Carol Weaver to fight Leicester South for the Lib Dems

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Leicester South at the general election will be Dr Carol Weaver, an experienced campaigner who fought Rutland and Melton at the last election.

The Leicester Mercury says:

Dr Weaver has previously been the chairman of the Leicestershire European Movement, which campaigns to bring the UK closer to the EU. She has lectured in international relations and security at both De Montfort University and the University of Leicester.

Carol Weaver told the paper:

"Leicester has been taken for granted for too long, in part due to our undemocratic voting system. A General Election should not be a two-horse race.

"Whether it’s supporting our local NHS and school services or dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, I want to help Leicester residents with a change for the better, whilst preserving our vibrant and tolerant community. We need a fair deal for Leicester."

Leicester South was won for the Liberal Democrats by Parmjit Singh Gill in a 2004 by-election, but he lost the seat the following year.

In one of our few creditable Lib Dem by-election performances during the Coalition years, Zuffar Haq finished second here in a 2011.

Congratulations to Zuffar Haq MBE

Zuffar Haq fighting Harborough in 2010

Zuffar Haq, Liberal Democrat candidate for Harborough at the last three general elections, is to receive an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List.

He told the Leicester Mercury:

"I am honoured, and humbled, to receive this award. 

"Born and brought up in Leicester I have always felt it important to play a part in the community which has given my family and I so much."

Zuffar also fought the Leicester South by-election for the Lib Dems in 2011. He escaped the fate of most Lib Dem by-election candidates during the Coalition years and held on to second place.

I wrote about him during the campaign.

More titbits on Dr Teck Khong, the Ukip candidate for Harborough

Last night I introduced you to Dr Teck Khong, Ukip's candidate for Harborough on 8 June,

He has featured on this blog a couple of times before.

Dr Khong was on the shortlist of three from which the Conservative candidate for the 2011 Leicester South by-election was chosen, but did not make the cut.

And he was himself the victim of a racist speech by one of his Conservative colleagues on Oadby and Wigston Borough Council in 2015.

I wish him joy in Ukip.

The Mystery of Jon Ashworth's failure to resign

Shouting match going on between Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman and Jon Ashworth outside PLP. Accuses Corbyn's team of "spreading lies" about MPs.

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) June 27, 2016

With so many shadow cabinet ministers having resigned over the last two days, it is worth taking a look at those who have not resigned.

And among them you will find the name of the Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth, who retained his position as shadow minister without portfolio in the rump cabinet of loyalists announced by Jeremy Corbyn this afternoon.

Why hasn't Ashworth resigned like so many of his colleagues?

He is not of the far left: he was an Ed Miliband loyalist parachuted into Leicester South for the 2011 by-election,

One theory is that the anti-Corbyn forces want him to stay in the shadow cabinet so he keeps his seat on the party's national executive. But then Angela Eagle was also on the executive and that didn't stop her resigning.

Demonstrators in Leicester today were demanding that Ashworth support Corbyn. The Leicester Mercury just wants to talk to him.

The tweet above suggests that Ashworth is far from being a Corbyn supporter, but until he explains himself the mystery will remain.

Later. The mystery deepens. That tweet has now been deleted.

Lutfur Rahman with Keith Vaz, Jon Ashworth and Sir Peter Soulsby

BBC News reports:

An east London mayor has been removed from office and a poll declared void after he was found guilty of electoral fraud. 

An Election Commissioner concluded Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman breached election rules and must vacate his post immediately.

You can read Richard Mawrey's full judgment on Trial by Jeory.

In 2010 Rahman was chosen to be the Labour candidate for mayor of Tower Hamlets, but was deselected shortly afterwards amid concerns about the selection process and his alleged links with extremist groups.

In November 2010 he stood against the official Labour candidate as an independent and won the election.

Which made it odd that he travelled to Leicester the following year as an honoured guest of the city's Labour bigwigs. His visit came as the city was facing council elections, its first mayoral election and a parliamentary by-election in the Leicester South constituency.

I blogged about this visit at the time, linking to a video of it on a blog written by David Maclean, then the Leicester Mercury's political correspondent.

That blog has vanished, taking the video with it, but today I found this report of the event from Channel S, an Asian news station.

Zuffar Haq chosen as Lib Dem PPC for Harborough again

Good news. Zuffar Haq, who fought Harborough at the last general election, has been chosen to fight the seat again in 2015.

Zuffar also made an extremely creditable showing as our candidate in the 2011 Leicester South by-election.

Taxi for David Parsons, Tory leader of Leicestershire County Council

Last month I reported that the Liberal Democrat group on Leicestershire County Council had called for the resignation of the body's Conservative leader David Parsons over alleged expenses irregularities.. And informed gossip suggested that his own group was not much keener on him.

