Upon the sad death of Cllr Ian Hanham the local Brompton Association had to scurry around to get a shoo in.
In their hurry they alighted upon a candidate endorsed by none other than Mr Jonathan Frazer-Howells-that, in itself, should have set off alarm bells...
Anyway, one of the Dame's Brompton Association chums( a dissident!) revealed an odd story to her. Before young Mosley was selected and elected there was another candidate for the seat.
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| TROLLEY DOLLY |
That candidate had a 'colourful past.' Formerly, a former BA trolley dolly, he then went on to have a short lived career as a 'gay porn film star'.
Now, the Dame is a pretty liberated old thing with a sort of 'chacun a son gout' approach to life, but it was felt that residents-like the Dowager Duchess of xxxxxxxx-might not be so liberally minded.
The Dame's attitude was certainly not shared by one extremely senior Labour councillor......who was the councillor? No names: no pack drill, as the Dame's second husband, the boring old Indian Army general, was wont to say.....to carry on with the story.....
In gratitude, 'Oirish' treated the Labour informant to a slap up lunch.
Now on the subject of the slap up lunch..... the Dame has just read a comment to the effect that Oirish sought permission from Pooter to allow the very expensive lunch to go down on expenses. In other words us taxpayers rewarded a Labour councillor for bringing politically advantageous information to the Conservative Group.
This is a throughly wrong use of taxpayers' money: the councillor needs to seriously consider her position....so does Pooter.
The cost of the lunch needs to be repaid and apologies made.
The Dame will be presenting this horrible story to Private Eye....
Now on the subject of the slap up lunch..... the Dame has just read a comment to the effect that Oirish sought permission from Pooter to allow the very expensive lunch to go down on expenses. In other words us taxpayers rewarded a Labour councillor for bringing politically advantageous information to the Conservative Group.
This is a throughly wrong use of taxpayers' money: the councillor needs to seriously consider her position....so does Pooter.
The cost of the lunch needs to be repaid and apologies made.
The Dame will be presenting this horrible story to Private Eye....
Time to name names
ReplyDeleteAs if the Dez O'Neill affair was not enough.
ReplyDeleteWhat have Labour voters done to deserve this kind of shoddy treatment? How can we trust our councillors to represent us if they cant even remain true to their own Party?
To think that she was "paid off" by the Tories with a lunch is sickening.
There is growing evidence that this particular Councillor has been colluding with members of the Majority Party for some time now to the detriment of the Labour Party and the residents she is elected to represent.
ReplyDeleteVote Lib/Dem -Get Conservative
ReplyDeleteVote Labour -Get Conservative.
Well, it certainly wasn't Dent Coad....she gives no quarter to Cockell and his poodles....so who is it?
ReplyDeleteThis helps explains why Labour are so pathetic in their attempts to hold Pooter and Co to account.
ReplyDeleteThey are all in this racket together...
For democracy to work the Opposition should oppose and not seek to
help run the Conservative Party by acting as their "informants".
And to sell your soul for a slap up meal... well that just about says it all.
These Labour and Conservative councillors arrogantly collude together to get what they can for themselves.
Residents and their legitimate concerns are just an irrelevance to those with power in the Rotten Borough.
No point in being coy. Councillor Blakeman told Councillor Ahern who then bought her lunch, but only after he had asked Cockell if he was allowed to do so. All very cosy but then Blackeman had always supported Cockell when he had been reported to the Standards Committee. Like when he had forgotten that he had used the Mayor's Bentley to 'save taxi fares'!!! Such a considerate person, but he does have legs and there is something called the Underground that he could have used to take him to the airport for his council funded jolly to New York.
ReplyDeleteSo in other words had Blakeman kept her mouth shut the trolley dolly would have been elected and then when his past had come out he would have had to resign causing the Conservative Party huge embarrassment. Lucky that Cllr Blakeman was standing by to ensure that the Conservatives chose young Louis.....all he is guilty of is spending too much time in Boujiis.
ReplyDeleteIf we did not have the Hornet we would never have known of Blakeman's colluding ways.
She should step down as Leader over this.
This is a very sad day for politics in the already corrupt Rotten Borough.
ReplyDeleteThe Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Blakeman should be deeply ashamed of herself.
Except she wont be, of course.
Now it will be her turn to start bleating that she has done "nothing wrong", she will ignore the complaints and demands for her resignation by others in the Labour Party and the residents who voted for her and she will carry on regardless.
Labour need to sort themselves out as residents deserve better than to be represented by the likes of such dubiously motivated individuals as Councillor Blakeman and Dez O'Neill.
Labour and Conservative are but one in K and C and their aim is to protect each other and abuse residents.
If this story is true then Councillor Blakeman must go and go now.
