrow staff and internal stakeholders on race that focused on racism/ institutional racism at the council as well as the over/under representation of the communities at the staffing level, found the need to ‘develop an action plan and consideration of a follow-up survey to see what progress has been made following this report’.
The  most  recent  iteration  of  the council’s  Workforce  Profile:
“The  resilience  and  commitment  of  staff  is  key  which  the  senior  political  and executive  leadership  team  need  to  tap  into  and  engage  around  in  tackling  issues  of  racism and discrimination” the report points out.
“Following  the  publication  of  the  Independent  Race  Review  in  April,  we  have engaged with over 230 staff to undertake a process of co-production, to design our approach to tackling racial inequality in Harrow and as a result, producing the council’s first ever, Race Equality Action Plan” said the Harrow Council.
Elsewhere leader of the Harrow council Cllr Graham Henson has said “Diversity is one of our borough’s greatest strengths and we will continue to work to maintain community cohesion so everyone who calls Harrow home can feel safe and welcome.”
Given that achieving community cohesion being an integral part in addressing ‘inequalities’, it is odd that the leader has appointed and defends a cabinet lead for the community cohesion who seems to be unsuitable for the job and claims victimhood when her doings are questioned rather than committing to respect her role and responsibilities.
Cllr Henson was asked a direct question by Cllr Ashton, deputy leader of the opposition, at the Cabinet meeting on 23 September:
“You do have a member of cabinet who’s in charge of community cohesion, who has tweeted that she will take up arms against the Afghan government and its allies (at the time in recent past), and labelled Israel is an apartheid state and spread doubts about the AstraZeneca as presented a vaccine. And so really my supplemental question is, do you condemn or condemn these statements and is this suitable to have someone who has these things and thinks it’s acceptable to tweet these things and think it’s acceptable to have that person in charge of community cohesion?”

Soon after the Pinner South by-election, won by Conservatives, now Kenton West is set to have a by-election due to the death of the sitting councillor Vina Mithani (Conservative).
Apparently, Harrow Labours have been directed to select only a female candidate for this by-election, justifying that this is to redress gender imbalance in the ruling Labour group on the Harrow council (15F/20M).
Strange that they did not consider redressing such gender imbalance significant enough when selecting the Labour candidate for Pinner South by-election (the defeated male candidate was from the Harrow West MP’s Labour and Co-operative Party).
Labour seems to practise ‘positive discrimination’ subjectively as and when needed.
They decided to have a female only parliamentary candidate for Harrow East constituency at the last general election but when one was selected, some key Harrow Labours reacted badly and did not provide the expected level of help and support to her, with the result that the dedicated socialist Pamela Fitzpatrick, a Harrow councillor, lost.
It also looks that when women are invited  for the candidacy and come forward, they are treated badly:
“A growing number of women, like me, are speaking out about the abuse they have endured in the Labour Party over many years. I have started speaking more openly about the abuse and harassment I have experienced from a small group of men since 2016. I have tried all available complaint routes and been ignored” reports Pamela Fitzpatrick, a member of the Labour’s new National Women’s Committee.
“It’s clear that many women have had enough.  And our message.  ‘We defy you! Do your worst’!” says Ms Fitzpatrick.
What happens in macro, must happen in micro! This becomes more concerning considering the ‘community cohesion’ work at the civic centre being in most unsuitable hands.
Such is the situation that a petition supporting Ms Fitzpatrick’s was launched by her Harrow West Constituency Labour Party, started by Aghileh Djafari Marbini who herself experienced nastiness by the Blairites when she went through the selection process for the Brent and Harrow assembly seat.
Regarding Ms Fitzpatrick ongoing bad experiences of the Labour Party, most probably locally as well, Gareth Thomas, the only Labour MP in Harrow, was asked whether he offered any support to Ms Fitzpatrick, he has not responded.

Long queues at the St Ann’s post office not because of the Covid-19 implications but apparently due to big counter staff cuts.
Depressed counter staff at the post office are worried about 50 percent staff cuts and the extra work load so resulted. At times, only three members of the staff were seen who not only manage the counters but also try to help in processing the parcels using the self-service counters.
In February 2019, the Harrow Post Office branch was transferred to WHSmith High Street Ltd who are operating it from their premises at the St Ann’s shopping centre since.  WHSmith  has  been  operating  Post Offices within its stores since 2007.
Post offices have been a staple of British life for decades, variously providing a local place for people to pay their bills, collect benefits, drop off their parcels, and buy stamps.
However, the number of branches dwindled from about 25,000 in the mid-1960s to 11,638 in March 2020 which are mostly (99%) operated by franchise partners or sub-postmasters, who are independent business people. Only around 1% of post offices are Crown post offices, which are directly managed by Post Office Limited.

Dedicated socialist Pamela Fitzpatrick, a Harrow councillor and Labour parliamentary candidate for Harrow East at the last election, has been speaking out about the abuse many women have suffered in the Labour Party.
“A growing number of women, like me, are speaking out about the abuse they have endured in the Labour Party over many years. I have started speaking more openly about the abuse and harassment I have experienced from a small group of men since 2016. I have tried all available complaint routes and been ignored” reports Ms Fitzpatrick.
“It’s clear that many women have had enough.  And our message.  ‘We defy you! Do your worst’!” says Ms Fitzpatrick.
What happens in macro, must happen in micro!
Responding to Ms Fitzpatrick on the Facebook, a variety of oppressive experiences by women have been shared, like the one blow.
“I am one of those women who suffered misogyny and abuse in the LP … I have made at least three complaints to Labour using the online form, not one complaint has been acknowledged … The LP is a toxic environment for socialists and being a woman means you’re fair game for the bullies.”
Regarding Ms Fitzpatrick bad experiences of the Labour Party, most probably locally, Gareth Thomas, the only Labour MP in Harrow, was asked whether he offered any support to Ms Fitzpatrick, he has not responded.

In an outburst at the last cabinet meeting (23 September), councillor Assad asked the fellow councillor Marilyn Ashton, “Do you have a problem with me? Because I’m a woman of colour and because I am Muslim”.
The disruption took place when the leader of the council Cllr Graham Henson, chairing the meeting, mentioned the council using social media to inform its work, and was listening to Cllr Ashton’s supplementary question regarding what could impinge the reputation of the council.
“You mentioned social media. You do have a member of cabinet who’s in charge of community cohesion, who has tweeted that she will take up arms against the Afghan government and its allies (at the time in recent past), and labelled Israel is an apartheid state and spread doubts about the AstraZeneca as presented a vaccine. And so really my supplemental question is, do you condemn or condemn these statements and is this suitable to have someone who has these things and thinks it’s acceptable to tweet these things and think it’s acceptable to have that person in charge of community cohesion?” Cllr Ashton asked.
Cllr Graham said “I will look at the points you have made, and then I’m probably you know then may consider them, but it’s quite difficult to respond to a question if you don’t tell me what it is and others need to look it up and find out how we got what the context of why it’s been said because sometimes people’s interpretation is different”.
“Cllr Assad interruption was most inappropriate, not respecting the meeting protocol. Equally, concerning was that the leader of the council let the disruption go on and failed to uphold the discipline in the meeting” said Cllr Marilyn Ashton, deputy leader of the Conservation group, after the meeting.
“However, the council leader’s attitude towards me was calm this time, considering to that on previous such occasions” Cllr Ashton added.
It is well known that the twitter is a public platform, and that councillors, particularly cabinet members, have to be very careful about what they say. They can’t skip scrutiny – if they can’t handle this, they should not be in a public office.