Category Archives: Blog

Brian Paddick to stand for London Mayor

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Got text message yesterday that Brian Paddick has won the selection for our London Mayoral candidate. This is great news – just as it was a real coup when he decided to throw his hat into the ring for this contest.

No doubt there will be lots of ‘stuff’ about Brian – but he is the real deal. And I think Londoners will be impressed with him – and for good reason. You don’t get to be Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Met for nothing and secondly – he really demonstrated the courage of his convictions in terms of fighting for better drugs policy and actually understanding the real issues around communities and policing. So – go Brian. I think this will set the contest alight. Brian is a real contender.

I read in The Times this morning that he will publish his autobiography a short while before the polling day for London Mayor. And that it will tell all. Controversial – I’m sure it will be. But the person who leads London had better not be frightened of controversy and really fighting for London. Ken Livingstone pretty much stopped fighting when he went back into the Labour Party. He’s lost his spark and his oomph. Brian Paddick is more than a match for Mr Livingstone!

Does the right to protest matter?

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Glad to see that Chris Huhne has made it quite clear in a news release that when the show comes to town in the form of the Olympics, the right to peaceful protest must be upheld:

The Olympics are a chance to put our values in the global showcase which is why the organisers should plan for and allow the right of peaceful protest, which is such an important part of our political tradition. It will not be on display at the Beijing Olympics.
Diversity and freedom of expression is what has always made our society strong, and we should not be afraid to show it.

And I suspect given the number of countries competing whose human rights record may not be quite what we would wish – there will be quite a number of protesters wishing to protest. A good thing too. As a country – we should be proud that peaceful protest is one of our guarantees of freedom of expression.

That’s something that won’t be the case in Beijing and it might not be the case here judging from the Labour Government’s desire to stop all forms of freedom of expression and protest – even when it is just reading out the names of the war dead!

Still – now Chris has thrown down the gauntlet on it – will Nick follow suit? There was a pattern last time round of Chris leading the way on issues – troops out of Iraq, the environment, etc – where he proposed a radical policy, others weren’t so keen – but in the end, it was Chris’s radical position that won the day.

That’s why I like about leadership contests – they push each candidate on and as a party we end up with a better set of policies as a result. Hurrah!

This time round hopefully the issue of the right to protest will become a key point for our party. And then we can also shame the Government into doing the right thing.

Good news on Haringey schools and vulture funds

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Good news on the fair funding for education in Haringey. Haringey Youth Council are going to join the campaign and are going to start their own petition!

Excellent to have their support – and on an issue which primarily affects them – spot on! I had a huge response to this campaign so far and to the petition I’ve been organising.

My next move is to present the petition to the Government – and that reminds me – don’t think Gordon B has yet answered my letter following up on my question at Prime Minister’s Questions a couple of weeks ago. May have to start nagging!

One other piece of good news – The People yesterday ran a piece on my concerns over vulture funds. Good to get the story out beyond the usual obvious places! All adds to the pressure I hope.

Ken Livingstone should stop trying to smear Jean Charles de Menezes

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Tipped off by Nich Starling, I’ve been reading what Ken Livingstone said on Andrew Marr’s program this morning about the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes. Our Ken talked about de Menezes making a movement that made the police think he was a suicide bomber.

The implication of this to me is clear – it was in part de Menezes’s fault for behaving like a suicide bomber and there was no mistake or misjudgement by the police – especially as Ken didn’t enter into any caveats or further explanations.

So let’s be absolutely clear – that’s nonsense. The report into his death was very, very clear:

Nor must there be any attempt to blame Jean Charles de Menezes himself for his fate. He did nothing out of the ordinary.

So what to make of Ken’s comments? Well, to me they sound like a crude smear – blame the victim rather than face up to the police’s failure. Shame on you Ken.

How Ian Blair and Ken Livingstone got it wrong

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In amongst the debate about whether Ian Blair, London’s top cop, should quit (my view? yes), not much has been said about what the IPCC investigations into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes actually found – so I thought it worth quoting in some detail some of them:

[The key questions are] ‘If they thought he [Jean Charles de Menezes] might have a bomb, why was he allowed twice to get on a bus and then on the tube?’ ‘If they thought he didn’t have a bomb, why did they shoot him?’