Parsons survived that crisis, but he is under renewed pressure today after the Leicester Mercury's revelation that he has cost taxpayers more than £1m in expenses and allowances over the past five years.

At a time when his council is making £74m cuts, Parsons has made extensive use of a chauffeur-driven car:

Trips included media appearances, theatre visits, cocktail parties and journeys which would arguably have been quicker or cheaper by train. 

He arrived at Radio Leicester’s studios on January 9 for an appearance on Desert Island Discs in the civic car. 

For the past three years, he has been driven to and from the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. 

In April, he used the car to visit Curve theatre, Leicester, for a performance of Yes Prime Minister. 

Other theatre visits included a performance of The Little Mermaid, in May 2006. 

The documents released show that in June last year, as he vied to become chairman of the Local Government Association – the most powerful role in local government – he used the car and driver to go to London to have lunch with a leading local government reporter. 

When he flies abroad on council business from Heathrow, a car usually takes him door to door. 

Other events attended in the car included drinks receptions, cocktail parties, a tour of Twycross Zoo, TV appearances and concerts.

Not surprisingly, the Liberal Democrat group spokesman David Bill has said:

"We query whether the amounts spent on travel are value for money for residents in Leicestershire at a time of cuts and austerity."

Taxi for Mr Parsons!

Leicester's Labour Mayor prevents finance staff attending scrutiny meeting

Says who? Says Labour councillor and chair of the city council's scrutiny committee Ross Wilmott.

Leicester's Labour group has always been faction ridden, but you have usually had to read between the lines to work out what is going on. But you don't have to be a redeployed kremlinologist to make sense of Wilmott's latest blog post:

we have heard from Soulsby over and over again that propriety, openness, inclusiveness and robust scrutiny are highly valued and in his view were lacking of late in Leicester. He therefore gave assurances throughout his campaign and since his election that scrutiny will be independent, transparent, robust, and fully resourced. 

Well, the last meeting raised serious questions about Soulsby’s commitment to any of these principles. It’s hardly independent if the Mayor vetoes reports and stops officers from attending. It’s hardly transparent if he does not explain that he has done this. It can never be robust if we are denied the information with which to scrutinise. And so far scrutiny is not properly resourced, although the committee did welcome the assurance from the mayor that this would be resolved as quickly as possible. 

The Committee agreed that in future finance officers as well as legal advisors will attend every meeting. Making it clear that it is not the mayor who decides who should attend.

Note too that Vijay Patel, the former leader of the council managed to appear even more ridiculous over the rehiring of its finance chief four months after he had been paid off by failing to turn up for the scrutiny meeting because he had a cold.

In May, when Labour found itself with a Labour mayor and 52 out of 54 councillors, I wrote:

There is certainly a strong case for using a proportional system for electing councils in city's with mayors. The Leicester Mercury's political correspondent has pointed out that under a proportional system Labour would have won 35 seats, the Tories 11 and the Lib Dems 8 - still a thumping majority, but a far healthier balance for politics in the city. 

Or if that is beyond the pale after another recent result, then at least for electing the mayor and the councillors in different years.

But it seems that Labour may be able to provide some proper scrutiny after all. As David Maclean, the Leicester Mercury's political correspondent, wrote on his own blog:

The tough tone Ross uses, however, is surprising. It’s also encouraging. I have doubts about the effectiveness of some scrutiny members. Some councillors by nature do not wish to rock the boat. Many want a cabinet position. It happens at all councils, not just Leicester. It’s the trouble with scrutiny.

It seems that for many councillors it’s difficult to separate party responsibilities from their duties to the people of the city.

Last year on scrutiny Ross showed some promising signs when it came to putting aside party loyalty for the good of city. Now, it appears, he’s relishing his chairmanship and quite rightly setting aside party loyalties when scrutinising.

And good for him, though you may also see Wilmott's independence as a sign of his disaffection from the ruling faction in Leicester Labour. He lost to Sir Peter Soulsby in the contest to be the Labour candidate in the city's first mayoral election and was then kept off the short list for the Leicester South by-election so that the seat could be used to parachute in Ed Miliband's PR man.

Those former Lib Dem Leicester South by-election headquarters in full

The Liberal Democrat headquarters in May's Leicester South by-election has become a florist's shop.

Meanwhile, a little way up the hill on London Road, the building we used in the 2004 contest (which has been empty for some years) is undergoing serious renovation. I shall keep a close eye on developments.

Leicester Labour lavishes praise on Lutfur Rahman

At the end of June I mentioned Andrew Gilligan's accusation that staff from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets had canvassed for Labour in Leicester in their work time.

