What if Tories win Kenton East?

Nothing unusual about political party headquarters supporting a constituency by-election, but it is highly usual to almost take over campaign for a ward by-election as the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) has done in the case of Kenton East by-election.
Both Lizzie Lumley, Tory Campaign Director for London, and Bob Blackman MP for Harrow East are energetically driving the campaign for the party political gains.

TWsWe have previously reported Bob Blackman’s  divisive statement that he speaks on behalf of his “Gujarati”/ “Hindu” constituents in international disputes, as well as his individualised letters to certain residents.
The CCHQ interest is obviously to use a favourable outcome of the Kenton East by-election to rubbish Labour leadership and point score at the United Kingdom local elections next month.
How does this, along with the following, help Kenton East residents or issues?
If elected, inexperienced Tory candidate sitting in the opposition Tory group on the council, tightly controlled by its vindictive leadership, is most likely to be ineffective in representing Kenton East.
Tory group has lost the councils in 2010 and 2014 and three by-elections, under Cllr Hall’s leadership.
People rightly say that the opposition Tory  group under its politically immature leadership can’t be taken seriously, for example the group failed to present a shadow budget at the Council meeting to enrich the financial decision making – they owed this to the residents…. read more by clicking here
Added to this is Cllr Hall’s concerning conduct at the council meetings and childish social media encounters.

Labour could lose Kenton East!

Although the Labour candidate has been far more interested in the local residents, issues and could represent the wider community much more effectively as being a part of the council administration, Tories might win Kenton East by-election on 20 April for different reasons:
• the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) is playing an active part in the campaign, including telephone canvassing and forcefully directing the Conservative friends of the Asian countries to participate in the by-election campaign – the CCHQ interest is obviously to use a favourable outcome of the by-election to politicise Jeremy Corbyn factor
• divisive statement by Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East, that he speaks on behalf of his “Gujarati”/ “Hindu” constituents, though resented , could influence the voting as could his individualised letter of support to the Kenton East residents
• though the Tory candidate for the by-election has no track record of any wider community work, he is well placed within the temple structuresKE1
• rather bitter Belmont sitting Tory councillor who was moved to Kenton East for the 2018 council election (photo), seemingly to give way to a Harrow West refused Tory activist – is keen to use his temple experience to show who is who as well as to pave the way for his success in 2018
• following the Harrow West Tories crushing defeat at the Roxbourne by-election few weeks back, the rival Harrow East Tories are keen to show their muscles to impress the opposition Tory group on the council which has not been taken seriously under Cllr Hall’s leadership
Tory share of votes was 35.7% compared with Labour’s 46.6% at the council election in 2014.
While Tories might succeed in the political play, how does this help Kenton East residents and issues?

Council children’s services has improved

Insplogo2The recent Ofsted inspection of the services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers confirms that most aspects of the service have improved since 2012 when it was only adequate (meeting minimum requirements).
The findings of the inspection carried out early this year look more positive considering that many other local authorities don’t do this well at the inspections.
Strengths
Inspectors have judged the children’s services as “good” overall since most children and young people have the support that they need when they need it. The response to children who need to be looked after is swift and child centred, inspectors report.
Inspectors found that a strong and energetic senior management team with a sense of direction is helping children to achieve good outcomes.
Their praise for the management and the commitment to performance management at all levels of the organisation, reflect positively on the management restructuring led by the chief executive Michael Lockwood.
Comparative weaknesses
Inspectors found that the experiences and progress of children  who need help and protection, require improvement i.e. the authority is not yet delivering good help and protection for children, young people and families.
The children do not have their needs fully assessed or receive services as quickly as they could and their reviews need improvements, the inspection assessed.
Inspectors also found that the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is not yet demonstrating the characteristics of ‘good’ and requires improvement. (Harrow LSCB  has about 40 members from a number of disciplines: HMG).
They found that the limited performance information supplied by some partner agencies inhibits the board’s ability to monitor and understand the overall effectiveness of services and to challenge agencies when they fall short.
(This is an inbuilt weakness of a multi agency set up where agencies and professionals involved come from different working ethos and practices, defending their own corner. This presents  a big challenge to the board in terms of the coordination and quality assurance. Many analysts argue that the LSCB a waste of public money: HMG).
Children profile
Approximately 57,000 (53,000 in 2012) children and young people under the age of 18 years (23% of the total population) live in Harrow, of which 69% are from minority ethnic groups.
Approximately 15% of the children aged under 16 years are living in low-income families.
At 31 December 2016, 200 children were being looked after by the local authority, most live with foster families, some outside Harrow.