Nor must there be any attempt to blame Jean Charles de Menezes himself for his fate.

He did nothing out of the ordinary.

He looked over his shoulder as he walked to catch his bus; he got back on his bus when he found Brixton tube station was closed; he texted his friend; he hurried down the final few steps of the escalator when he saw a train was already on the platform; and, like other passengers, he got to his feet when police officers burst onto the train. These actions may have been misinterpreted by police officers hunting a suicide bomber but they were entirely innocent.

… the most fundamental problem on that Friday was the implementation of the strategy set by Commander McDowall, the Gold Commander, that everyone leaving the premises was to be stopped once they were a safe distance away and questioned either for the intelligence they could provide or as a suspect. That never happened – and could not happen because the firearms teams needed to support these stops were not deployed in time to do so.

… failures of communication occurred in a number of ways: at the briefings of firearms officers; between the surveillance team and both the control room and firearms teams; the firearms and surveillance teams were not used to working together; the officers in the control room whose job it was to monitor the surveillance complained about the noise and confusion in the room; there was a lack of clarity in the command to ‘stop’ Jean Charles de Menezes entering the underground system; police radios did not work underground.

In other words – this wasn’t one mistake with tragic consequences – it was as catalogue of failures across vast swathes of the police operation.

And most damming of all:

The Commissioner [Ian Blair] attempted to prevent us carrying out an investigation.

(Source: IPCC news release on the Stockwell One report)
Says it all really about how Ken Livingstone’s turned into a neutered Labour loyalist that these days Ken doesn’t speak out against a top policeman trying to block an inquiry into the shooting of an innocent man. Oh Ken, how have you changed?

Ian Blair should go

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I worked with Iain Blair for five years when I was a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority. He was Deputy Commissioner to John Stevens when I arrived. It was clear throughout the years he was deputy – that he was more than focused on succeeding to the top job when Sir John retired. And that’s what happened.

It is awful really to have watched him make errors of judgement – virtually since day one. He clearly set out to do things differently and to be the best-ever top cop – and it has all gone so horribly wrong.

And his errors have been the big ones and the public ones. He also politicised the police unforgivably when it suited, and made some very inadvisable media decisions – such as participating in Question Time.

There is no hiding place for him now and I don’t truly understand why he is hanging on rather than going gracefully. I guess he feels that it’s not fair to be judged on the extraordinary but tragic incident shooting of one person rather than the rest of his record where crime has fallen overall in London.

But – firstly – with us all paying for extra police and those extra police and PCSOs now on duty – it would be rank failure if there weren’t crime figures he could point at. And – secondly – the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes happened under him. The findings are damning in terms of the number of mistakes that were made. An innocent man died.

Blair has to go – because he carries the responsibility for overall whether the Met is up to scratch or not. And those damning findings of a catalogue of mistakes tell us the answer – it wasn’t.

In the end – getting the organisation right, the procedures and processes in order, helps the policeman (or woman) on the front line when they face that split-second decision as to whether to pull the trigger or not – because with the right systems they can make their decision confident that it is the right one. If the system behind you isn’t up to scratch, you can’t.

That’s why Iain Blair has to go – so that in future our lives will be protected, including by a proper and effective deployment where necessary of armed police.

Supporting women in business

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The Women's Company lunch in Crouch EndI went to The Women’s Company Crouch End lunch recently. Forgot to blog about it – but don’t want it to go unblogged as it is a really important network for local women who have their own business (be that a one woman band or big enterprise) to get together and see what the issues are, network and be mutually supportive.

The group is organised very ably by Veronica Peck (pictured standing behind me). It was a lively meeting – comprising all sorts of businesses and services including a funding specialist, a specialist family lawyer, US investment adviser, health & lifestyle advisers, designers and so on.

We all chat as we come in over a drink – and then sit with a delicious buffet lunch and talk with those nearest us. Then there is an opportunity for each woman to stand up and in a couple of minutes say what her business is about, what she can offer and so on. That was fascinating – and I am always staggered at the ingenuity and inventiveness – and sheer determination – of women to get on. Despite children, often being carers of older parents, or whatever – women work their lives around and STILL manage to get out there and compete in the business world.