I have not learned anything further about the truth of otherwise of that, but David Maclean at the Leicester Mercury has turned up footage of Lutfur Rahman, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, and his party being thanked afterwards by leading figures in the Labour Party in Leicester. It's so dull that I am not inflicting it on you, but you can see it if you can follow the link to David's blog. The Labour bigwigs who feature include Keith Vaz, Sir Peter Soulsby and Jon Ashworth.

[Later. David's blog has disappeared, taking the video with it, but you can a contemporary TV news report of the event elsewhere on this blog.]

What is remarkable about the occasion is that Rahman is not a member of the Labour Party. More than that, as Maclean points out, he was removed as Labour's candidate for mayor of his borough on 21 September with the following statement:

Having received a number of serious allegations concerning both the eligibility of participating voters and the conduct of Lutfur Rahman, the NEC has decided to investigate the allegations made. 

As a result, administrative action has been taken to remove Lutfur Rahman as a candidate pending the investigation. Nominations for Tower Hamlets mayor close this week and in the circumstances the NEC had no option but to impose another candidate.

After being dropped by Labour Rahman stood as an independent against the Labour candidate and won the election. You might think that would make him unpopular in Labour circles, but they don't seem to mind in Leicester.

Thanks to the reader who drew this to my attention - and for the observation that there is only one woman present and she leaves with Ashworth after 30 seconds.

Staff paid for by taxpayers campaigned for Labour in the Leicester South by-election

Or so Andrew Gilligan claimed in the Daily Telegraph earlier this week:

A London council leader used staff paid by the taxpayer to campaign for the Labour Party in a recent parliamentary by–election.

Lutfur Rahman, the controversial directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, took a coachload of people, including a number working for the council, to canvass for Labour at the Leicester South by–election. The visit took place during working hours on a weekday. Asked by The Daily Telegraph, the council refused repeatedly to deny that the staff were on duty at the time.

Gilligan goes on to explain that Rahman was elected as an independent after being expelled from the Labour Party for his alleged links to an extremist Muslim group. His visit to Leicester to support Labour’s candidate, Jon Ashworth, was part of aso far unsuccessful attempt to win readmission to the party.

In other news, the shop (pictured above) used as the Lib Dem HQ in the by-election looks set to become a florist.

Five candidates for the Inverclyde by-election

There will be five names on the ballot paper for the Inverclyde by-election on 30 June, reports BBC News:

• Sophie Bridger (Liberal Democrats)
• Iain McKenzie (Labour)
• Anne McLaughlin (SNP)
• Mitch Sorbie (UKIP)
• David Wilson (Conservatives)

This follows the Leicester South by-election in May, where there were also just five candidates. That could in part by explained by the simultaneous city-wide Mayoral election, which attracted the fringe candidates. But perhaps we are seeing the start of a new trend?

UKIP recriminations over Leicester South result

A thread on Bloggers4UKIP makes interesting reading.

The full Leicester South result is here.

Lib Dems hold on to second place in Leicester South by-election

Here is the result from the Leicester South by-election, which was declared earlier this evening. The count took so long because there were also the City council and Mayoral elections and the AV referendum to count in the city.

Jon Ashworth (Labour) 19,771
Zuffar Haq (Lib Dems) 7,693
Jane Hunt (Conservative) 5,169
Abhijit Pandya (UKIP) 994
Howling Laud Hope (Official Monster Raving Loony) 553

In the context of yesterday's other results, Zuffar Haq did well to hold on to second place. It is also good to see UKIP's candidate doing almost as badly as he deserved. I am reliably informed that Mr Pandya's fellow party members were less than impressed by his antics.

Later. I was tired last night and forgot to make this point. If Zuffar Haq had been our candidate in the 2004 by-election he would still be MP for Leicester South today.

Dirty tricks in the Leicester South by-election

Poltical Scrapbook reports:

The Leicester South by-election has turned dirty. A leaflet purporting to be from the Liberal Democrats and featuring a picture of two men kissing has been distributed in an Asian area of the city. The materials, which campaign organisers have confirmed as fake, are clearly an attempt to inflame anti-gay sentiment in the largely Muslim Spinney Hills area.

The leaflet [full size] features a version of the party’s equality policies as channelled by the Daily Mail. If the lack of an imprint (text required by electoral law) or contact details doesn’t raise suspicions, the text erroneously describe former Treasury Secretary David Laws and Simon Hughes as front benchers:

“We will force all schools to teach homosexuality as normal … Our front bench team Simon Hughes and David Laws are committed homosexuals, while Nick Clegg was recently voted by readers of Pink Times as the sexiest party leader.”