Divisive politics rejected

Harrow Asian community leaders deplore community exploitation. India-Kashmir politics has no place in Harrow. Proud of good communal relationships.
Context: Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East, was elected to represent all his constituents on equal footing but he takes sides with the disputed situations between India & Pakistan, like Kashmir, claiming that he speaks on behalf of his “Gujarati”/ “Hindu” constituents.
We sampled this Asian community’s interest in such outside of UK situations.
(Click the play button to play – fullscreen by clicking the fullscreen button – bottom right – last)

Tory campaign backlash!

Hirani2The voters question the seriousness of the Tory candidate for the Kenton East by-election on 20 April as well as the basis of Tory campaign – party or religion (photo).
Tory candidate Nitesh Hirani, headhunted for increasing Tory share of votes, has no track record of any socio-political interests in Harrow other than a local temple, confirmed by his introductory leaflet.
Moreover, his ‘plan’ in  the leaflet done by the Conservative Campaign Headquarters in central London who have no idea of the local issues, shows some bones that have no chance of having any meat – even if elected, he will only be subsumed in an ineffective opposition Tory group that is not taken seriously.
For example, how he could keep the council tax low when the Tory group has no real understanding of budget making and has failed to present a shadow budget.
The questionable  position of the Tory candidate is well supplemented by Bob Blackman MP (Con), nurtured by the same Harrow East Conservative Association, who continues to play divisive games, this time to influence the outcome of this by-election in Harrow East.
Mr Blackman’s visits to India and Indian high commissioner in London, helped by his assistant who is an Indian-held Kashmir activist, have dramatically increased and he has even colluded with the fake news regarding his activities.
Publicity seeking Mr Blackman claims that he speaks on behalf of “Hindus” – a “majority” of his constituents.
“What Mr Blackman says is insulting. Like anyone else, we are far more concerned about British issues like austerity measures, NHS crisis, adverse impact of Brexit and increased far right ideology. He has failed to represent our real concerns” said Jaiya Shah, chairman Harrow Council for Justice, who lives in the Harrow side of Kenton and is a long-standing active member of the community that Mr Blackman claims to represent.
All this does not present a positive picture of Tory politics in Harrow and raises a serious question about their electability.

Condition of Harrow streets now!

Having heard different stories about the condition of some Harrow streets and areas, we wanted to test water and carried out sample check of the street conditions and area appeal, particularly in the wards neglected pre 2010 under Cllr Hall’s environment watch, resulting in shabby outlook.
The photographic evidence (video below) suggests that Harrow council has made impressive progress in uplifting the previously dull and depressing areas.
(Click the play button to play – fullscreen by clicking the fullscreen button – bottom right – last)

 

Overall, Harrow is now clean and tidy – most areas are almost litter-free.
In many cases, road surfaces and pavements have also been renewed, presenting pleasant and calm atmosphere.
Although Harrow environment has improved a lot since 2010, there are challenges like the random fly-tipping and condition of streets in some parts of South Harrow.

Positive rating for another council care home

Care homeHarrow council’s Roxborough Park care home for eight people with autistic spectrum disorder and learning disabilities has been rated “good” by Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The CQC inspects and regulates care and medical services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety.
This care home in the Greenhill ward was inspected by CQC in February this year.
The inspection report published on 27 March 20127 says that the care home staff demonstrated a genuine caring attitude towards people and ensured their dignity and privacy.
Risks to people who used the service were assessed and robust risk management plans ensured a consistent approach from all staff involved in peoples care, the report acknowledges.
The reports informs that the quality of care was reviewed and monitored frequently to ensure that the quality of care was not compromised.
The inspection positively noted that the service did not receive any complaints since last inspection in February 2015.
A Greenhill councillor who has visited the care home is very pleased with the inspection judgement: “on my visit I was really impressed by the caring and thoughtful attitude of the staff.  So I’m delighted with the CQC inspection rating” said Cllr Sue Anderson.

