Thread by @AndrewJPelling

UPDATE: coming up soon. I have received a response to my polite and bridge building letter to @CroydonLabLCF re my #rescinded Labour candidacy for #Waddon. I am analysing the e-mail. Time to stand up to Wotan? 1/32

UPDATE: I have read response to my polite & bridge building letter to @CroydonLabLCF re my #rescinded Labour candidacy for #Waddon. LCF Response is a top-class piece of surrealist art of the absurd. But first a briefing on the background 2/32

UPDATE: Selection process for 2022 @CroydonLabour Cllr candidates saw the excellent @JamieAudsley barred from council candidacy for not mentioning the words "Directly Elected Mayor" often enough in his interview. @JamieAudsley was 1 of 2 Labour Cllrs to speak up for DEM3/32

UPDATE: I was the other Labour Cllr to speak openly for DEM. I was sacked before as Chair of the #Croydon Pension Fund for proposing successfully to Croydon South Labour CLP that they support a DEM. A sign of Croydon council's awful culture that led directly to its demise … 4/32

UPDATE: was that this was not the 1st sacking as I had been sacked before as pension chair for seeking legal advice on appropriateness of banning certain black music in Croydon through licensing restrictions. The ban struck me as not what an #antiracist Labour council does 5/32

UPDATE: External adviser Aon Hewitt very recently criticised these political games played around the #seriousmoney of the Pension Fund. Since first chairing, the outperforming Fund is up from £863.2m when I started in chair. It’s now at £1,651.1 m, up 93 % or £787.9m. 6/32

UPDATE: Now this Committee that has a huge impact on what #Croydon council taxpayers are exposed to in paying pensions, faces my third sacking in six years arising from this disciplinary process. I am charged with 7/32

UPDATE: I am charged with speaking to a media organisation that is proscribed by the Labour councillors. I passed my first interview to be approved for consideration for selection by #Waddon ward Labour party members. 8/32

UPDATE: I was conscientious at that interview, conducted by party members external to Croydon, in confessing to sins. I mentioned the words 'Directly Elected Mayor' in the first five words of my interview. 9/32

UPDATE: In response to a question about possible embarrassments for the party I mentioned the risks arising from then police and current ICO criminal investigations into the Labour Group associating itself with the hacking of material of a leading Croydon media body. 10/32

UPDATE: The interview panel took the view that my relationship with a proscribed media organisation was a matter for the Labour Group & for #Waddon party members. Waddon party members chose 2 excellent new candidates with my great 2 colleagues retiring. 11/32

UPDATE: I was also chosen. The campaign got into its rhythm very quickly and in the 1st polling district covered we were already on our 3rd call on households. Then came the bolt out of the blue that I was recalled for re-interview by @CroydonLabLCF . 12/32

UPDATE: The re-interview was called because Croydon Labour's overarching campaign body, the LCF, made a what they describe as a "serious allegation" that I was talking to a proscribed media organisation & providing confidential information. 13/32

UPDATE: 'Bolt out of the blue' is definitely the right description. You can't blame the local Tories for celebrating the division and disruption to a Labour campaign in a marginal ward. The Tory Mayoral candidate highlighted the issue at Full Council. 14/32

UPDATE: Upon chasing the LCF, I was sent the evidence. It's flimsy. It's just a reading list of 5 links to @InsideCroydon articles. 15/32

UPDATE: I would not publish the LCF correspondence without their permission. It hurts the party to chase out the two Croydon Labour councillors who spoke up for a Directly Elected Mayor (DEM). Labour can't seriously aspire to do the DEM job until it is reconciled .... 16/32

UPDATE: .. until it is reconciled to there being a DEM and that 80.4% of voters supported it. That's the 2nd highest support for having a Mayoralty ever. Turnout was low. That was because embarrassed Labour voters abstained in droves. .. 17/32

UPDATE: If that scale of abstention happens again ward losses for Labour will be horrendous. Without change in this unreconciled to DEM stance (and also escaping from the narrative of bankrupting the council) Labour stand zero chance of winning the Mayoralty. 18/32

UPDATE: An LCF leak says that 5 voted for the #rescinding of my candidature for re-interview with 1 against & 1 abstention. Procedural ruling and a vacancy likely led to 6 being excluded from the meeting. Another leak says that my rescinding had long been intended. 19/32

UPDATE: The #rescinding was delayed to the most destructive late date possible. Are the unnamed faceless 5 (a request for who voted how has been ignored) Tory double agents? So, I turn to what the LCF response & it's bad news .... 20/32

UPDATE: The LCF has raised further charges, allegations & concerns. Some of these are eccentrically absurd as I am about to detail. My attempt to reach out to stop this slow motion political accident & my request for full papers has been ignored. 21/32

UPDATE: In no particular order, it is asserted that I am not permitted to and should not have at any stage have drawn this matter to the attention of anyone except the LCF and the 'independent' interview panel 22/32

UPDATE: Arising from this gagging secrecy I am forthwith not allowed to talk to anyone about the #rescinding of my Labour candidacy. 23/32

UPDATE: Attempts by legal representation to be present will be barred. 24/32

UPDATE: I am also newly charged with abusing the word #rescinded in public and an investigation into all tweets with the word #rescinded will be undertaken including linking the issue to the popular songs "Don't you want me, baby?" by The Human League,

UPDATE: "Don't leave me this way" by The Communards with Sarah Jane Morris and "Tragedy" by Steps amongst others 26/32

UPDATE: Further, consideration will be given to my reporting of the view of the LCF that

"It is not about justice; it is about Labour Party rules".

27/32

UPDATE: No response was made to my peace making suggestion that "a pause for consideration and further back-channel discussions will bring great benefits for both sides".

28/32

UPDATE: The @waddon Labour campaign faces 11 extra days of uncertainty with consideration of even looking at a new date for a hearing will not be undertaken until after 5 pm on January 1, 2022.
The LCF needs to organise to cope with any personnel difficulties in progressing.29/32

UPDATE: The due process request for all papers has been ignored. 30/32

UPDATE: I have no confidence in the credence of this process. That concern has been heightened in back-channel discussions where the reassurance that it is not guaranteed that it will be no, is no reassurance at all, but instead a confirmation of a strongly negative bias. 31/32

UPDATE: The best Labour Croydon people (not me) see Labour's role as engaging with the community. Unfortunately, some see all their politics as being within the internal borders of Labour where they see the main business of Labour as being to expel or discipline each other. 32/32