Political Scrapbook, which reproduces the whole leaflet, reminds us that a similiar dirty trick was played in the 2004 Leicester South by-election, which was won by the Liberal Democrats.

UKIP's Leicester South candidate talks to himself

We have seen how Abhijit Pandya, UKIP's candidate in this week's Leicester South by-election, wrote about the city's Muslim community on his blog earlier in this campaign:

A removal of multi-culturalism and assimilation of these people needs to done to save them from the abyss of exclusion and welfare. Above all, one should not shy away of contemplating forced repatriation, or threatening it to further assimilation, as a result of their lack of economic contribution to the UK.

And then issued a statement apologising for the use of the phrase "forced repatriation":

This does not accurately convey the point I was trying to make and is not in any way part of UKIP policy.

Having seen enough of Pandya in action, the Leicester Mercury wrote an editorial calling on people not to vote UKIP under the headline UKIP shows itself as silly and nasty.

Cue outrage from Pandya, who turned up at the Mercury's office demanding to talk to the paper's editor or political editor. Unfortunately he turned up there on Sunday morning when, predictably, there was no one there.

So Pandaya recorded the video above, which features him making his case to... no one.

Before you dismiss Pandaya as a booby or rogue candidate, remember that he claims to be UKIP's "Head of Research".

Labour's candidate in Leicester South opposes AV

Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice has picked up a Leicester Mercury report of a by-election hustings held in Evington earlier this week.

Mark highlights a comment made about AV made by the Labour candidate Jon Ashworth:

Frankly, I don’t really care – I’ve got more important things to think about.

As Mark comments:

There are some good and genuine electoral reform campaigners in the Labour Party, but this dismissive comment from someone who – if there had been no by-election – would after all have been Head of Party Relations for a man who penned a manifesto calling for a referendum (and for it to be passed) and who is now trying to win over his party to electoral reform shows just how precarious their position is in the Labour Party.

In fact it appears that Ashworth went further than that and told the meeting that he would vote against AV. The Mercury's rather odd English here does not help, but this is what its report says:

A member of the audience asked whether the candidates were for or against the alternative voting system.

Mr Haq said he was in favour of the system, which both Ms Hunt and Mr Ashworth said they would vote against it.

Chalk one up to the dinosaurs.

UKIP's candidate in Leicester South keeps on digging

Read the latest blog post from Abhijit Pandya, UKIP's Head of Research and candidate in the Leicester South by-election.

Nigel Farage picks up the pieces in Leicester

The UKIP leader was in Leicester yesterday, reports the Leicester Mercury, to survey the smoking ruins of his party's contribution to the city's politics.

This, you may recall, features a Mayoral candidate who has disappeared and a candidate in the Leicester South by-election whose disappearance would be widely welcolmed.

The latest news from the by-election candidate, Abhijit Pandya, is that he has:

issued a statement yesterday apologising for including the phrase "forced repatriation" in his blog.

He said: "This does not accurately convey the point I was trying to make and is not in any way part of UKIP policy.

"The point I was trying to make is that under current immigration controls, it is extremely difficult to deport illegal arrivals who have never contributed to the economy."

But in a statement UKIP's Mayoral candidate, Regine Anderson, did display some insight:

"There may be people asking why I put myself forward for such a position if I couldn't make the time to canvass."

UKIP candidate in Leicester South by-election calls Islam "morally flawed and degenerate"

Regine Anderson, UKIP's candidate for Leicester's first elected Mayor, is busy concentrating on her A levels. So it has fallen to Abhijit Pandya, the party's candidate in the Leicester South by-election, to make a splash in the media.

And he has not let UKIP down.

As the Leicester Mercury reports:

The UKIP candidate for the Leicester South by-election has caused outrage by condemning Islam on his blog.

In the article, Abhijit Pandya called Islam "morally flawed and degenerate" and said he backed a controversial Dutch politician, who called Islam a retarded ideology.

You can find the full article on Pandaya's blog, but here are a few choice excerpts:

"Campaigning in Leicester recently, I have been shocked to discover the quanta of those from Islamic backgrounds on one form of a benefit or another."

"Islamic culture inherently rejects the Western way of life, more specifically the Protestant work ethic, that has successfully built the economies of the West. The increase of Islam in the UK is going to be a problem for the welfare state."

"A removal of multi-culturalism and assimilation of these people needs to done to save them from the abyss of exclusion and welfare. Above all, one should not shy away of contemplating forced repatriation, or threatening it to further assimilation, as a result of their lack of economic contribution to the UK."

Pandaya, incidentally, is UKIP's "Head of Research". You get the impression that is not too onerous a position.