Friday night saw the first meeting of the new ICG Committee following the recent Annual General Meeting, and I left totally enthused having attended what had been probably one of the most determined and constructive of these events for quite a few years.Colleagues recognised the increasingly important contribution of Councillor Jon Hardy (left) by electing him to the top spot in his own right for the first time, having for the previous year been joint Chair with Councillor Caroline Andrews. Councillor Shirley Fisher was re-elected Treasurer for another year, whilst I formally reclaimed my old post of Organiser as it was agreed that the previous year's division of the role had not worked as we would have hoped.
For us in the ICG it is not sufficient to recognise that we have been consistently hard-working in our community while our opponents and critics would seem to have gone to ground other than performing occasional ghost-writing services for our alleged Member of Parliament for the benefit of the local press. We believe that we should be working to full potential at all times, using the position we find ourselves in to the full benefit of our own residents and ensuring that they know at all times what it is we are doing.
Assuming that we will be involved once again, as looks increasingly likely, we will soon be seeking nominations for candidates for the 2010 local elections and will be looking out into our community to see who might be up to such a task. And we have drawn up a full schedule of activity for the forthcoming year and beyond.
Beginning next Friday (March 6th) we will be organising monthly social evenings and any members, supporters or well-wishers who would like to attend should contact me for details of the time and venue.
More on the ICG's latest activities will follow soon.
12 comments:
Phil I'm disappointed in you. You are normally so astute but as that feared and famous old antenna of yours seems to be going rusty let me spell it out for you.
Labour's plan is to "throw" the next council election and hand the borough over to the Tories which for them is preferable to allowing the ICG another four years in coalition. They believe they can then come back and clean up when conditions are better and the ICG is out of the way.
That is why Hounslow is not included on their recently published list of target boroughs.
The Tories of course are in on this which is why they believe they can win in Syon and Isleworth. Trust me I have this from the horse's mouth.
You are being stitched up from both sides at once my friend and I would be interested to know what you think you can do about it.
@ fly
I believe we have considered every possible scenario but am grateful to you for your insight nonetheless.
Whilst not accepting your comments at face value (which I'm sure you wouldn't expect me to), anybody who thinks that the ICG would disappear in the event of our losing council seats would be seriously deluding themselves.
We are a community-based operation, and we could work outside the electoral arena just as effectively as we currently work within it.
If the scenario you have presented is correct, I strongly believe it will misfire badly.
Fly on the wall, if you want to help Phil out you will let him know where you are coming from. It isn't necessary for the Tories to be "in on it", you would expect them to try hard to win more seats in any case, that need not imply that they are involved in any kind of conspiracy with the Labour party.
You give an impression of inside knowledge which suggests you might be involved with Labour, maybe as someone who has some sympathy for the ICG. If you are Labour then it would suit you to implicate the Tories in some sharp practice would it not?
If however you are a Conservative who is offering an insight into his own party's deals then you need to provide Phil with that information, privately if you don't want to do it via this weblog, so that he can be forewarned and forearmed.
If this information isn't forthcoming then my guess would be that you are a Labourite stirring things.
anonymous (why?)
Feel free to attack gratuitously my friend, when you know what you are talking about maybe it will get you somewhere.
All I am doing is trying to offer some help to someone I have some time for without blowing my own cover, because I have principles too and I hope and believe that one day they will prevail, in my party and in the borough.
If I say I know this is a done deal across the big two parties it is because that is what I am hearing all around from where I am. If you are asking whether I've been privy to cross-party discussions then the answer is no.
If you think about it you don't need any insider knowledge to work it out really do you? The Conservatives really don't give a rat's ass for all the 'community participation' stuff that fires the ICG, and Labour still believe the borough is rightfully their's and will drop back into their lap once the Tories have had four years of problems which will undoubtedly follow once we have a Cameron government still in the middle of a recession.
So the deal is the Tories get four years of True Blue Heaven probably selling off every tree and paving slab they can find a buyer for without having to answer to the ICG even as much as they do now, then Labour takes over once again and no more ICG to worry about or that's what they believe anyway.
Fair play to Phil if he can keep the ICG viable as a local fighting force when that happens because it will keep Labour on our toes and the party will then hopefully avoid the mistakes that got it in the state it's in today. But personally I would rather see the ICG in the mix next year as I think that will be the best wake-up call of all.
Fly on the wall,
I do not know where you get your information from but I can assure you that there is no 'done deal' and never would be between the Conservatives and Labour. I really do know!!
Thanks for this John. I guess we can expect a lot of this type of thing as the election approaches.
john
As Chairman of the Conservative Constituency Party you would say that wouldn't you?
@ fly
Fascinating though this discussion is, the essential fact is that our election strategy would be no different in either scenario.
I'll even tell you what it is. We will be aiming to win every seat we contest, and to get as many votes as we can.
Fly on the wall, I am anonymous because I choose to be (Fly on the wall is your real name is it?).
You are telling us that Labour is prepared to throw the next local election in the hope that the Tories will wipe out the ICG, and from the comments that have been reported I accept that is quite plausable.
You have still not though provided any evidence of Tory collusion in this, and my point was that there doesn't have to be collusion on both sides for one side to throw a match.
You seem to me to be trying warn Phil of what Labour are up to and I'm sure that's welcome but at the same time you are trying to stir things up for the Tories and your modus operandi is transparent. Disgruntled Labour member/supporter who thinks his party should concentrate on fighting the Tories instead of the ICG, am I right?
I am sure Phil is capable of reading the situation accurately, he hasn't exactly done badly in the past. So if you don't like the party you're in why not change your party, because your party will never change itself.
I think everyone's being far too over-analytical here.
A rather mischievous posting designed to provoke a response has got imaginations running riot.
Who knows how much 'truth' there is in it or who wrote it, does it really matter ?
According to the most recent article written by Phil Andrews the Fly on the Wall has infomration that only someone in Labour's inner circule could have known.
Is that why Phil Andrews knows it?
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