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Former Mayor defects from Lib Dems to Labour

August 14, 2012 1:39 pm

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Earlier today we brought you the news that most Lib Dem members would prefer a coalition with Labour to working with the Tories. Some Lib Dems, it seems, just want to join the Labour Party. Former Mayor of Calderdale, Nader Fekri, has quit the Lib Dems saying:

“I find it impossible to defend the devastating policies that this government is inflicting on the country. Not merely its inept management of the economy, with nary a grasp of basic Keynesian economics, but also in major policy areas, especially education and of course the NHS.

“On the economy, far from all being in it together we have a worsening recession which is adversely affecting millions of people across the country, but especially thousands of folk here in Calderdale, every day.”

Fekri is reported to have applied to join the Labour Party.

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  3. Brent Lib Dem defects to Labour – says party “betrayed the values that I once shared with them”
  4. Councillor defects to Labour from Greens – citing “mud hut” extremists
  5. Senior local government Lib Dem defects to Labour
  • http://www.robbiescott.com/ Robbie Scott

    I think we ought to have a special membership status for these people a sort of ‘Labour in transit’ status. How many Liberals will defect and keep their council seat? Jumping over good Labour candidates in the process… 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

      I believe in this case, the Councillor has already said he will not be defending his seat because his wife is working in another country (Turkey) and he will be standing down after his Mayoral period ends.

      • http://www.robbiescott.com/ Robbie Scott

        Oh, I see. I wasn’t singling him out i was speaking generally. I think we’re likely to get a influx of these defections and I think it’s out of order that potential labour party members get tossed to one side.  http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/9847446.Lib_Dem_leader__shocked_and_saddened__at_defection/ <<<  Cllr James Allie defected a few weeks ago and is now a 'Labour Cllr'  http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=112 <<< We've essentially allowed him to displace a loyal party member who would have probably won anyway. 

        • treborc

          I totally agree with you, it’s wrong and these people are jumping ship in the main to say in positions, after all these people have stayed Liberal/Tory for two years, then to moan about the liberals is a bit rich

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

          On Merseyside its been a bit of a mixture. Three LD to Lab defections in Liverpool – one stood down but may well have another go, the other stood for us in his original ward, a third switched ward and took the new ward off the LibDems.

          • http://www.robbiescott.com/ Robbie Scott

            How does the local party respond to them Mike? 

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            Well, I think they are all decent people. I’d say two of them were people who weren’t and perhaps still aren’t strong party people, although both work hard in their area.

            Certainly one of them is an excellent councillor and as a creative industries entrepreneur, he has plenty to offer. He has fitted very well into the Labour party and I know was relieved to escape from the LibDems locally. He was enthusiastically selected by his ward. 

            None of them were ever keen on the coalition. 

    • jaime taurosangastre candelas

      If the electors elected a Liberal, they wanted a Liberal.  If the Liberal then decides to jump to a different party, he or she then has no rights to continue to hold the position, and there should be a new election.  If the electors still want a Liberal, they’ll vote for another Liberal.  If the electorate want the old councillor, they’ll vote for him or her.  If the electorate want another party, they will vote for such.

      “Jumping over good Labour candidates” sounds to me as though you have the view of politics being “Buggins” turn”, which is extremely prevalent in both the Labour and tory parties.

      If they are such good candidates, why has no one ever elected them?  Was it not their “turn”, according to the little secret handshake in the Labour Club and who is the Chairman’s wife’s nephew, or see Bradford West for further examples of sordid little local deals.

      • http://www.robbiescott.com/ Robbie Scott

        I agree with the first paragraph. I think if you defect you ought to fight a by-election and I’d go further I think you ought to pay for it also. The tax payer is being forced to pay for unnecessary vanity by-elections of MPs who want to stand as police commissioners.   

        “sounds to me as though you have the view of politics being “Buggins” turn”, which is extremely prevalent in both the Labour and tory parties”. 

        I don’t think a sitting Cllr has the right to circumvent the Labour Party membership and be allowed to just jump ship (or any other party for that matter). That doesn’t mean that the electorate has to then back a Labour candidate it means Labour candidates should be selected by the membership and you shouldn’t be allowed to defect from another party and essentially displace a ‘genuine’ Labour supporter who might have been working really hard for years with the intention of putting their names forward for selection for 2014 which they now can’t do. 