So – if anyone out there is interested just log on to http://www.thewomenscompany.com/ and you will find your nearest local group. It’s a very heartening and inspiring network!

The thing that gives me the most pleasure as an MP

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Am really cross that despite best efforts cannot find time to meet up with Jenny Gillies. She’s the South African women that I met when I went to look at AIDS projects in South Africa. Jenny left a message on my phone – and as good as her word – the roof of the terrible shack I visited has an interim replacement which will keep the rain off of him during the rainy season and will be replaced with a proper roof thereafter – and going that extra mile – the walls are to be built of brick! Thanks Jenny – and see you next time!

Lunch yesterday was with the High Commissioner of Cyprus to the UK – Georgios Icovou. Well – what an interesting man (was Foreign Minister in Cyprus for 15 years). I learned so much of the history (obviously from his perspective).

It seems to me that there were many lost opportunities along the road to where we are unhappily now. I have both Greek and Turkish communities in Hornsey & Wood Green – and it seems to me that our Government does not take a really pro-active role in trying to move the impasse. In the end – it is the people (both communities) who suffer and whilst there are certainly barriers to achieving the breakthrough – there must be a way through.

In the evening was the long-awaited ‘workshop’ by the London Development Agency at the Chocolate Factory. The open session was to show the current tenants and other creative businesses in Haringey what is intended for the future for the creative industries, what the development plans for Haringey Heartlands are, what support there is available to creative businesses and so on. I think the audience appreciate the workshop and found some of the plans very exciting.

Not going to raise all the issues here as it was a closed session. However, the crux of the issue for the current tenants was the closed session where they got to question the LDA on their investment and monitoring. It was clear however, that the LDA is not going to get involved in the key issue – which is the 50% hike in rents by Collage Arts for their studio licenses – as that is a legal and contractual matter between individuals and Collage.

All I would say though, is we all hope that Collage and the tenants can find a better way forward where the tenants are not fearful the whole time and where they feel that the future envisaged by the LDA includes them rather than gets rid of them in favour of new businesses. The existing colony of artists – the artistic jewel in Haringey’s Crown – could be in jeopardy if they cannot afford the 50% hike in rent. It will be a crying shame if any of the artists have to go.

Of course – the area will be worth a fortune when Heartlands kicks off!

Last stop of the day – speech night at St Thomas More School. This is a Catholic secondary school in Wood Green and this was its first ever speech night and prize giving. I was absolutely thrilled to be there to give out the prizes and make the keynote speech.

There is nothing, quite frankly, in my role as MP that gives me more pleasure and satisfaction than seeing young people get rewarded for effort. The Head, Mr Hickey, is clearly completely committed – as are the staff. And that spirit of enthusiasm is echoed as each ‘winner’ came up shyly or boldly to receive their award – proud of themselves.

St Thomas’s has not always had the reputation of saints – but it seems to me as if there is a real ethos of achievement being instilled throughout everyone at the school – students, parents and teachers – and it’s not just academic, but it’s about creating thinking, respectful individuals who try their best. Way to go!

Al Yamamah: excellent news from the courts

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Hurrah! There is now going to be a judicial review into Labour’s decision to pull the plug into the UK-Saudi Al Yamamah arms deal corruption investigation.

For all Labour’s talk about being tough on crime, they axed this investigation, they’ve tried to hinder the US’s investigation, and there’s no decent excuse for not taking corruption in international arms deals seriously. As I wrote previously:

Imagine you’ve been burgled and (by a small miracle!) someone is up in court, charged with the burglary. How impressed would you be if the accused said, “OK, I did do it – but you have to understand. I’m a poor student at the local university and all the French and US students there steal things too, so it wouldn’t be fair if I was left out and had to make do without the proceeds of crime too?” Not very I think! But that’s pretty much the excuse so often rolled out to brush away corruption around international arms deals – everyone else gives out bribes you know, and it would be so unfair and unforgivable if we didn’t too.

You can read the rest of my case over on Liberal Democrat Voice.

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