ReplyDeleteAfter shamelessly colluding with the Conservatives, she is clearly not fit to be Leader of K and C Labour Party or to represent the people of Notting Barns.
MAYBE COUNCILLOR BLAKEMAN COULD TELL RESIDENTS WHOSE SIDE SHE IS ON?
ReplyDeleteCouncillor Blakeman will try and hang on to her position as Leader of the Opposition and Ward Councillor until the next Council elections.
ReplyDeleteShe must not be allowed to.
THE TIME FOR HER TO GO IS NOW!
If this is true its shameful.
ReplyDeleteHow is Cllr Blakeman supposed to know the Tory was going to claim it on expenses? Another nasty manoeuvre by Cockell et al and a lesson to everyone NONE of them are to be trusted.
Politics is an evil game filled with backstabbing greedy people and the Kensington bunch particularly adept at it. Thanks to the Dame residents are kept informed.
7.58 is as nasty an example of homophobia that we have seen for some time on Hornet. The “friend” of the former air steward, furious that the Labour Party did not use his past when it was revealed to them before the 2010 local elections in Colville ward, is now upset that there was no opportunity to crucify him had he been elected to represent Brompton. The Labour Party should be congratulated for ensuring that political debate rather than mindless prejudice governs the electoral process in Kensington and Chelsea. Incidentally, the lunch was to see whether Cllr. Ahern could persuade the Labour Party to withdraw their complaints about Cockell and Paget-Brown to the Standards Board. That was a waste of time, then.
ReplyDeleteOh for goodness sake stop being fatuous. The Hornet has no homophobic agenda. Dragging up that sort of nonsense demeans you. The simple fact of the matter is that the Association would never have accepted such a candidate: particularly as there were rather more unsavory facts undisclosed. And you are wrong, yet again. The lunch well pre-dated any attempt to persuade the Labour Group to withdraw it's complaint. And even silly Pooter would have known that to have done so would have been a step too far for the Minority Group. The lunch was a thank you for her help in preventing the Tories losing face.
ReplyDelete10:58
ReplyDeleteHow is the ankle coming along?
Whose ankle?
ReplyDeleteDear Dame
ReplyDeleteNo one accuses you of homophobia. We refer to correspondent 7.58. And do please check the date when the appeal against the decision of the Standards Initial Review Committee to exonerate the Conservative leadership was submitted.
Two things emerge here...
ReplyDeleteThe background to the candidate came via a senior Labour councillor. Even if she was not rewarded with a taxpayer funded lunch why would she transmit information favourable to the ruling group?
If the Dame is wrong..... why did the councillor, when realising the purpose of the lunch, not ensure it was being privately funded. If she assumed that the lunch was funded from Ahern's own pocket then she must have been naive. But hopefully the situation will clarify, for she would obviously have declared the lunch......
Dear Readers
ReplyDeleteWhat you are reading is a fake discussion between two contributing editors to this sham blog. One of the editors is Cllr Blakeman who is trying to distance this blog from the Labour party and in doing so making up silly comments about her position.
This is a fake discussion and until there is a real way to prove who contributes what, there is no need to take it any more seriously than The Dandy
If you don't take the Hornet seriously why do you read it with such enthusiasm. And we know you do.....
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Cllr Palmer I am pleased you had your holiday...but from what? The Dame is uncertain- seeing as you never had a proper job in your life....
But to more important matters...your little conspiracy theory really doesn't bear scrutiny. Why? Because the Dame has neither met nor ever had a conversation with Cllr Blakeman.
Let's be logical-if not a sheer impossibility for you.
The power over residents' lives is in the hands of the Conservative Group.Thus, the Dame's focus is upon their performance-or lack of. Labour has no power so is of little forensic interest. However, were the situation reversed Labour would be the subject of the Dame's interest. In this case the Dame heard something that displeased her-and reported upon it. It's called balance...nothing more than that.....
Dear Dame
ReplyDeleteAs I think you have spotted, the comment headed "Judith Blakeman" did not come from me.
Kind regards.
Cllr. Judith Blakeman
Maybe Councillor Blakeman would be good enough to tell those who voted for her whose side she is on?
ReplyDeleteI am puzzled...if the Dame is right....and she seems to have an uncanny knack of getting it right... two councillors had an expensive £65 lunch together. Now, it seems that neither party dipped into their pocket to pay so we taxpayers picked up the tab. In that case was not one or the the other supposed to have declared it and the purpose?
ReplyDeleteThis seems a matter for Mr Holgate to investigate. Or will any awkward questions be swept under the carpet in the spirit of cross-party you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours politics that appears to pollute Horton St?
Sat 21:57
ReplyDeleteIf Emma Dent Coad has a reputation for giving no quarter to Pooter's poodles it would be interesting to hear her thoughts on the actions of this Labour "informant"?