        I don’t agree with your last paragraphs (it does happen) but if you become active in any political party after an election you wouldn’t have had the opportunity previously  to stand so as we approach 2014 and lots of people defect they’re essentially displacing party members who could have filled those places. 
         

  • KonradBaxter

    There should always be an election when this happens at whatever level.

    It is an insult to the electorate not to have an election and deeply arrogant and imperious of the person involved to think it is solely up to *them* to make this choice.

    If they don’t intend to stand at the next election then they should announce that and then resign at once.

     

    • Redshift

      Labour are probably truer to the platform he initially stood on. Arguably it is far more democratic to defect in those circumstances than stand by a party that has completely gone against what it said it would do before the last election.

      • KonradBaxter

        Maybe so, but they are a different party with a different manifesto and a different plan. The electorate need to be heard.

        How can it be more democratic when he has chosen unilaterally to change parties and the electorate have no say in the matter? It may salve the conscience of the person that does it but is an act against the voters and treats them with contempt.

    • John Dore

      Whilst on principal you are probably right, its not worth the money. I’d rather the council spent it on meals on wheels than an election……

      • KonradBaxter

        There’s always better things to spend money on. I think democracy is worth spending some cash on.

    • postageincluded

      Nonsense. You’re just saying that he should be entirely the creature of his party. Should councillors resign every time they vote against their party line too? Or would it be ok for him to vote with Labour as long as he says he’s LibDem? Perhaps you could set a tariff, and if he disobeyed his party more times than that tariff then he should resign?

      Or perhaps just get sent for ‘re-education”.

      • KonradBaxter

        No i’m not.

        I’m saying that if the voters elect candidate A from party 1 that is their democratic will. If A then moves to party 5 it is a direct betrayal of everyone who voted for him and A is declaring that the the will of the people is not important and that they are too cowardly to put their move to the electoral  test. A is essentially annuling the democratic will of the population.

        There is a MASSIVE difference between voting against your own party and changing parties. One is internal rebellion,  a rejection of party democracy and discipline. The other is against the democratic will of the people.

        If he voted with Labour but stayed with LibDems then that would be for the party to deal with – discipline or expel.

        It is changing parties and betraying the electorate in a cowardly fashion (representing a different party but refusing to go to the vote) that is the issue.

        Currently we have a somewhat fractious coalition ruling the UK. This inhibits what the senior partners, the Tories, can do. If around 21 LibDems or others changed parties to the Tories there would be an absolute majority and the Tories have no need for the coalition and be able to hammer through whatever they wanted. It would in effect be a change of government without reference to the electorate. I think that would be wrong.

        • postageincluded

          If the party he represents changes all their policies and he votes with them then I would say he has defrauded the electors more than if he changes party and continues to vote according to the manifesto he was elected on. Your position would be that the electors only vote for a party name, not people or policies. Utterly bizarre.

          • KonradBaxter

            Not just a party name but a party – which includes history, other members, a manifesto, policies of their own, etc. A party is more than just a name which is why there are democratic consequences when someone jumps ship.  

    • Mike Murray

      Hopefully we’ll be seeing many more resignations and defections by the Lib Dem stooges. When Clegg signed his Molotov-Ribbentrop pact with the Tories, in exchange for making the Lib Dems  renege  on all their policies he was expected to present them with the prizes of proportional representation and House of Lords reform. The fact that he has achieved nothing for his party except a melt down in the polls and a haemorrhage of members is making many of the stooges consider their position. What I want to see are lots of Lib Dem MPs cross the floor but if they would be unlikely to do this if they faced an automatic by election.

      • KonradBaxter

        “they would be unlikely to do this if they faced an automatic by election. ”

        Of course they should have to face an immediate by election. Anything else is anti democratic and treats the voters with contempt.

        • Mike Murray

          ‘Of course they should have to face an immediate by election.’

