East Leeds local election results
Richard Barker, the former Tory agent for Leeds, was spotted running a flower stall on Leeds City Railway station. At first my informant thought he was running the Leeds Tory Party from a couple of tin boxes. However he said that he had decided to get a life outside the Tory Party. But perhaps there is none inside after disposing of the services of their most experienced agent. No wonder the Tories only got 168 votes in Harehills and only 41 votes in Seacroft. This makes the Socialist Alliance and Left Alliance votes look very good in Leeds.
Rumour has it that the creeping up of the Liberal Democrat vote in Seacroft has led to George Mudie, the MP for East Leeds, dispatching my trusty friend and fellow co-operator Councillor Brian Selby to investigate.
Harehills
This was a nasty win for New Labour. Some Labour supporters had actually signed the extreme right wing British National Party nomination papers apparently under the impression they were signing a petition. About what?
It is alleged that the BNP encouraged people to vote against the Liberal Democrat Councillor Javaid Akhtar in an allegedly racist manner, which New Labour did nothing to contradict.
Unfortunately Javaid had lost the support of some in Harehills due to a perception that he only favoured one segment of the community.
However the main reason for New Labour's victory was the massive postal vote turnout giving "inner city" Harehills a 40% turnout, as high as the middle-class Leeds areas such as Wetherby and Otley.
1800 postal votes were cast. Overwhelmingly there were for New Labour. It has been alleged that New Labour led by George Mudie helped the larger households fill out their forms and posted them for them.
This immense effort prevented George from attending the vital vote of the Treasury Parliamentary committee. George has always preferred East Leeds to Westminster.
There is no evidence that New Labour put any effort into countering the threat from the BNP other than attending the excellent meeting called by the Anti Nazi League.
However given Blunkett's and Hain's latest pronouncements and their language on asylum seekers, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell New Labour and the BNP apart. And in Bradford there is a rumour that one of the new New Labour councillors was a member of the fascist National Front.
Chapel Allerton
Garth Frankland was disappointed with his vote dropping back 0.2%. His team thought they would come in at around 1350 to New Labour's 1650. However Brown's pro NHS-budget boosted the Labour vote throughout Leeds (and the rest of the country). On top of this, Chapel Allerton New Labour, using the postal votes records from the General Election, were able, through some heavy and expensive telephone canvassing, to increase their postal vote by over 200 from two years ago. This almost completely accounts for their increase.
At the count, one New Labour supporter remarked that there were really 3000 Labour votes in Chapel Allerton. This might have been the case two years ago. However it is now fairly clear that the vast majority of Garth's votes are no longer connected with his long and successful councillorship but clear identification with the Left Alliance policies as providing an alternative to Blair. During the election well over 100 supporters took garden stakes compared with less than 10 New Labour supporters in Chapel Allerton and even those waited until the night before the election.
On election day many who had previously told the LA canvassers that they might support Garth said they had with a heavy heart decided to give New Labour another chance and others said they would never again be voting for New Labour. It takes time for voters to get used to the idea that there is a new party but gradually this is beginning to happen.
The rest of Leeds
North East: Brian Jackson, the wonderful co-operator, gained 51 votes in North Ward (more than the Tories in Seacroft)
Mike Davies added yet more votes to his growing record (now 130) in Moortown. It is now estimated that the LA should be able to make a serious play for this seat next year.
Malcolm Christie gained a creditable 127 in Roundhay. New Labour felt this had denied them the chance to win the ward. However it is usually the case that extra interest in an election increases the total poll and probably boosted New Labour's vote above what it should have been. However if New Labour really do believe that Malcolm's intervention has cost them a seat; I understand he is open to political offers, say reinstatement of the whole of the LA back into Leeds North East and allowing them to stand for office. Couldn't be fairer than that.
Morley
Education Leeds, after its "successful" attempts to close Leopold Primary and primary schools in Otley, has shown its finger on the pulse by building a brand new school in Morley, which has only 5 registered pupils! To pay for such a school they will have to close 10 Leopolds.
And by the way congratulations to my good friend Robert Finnigan on his election as the "Mr Morley" to Leeds City Council. It was pity he had to defeat another good friend that witty bon viveur and person about town, the international lawyer Graham Platt.
Leeds New Council
Congratulations are also due to first new left wingers for some years to be elected to Leeds city Council. So congratulations Patrick Hall, Councillor for University Ward, and John Garvani, Councillor for Burmantofts.
The Greens continued their forward march in Wortley with the election of the formidable Ann Blackburn.
Sadly the right-wing but honest Alec Hudson was defeated in Rothwell. Alec played a major role in defending Garth Frankland from being expelled from the Labour Party.
New Labour still have a majority thanks to Gordon Brown; however next year this will be under some threat unless they become considerably bolder and begin to move some distance from the London-centric Blair. We are sure that rising star Councillor Keith Wakefield will take up the necessary aggressive stance to the local MPs to bring them under some political control and ensure they begin to fight for the interests of Leeds and not Blair.
Where is bin Laden?
This column has previously repeated Internet gossip that bin Laden is in Tel Aviv with his hair shaven drinking café latte or riding around Afghanistan on his white horse with 5000 body guards which are carefully and deliberately not seen by the UK and US troops.
However a new theory is beginning to emerge. He is staying at George Bush's Texan ranch as a guest of the President.
Geoff Hoon's young men have been scouring the mountains looking for bin Laden with out a single sighting. They have succeeded in blowing up the munitions supplies of one of the allies, had a shoot out with a wedding party and imported a deadly airborne virus back into the UK. However no actual sighting.
There is plenty of good grazing for bin Laden's horse on the Bush's ranch. I've previously explained the oil connection, which has drawn the Bush and Bin Laden families close together over many years.
It is now emerging that Bush was warned of the impending attacks on New York. But Bush's Attorney General John Ashcroft instructed the FBI to lay off counter terrorism work and to concentrate on fighting crime. He also cancelled the surveillance plane that had been tracking bin Laden.
Unless Geoff Hoon is prepared to send the SAS to Texas there is no chance of finding bin Laden or the people behind him. All he is doing is endangering British lives and wasting our money.
-- Half-Celestial Khan
