Martin Francis is giving a running commentary on the Brent Labour Group AGM here. It is always worth bearing in mind Martin's long term hostility to the Labour Party when reading his comments.
Nonetheless, they are of interest. Not least one speculates as to his sources. In the past I am pretty sure he has been briefed by friends of Cllr Muhammed Butt, but that seems rather less likely in present circumstances.
On the whole I think the picture he portrays is likely to be fairly accurate. Cllr Butt has certainly organised such slates in the past. He did so unsuccessfully in 2012, but more effectively in 2013. The suggestion that is seeking to divide the group by both age and race again rings true. He tried the age card back in 2013, even though it was untrue. I suspect that this time round most of the people he is trying to get rid of are actually rather younger than he is (Cllr Butt is 49).
His conduct in the Rosemarie Clark case, where he put covering up for his cronies ahead of dealing with racist bullying, convinces me that he doesn't really have any concerns over the diversity of the Group. I and others used Labour meetings to press him over the Clark case and were simply met with obfuscation.
However, I think, Cllr Butt is prepared to use race as a political weapon, which is a great pity at a time when Sadiq Khan has just triumphantly won the London elections by doing the exact opposite against a Tory campaign that used just those kind of tactics.
I hope Brent Labour councillors prefer the Khan route.
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