          Which means that no MP would risk changing parties unless they intended to resign as an MP anyway. Muzzled MPs are very bad for democracy. The cost of your  high principle would be that all MPs would be the captives of their party no matter what outrages were committed in that party’s name. I much prefer the status quo. It is essential for democracy. Besides, an MP is supposed to represent all of his or her constituents regardless, aren’t they?

          • KonradBaxter

            I don’t see that. At all. By changing parties they are betraying everyone who voted explicitly for them. By not facing the electorate to justify their change in representation they are cowards looking to prolong their job until they can convince people to vote for them and the party they have just joined which is by default not the chosen party of the electorate .

            If the MP really feels that things are that bad then they should have the courage to face the electorate and explain that. They have an excellent platform to do so from and a win would more than justify their change in team shirt.

            Is having your elected representatives represent the party and people  they were elected to represent a high principle? Not at all, but I believe in democracy and accountability.

            If a Labour MP suddenly defected to the BNP at the very start of a parliament would you want them to sit for the whole 5 years?

            MPs without courage or conviction already are captive to their own party. Blair was a semi captive of Brown for many years for example and vice versa. Some party hacks will always be neutered. But changing sides is a serious issue and must be seen as so as it is an inherent rejection of the will of the voters for the conscience / vanity of the MP.

            How would MPs be muzzled if they had to face the consequences of their actions when they betray their electorate by jumping ship?

            ” It is essential for democracy. ”
            How? An MP would not be a captive to the party machine  because  he or she can leave – they would just have to face consequences to their actions. If someone is going to leave one party then they are by default not a captive to it.

            They may be supposed to represent all but they never do and it is toyally impossible anyway. They represent those who voted for them  and maybe the others at different times for different reasons.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            Generally, the opposite view has been held – that by-elections do not take place under these circumstances

            On the whole this is still the case irrespective of party

          • KonradBaxter

            That’s why the world needs bold, original and brave thinkers like myself Mike. Paragons ready to lead others to the bright sunlight uplands of an enlightened future.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            I don’t necessarily agree with the status quo but until its changed it seems unfair to criticise him for doing what is customary and constitutionally accepted

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Senior/526933811 Mark Senior

      An interesting chap who announced earlier this year that he would resign his seat in November to move to join his wife and children in Turkey where she is working . Presumably he has now decided that he gets enough in councillor expenses to be able to spend half his time thousands of miles away from his ward .
     Meanwhile on Leicester City Council , Iqbal Desai , Labour councillor for Stoneygate has left Labour and is now an Independent . Labour there ( unlike Calderdale ) are demanding that he should resign his seat . 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

      No, he said he would not stand again in the local press reports rather than resigning early

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Senior/526933811 Mark Senior

         Yes he has changed his mind from when he was interviewed by the local press earlier this year but how he can spend a great deal of time in Turkey and represent his own views (  he no longer represents the views of those who voted for him ) on the council is an interesting question .

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

          Given the marginality of the Calder ward, which you held on to this year but lost the previous year, and the current unpopularity of the LibDems, I’d say he is probably nearer the views of his constituents now than before!

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Senior/526933811 Mark Senior

            Well I can only agree with the local Labour Party who called for a byelection back in May instead of November as he had announced when they said it was impossible for him to represent his constituents when he was spending so much time in Turkey .
              When many of his constituents were flooded out of their homes in the floods he was with his family in Turkey . 

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            I don’t entirely disagree, but it isn’t customary, so I don’t think he can be blamed for doing what everyone else does . The tradition is no by elections when people change parties

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Senior/526933811 Mark Senior

            The reason for Labour calling for a byelection in May was nothing to do with changing parties but with the fact that they did not think he can represent his constituents from Turkey .

  • Rdrberry

    Interesting as we run Calderdale in an ‘arrangement’ with the Liberals anyway.Impression is he’s always been an intersting bloke, and when he came on Labour was so low in Calderdale [below ten]..Now we are clearly the largest party ..I hear he does not intend to stay on..

  • TPJohnstone

    Labour should not ridicule people who voted Lib Dem in 2010, Labour should learn from them, speak to them and most importantly, use them as the main reason why the Labour party is the only party who stands for all, not the few.

    Ridicule Clegg and Cable all you want, but not disenfranchised grass roots members of the Liberal Democrat party, as it is these people who secured Labours defeat.

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