Harrow East MP questioned about employing his wife

In view of the forthcoming new rules restricting MPs from employing spouses or relatives, Stephen Nolan from BBC radio5alive interviewed Harrow East MP Bob Blackman about employing his wife to run his office having never faced an interview.
Mr Blackman badly waffled throughout the interview, including in answering the following questions:

“You have been handed public money and you are a closed shop for that one position?”
“You are saying that there is no one better than your wife in whole country” for the job?
Regarding his wife’s salary between £35-45 thousands, “who decides whether she is worth £35, 000 or £45,000 – her husband?”
Concluding remark: “Public taxes are paying for your wife and husband decides whether she is worth £35,000 or ££45,000?”

NBMr Blackman hopelessly argued that he was advised to employ “whoever you choose” and that they don’t care about equal opportunities.
Regarding employing his ‘staff’, there are also concerns about his controversial assistant who appeared from nowhere and has seemingly overtaken his wife in politics.
On the financial front, media, including the Mirror, reported that Harrow East Tory MP Bob Blackman was ordered to repay more than £1,000 in wrongly-claimed mileage expenses.
All this, along with an ineffective Tory opposition group on the council, does not give a positive picture of Tory politics in Harrow.

Kenton East by-election dirty politics – Harrow East MP must condemn fake news

Following the crushing defeat at the Roxbourne by-election few weeks back, Tories are desperate to show improvement at the Kenton East by-election.
A fake news is circulating in India and brought to Harrow through tweets etc that an early day Commons motion sponsored by the Harrow East MP Bob Blackman (the only signatory) supporting India and condemning Pakistan regarding the Kashmir region, has been debated and passed by the Commons, even creating a visual illusion of a Commons debate  where Theresa May viciously speaking for the motion (no sound)!!
The motion has never been moved, debated or resolved nor this is likely to happen.
bb10Bob Blackman has not issued any correcting statements to Indian press despite that his assistant, an Indian controlled Kashmir activist and a Queensbury ward candidate who claims to have an Indian journalist background, is well connected with the Indian news outlets.
Not only this, but Bob Blackman has been colluding with the fake news based tweets from India, most probably by the friends of his assistant, by retweeting these without any mention that the news has been faked.
The plot
March, 22: Bob Blackman reported his meeting with the Indian high commissioner in London.
March, 23: Bob Blackman signs the early day Commons  motion re ‘annexation of Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistan’ in a show of support for India, most probably to influence the outcome of the Kenton East by-election.
March, 25: the fake news was pumped to India and was reported as “A motion was passed in the British Parliament condemning Islamabad’s announcement declaring Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth frontier, saying the region is a legal and constitutional part of Jammu and Kashmir”.
To prove his decency and integrity, Bob Blackman must publically condemn the fake news revolving around him and implicating not only the Commons but also the prime minister.

‘Divisiveness’ and ‘fake news’ hit Harrow East

At the time when serious efforts are being made to enhance national unity, Harrow East Conservative Association nurtured Bob Blackman MP (Con), who has seemingly calculated his votes, continues to play divisive game, this time most probably to influence the outcome of the Kenton East by-election in Harrow East.
He tabled an Early Day Motion (1107) on 23 March 2017, condemning Pakistan about Gilgit-Baltistan as its Fifth Frontier, asserting that the area is part of the Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir is a legacy of the British Empire and a long standing divide line between India and Pakistan relationships, needing a harmonious and sensitive approach by the global community to resolve the matter.
The motion signed only by Mr Blackman has not been debated nor it is likely to be discussed as very few EDMs are actually debated or have any legislative effects.
But an Indian electronic media (India Today)* carried a fake news on March 25, 2017 that the British Parliament has declared Gilgit-Baltistan belongs to India and it called the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as illegal.
No surprise about such a mischievous and false news or the resulting  misleading celebratory tweets from India, but what is most concerning is that Mr Blackman has retweeted many of these (example) rather than condemning the false reporting.bb5bb2
Mr Blackman’s visits to India and Indian high commissioner in London have dramatically increased since he found his assistant Lakshmi Kaul who is an Indian-held Kashmir activist with her own agenda – *she is no stranger to India Today either.
Previously Mr Blackman has actively sided with the negativities associated with Brexit campaign and the last London Mayor election.
He is also well known to give a sense of stirring up emotions for votes by taking side with international situations like India-Pakistan tension.  No one recalls such underhand practices by any previous Harrow MPs.
Harrow is  proud of its good communal relationships and would like to keep it this way, for example by leaving India and Pakistan situations at the appropriate international level rather than bringing it to Harrow by any political groups and stirring up emotions for political gains.