By the way, when people vote for Labour in North Kensington they do so without the expectation that our Councillors then get into bed with the Ruling Party who despise and punish poor people.
I think it is unlikely that the Council paid for the lunch. Entertainment expenses are not generally sanctioned for councillors although Cockell seems to be exempt from that restriction.
ReplyDeleteIf what you say is true why did Ahern ask permission to treat Blakeman for lunch? Why does Ahern do issue a denial that he claimed the lunch on ex's
ReplyDeleteIt is not in Labour or Conservative interest that this story is given any publicity.
ReplyDeleteNo chance of any justice for residents on this one then.... or maybe Blakeman or Ahern would like to enlighten us as to who paid for their lunch together?
I have read all these comment attentively but could someone somewhere tell me this is not some kind of massive publicly stunt.Firstly we all know councillors are always creaming something off ,but to find its the "whiter than white" councillor Blakeman this cannot be allowed to be swept under the carpet.EXPOSE EXPOSE
ReplyDeleteDear Judith as someone that voted for you,I would love to hear your take on this sordid matter.Dear councillor I know you are reading our comment please enlighten us all.
ReplyDeleteIt is high time for the respected Emma Dent Coad to take over the leadership of Labour. At least what you see is what you get with her.
ReplyDeleteCllr Blakeman clearly doesnt know whose side she is meant to be on anymore!
I agree Emma Dent Coad is a hard worker and totally committed....oh yes, I forgot she is very clever, which makes her a rarity on the Council. How about Foreman as her deputy?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThank you 21.22, you deserve a reply.
I personally find all forms of homophobia absolutely abhorrent. Back in the 2010 Council elections, an anonymous informant tried very hard to persuade the Labour Party to conduct a homophobic campaign against Mr. North, who was then one of the Tory candidates for Colville Ward. We declined to do this and the informant was most aggrieved. It was therefore perfectly clear to me, when he was about to be selected for the safe Tory seat of Brompton, that this individual would orchestrate a nasty campaign against Mr. North, either during the election campaign, or after he had been elected.
Indeed, one of the comments on this blog suggests that this is precisely what would have happened. I have never met Mr. North and I do not know him, but I do not believe that any election campaign should sink to the level of homophobia and personal attack. If the boot had been on the other foot and a potentially vulnerable candidate had been selected for the Labour Party I would have appreciated being told, not just for the interests of the Party but also for the interests of the individual concerned. Other colleagues may disagree with this approach, but we are entirely united in our contempt for homophobia.
As far as the lunch is concerned, it is quite ludicrous to suggest that I would sell my Labour principles for one meal. Over the 30 years I have been a Labour councillor I have been offered many far more enticing inducements to do that and have found them very easy to resist. If you wish to criticise me, then please criticise me for being naïve. I had no idea that this lunch was initiated by Cllr. Cockell, although the conversation was primarily about his displeasure at having been reported to the Standards Committee and the hope that we would not pursue this matter. We did pursue it. If Cllr. Ahern claimed for the lunch on Council expenses, then this is a matter that you must raise with him. I had understood it was a personal occasion and had always intended to reciprocate.
Kind regards
Cllr Judith Blakeman
The question remains...did you or did you not tell Cllr Ahern you knew that Mr North had worked as a porn star? Maybe it is you who need ask Cllr Ahern not to broadcast he had given the lunch as a 'thank you'. Had Mr North been elected Association members-and the electorate, would have been very angry at being kept in the dark about an important fact of his life. This has sod all to do with homophobia and you know it. In fact, a gay neighbour of mine said he would have been just as angry if someone had tried to inflict a heterosexual porn star councillor on him. Many gay people find the idea a candidate like Mr North suitable to be very patronising.
ReplyDeleteAre you seriously suggesting that residents should have been kept in the dark about this part of his life, or his total lack of political experience?
Your problem, Cllr Blakeman is that, from the perspective of your work on the Standards Committee, you are seen to always follow the Cockell line
It makes you sick. Labour are meant to be fighting a Ruling Party that hate poor people and disrespect residents.
ReplyDeleteInstead of opposing them Cllr Blakeman thinks it her business to help them run their election campaigns.
The potential problem for the candidate was not his sexuality (after all, not all existing Councillors at Horton St are hetro-sexual)
ReplyDeleteIt was his alleged short lived porn career that stood as a barrier to his suitability.
The Labour claim to be standing up against homophobia is pretty far fetched.. standing up for ex-porn stars keen to enter politics for the Conservative Party is more accurate (but probably slightly less noble).
All you need to do is a Freedom of Information request on Aherns expenses. I am sure Cllr Blakeman won't have caught that terrible condition afflicting Pooter that renders one unable to remember the date and venue and confirm such...
ReplyDelete