Forum Topic

Question for CLP members in Brentford & Isleworth

Is there any possibilty that deselection is an option on the table?

Colin Murphy ● 6223d16 Comments

"Mary Macleod, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, has been active and knocking on doors in all parts of the constituency ever since her selection" Well, she would, wouldn't she! This is hardly a surprise - this is what you have to do to get elected, and unlike the sitting MP, she is not a Minister.Ann Keen, if I read the runes right, is not keen any more, and I cannot believe she will offer herself for re-selection; and if she has already done so and been re-selected, I strongly suspect that something will arise that enables her to make her excuses and leave just before the next General Election - a real "hospital pass" if ever there was one, and it will be sturdy candidate who having lost the seat in 2010, hangs on and fights again in 2015 (assuming they get re-selected). It would not surprise me if her departure was so delayed that her replacement has too little time to make much impact in the 2010 campaign.I'm not wholly surprised at her not meeting the Chamber of Commerce, although I think she is wrong. Such a gathering would not automatically give her a pasting. They not be chuffed to hear an autopilot recital of 50 good things Labour did before breakfast, but I suspect if she simply said she was there to listen, she would get some grudging respect. And more still if she pursued any sensible proposals.Who will be the Liberal Democrat candidate?Are the other groups on the Council likely to put someone up for MP or are they totally local?

Dan Filson ● 6218d

I met with a key member of the Brentford Chamber of Commerce this evening and asked whether Mrs Keen had ever be asked to speak at one of their meetings.As you can imagine the Chamber is yonks old..and is concerned with the prosperity and salvation of Brentford Town in these troubled times.""She's been asked several times and has not answered the invitation / or declined""Who are these irresponsible Labour Party members who have installed her as their representative?  She's surely finished!

Jim Lawes ● 6218d

RichardI agree. For a "Son of the Manse" who prides himself as having a "Moral Compass", Gordon Brown has surrounded himself with some very disreputable characters.Somehow or other his "Moral Compass" got stuck when it pointed him South towards Power and Downing StreetIt is now smaashed into tiny little pieces and cabn never be repaired again.His relationship with Ann Keen goes back a long time. She was his Private Parliamentary Secretary for years and was always in the Brownite camp, although willing to ride on the coat tails of Tony Blair in order to get elected.She would never have become an MP if Gordon Brown had been Labour leader in 1997.I was going to see "Angels and Demons " tonight but having thought about it, I think I will wait to read about them in tomorrow's Daily Telegraph instead !

David Giles ● 6218d

"I really cannot believe that the local CLP will re-select Ann, unless they have a death wish"They did last time round ! The K££ns misuse of the expenses system has been exposed time and again in the press, and yet on becoming Prime Minister following his undemocratic coup over Tony Blair, Gordon Bean turned his blind eye to her reputation as one-half of "Mr & Mrs Expenses" and promoted her from her role as his Parliamentary Private Secretary to become a junior minister. Although it may be that he was unaware of the behaviour of some of his colleagues regarding expenses, the public disquiet regarding the K££ns ought to have been more than enough for him to distance himself from her; at the very least he should have required her to clean up her act. Just as with Damian McBride, Gordon Bean has chosen to knowingly surround himself with people whose behaviour falls well below the standards that should be upheld by those in public office. The buck stops with him.

Richard Greenhough ● 6219d

Mary Macleod, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, has been active and knocking on doors in all parts of the constituency ever since her selection. She has spoken at many public meetings and is not afraid to get out and about and debate the issues with local residents.In addition she has stated- long before these latest scandals came to light - that when she is elected she will not claim the cost of a second home from the taxpayer.

David Giles ● 6219d

Has Anne Keen ever knocked on any random door in Brentford or Isleworth or ever attended any hustings where she could possibly meet up with one of the non Party faithful?She will not hold any surgeries and will only appear in public if the papers agree to publish a photo of her.The whole situation is an absolute scandal.

Paul Fisher ● 6219d

There is a rumour that Mrs Keen no longer lives in Brentford.

David Giles ● 6219d

Be assured Vanessa that the local Conservative Party DID pick their candidate (Mary Macleod) with OUTSIDE input!.You said in your previous message:""but I do agree with Dan whoever stands [for the local Labour Party]  is going to have to be either very ambitious or extremely thick-skinned to face the inevitable flack on the doorsteps.""You're absolutley smack on. Mrs Keen must be terrified at the thought of knocking on random front doors in Brentford if she stood again.I wonder who might be candidates to replace her on the Election Form?

Jim Lawes ● 6219d

Well your party pick their own candidates, with no outside input, so the other political parties will do the same, I don't really see what's wrong with that. I really cannot believe that the local CLP will re-select Ann, unless they have a death wish, but I do agree with Dan whoever stands is going to have to be either very ambitious or extremely thick-skinned to face the inevitable flack on the doorsteps.

Vanessa Smith ● 6221d

" ... takes the view that it is nobody else's business who it selects" - well in a sense, it is! Except that the public then votes on who they put up. I think it is important we stick with political parties selecting their candidates first and the public voting on them after, rather than the American system of the public of all persuasions being entitled to pitch in to pick the party standard-bearers. I also think we should have Parliaments running their term without any facility for recall of particular Members of Parliament.The reality is that there will be a clear-out before the next General Election. Where prospective candidates have already been selected or where sitting MPs have already been re-selected, I suspect there will be a small surge of candidates or sitting members finding they cannot stand or want to stand down (and disappear into obscurity), and find it hard to believe the local Labour Party will present either Keen again for re-election. Mr K is 70+, and she has had such a hammering locally I doubt if she will want to run again. But where will you find people of integrity to run for election if this is what they might face? The Conservatives have a seemingly bottomless pit of bland suits who can do a Cameron to get elected, but stand for what exactly, and who turn out to be "consultants" for all sorts

Dan Filson ● 6221d

I think the reason deselection is unlikely is that the Labour Party locally takes the view that it is nobody else's business who it selects, our part of the deal is just to vote for them and shut up.Seeing as, by its own admission, local Labour "applies its own ethics", most of the people responsible for selecting its candidates probably genuinely don't understand what all the fuss is about.

Phil Andrews ● 6222d

I hope that besides having to repay expenses which should never have been claimed, large fines are imposed, if only to cover the cost of unearthing all of this disgraceful wrong doing.  This will be hitting them where it hurts.

Maggie Dodge ● 6222d

Labour Party members may not like buying the Telegraph but they can read all about it for free onhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5324707/Ann-and-Alan-Keen-buy-flat-10-miles-from-home-MPs-expenses.html

David Giles ● 6222d

It is a recorded fact that the Keens earned the nickname 'Mr& Mrs Expenses' long before the present revelations. Mrs Keen has been one of the most vociferous opponents in preventing any further opening of this disgraceful can of worms. She has long been consumed by the system and any good she has done is decimated by the excesses.She has put brown-nosing with the top names and personal ambition far above her constituents and has voted against their best interests rather than upset her cosy pals. And that was before the last election.  The system that has allowed these excesses was created by MPs of all parties and their close benefactors in the system running this country.What is shameful is that this is a moral crime of the highest order from so many who are supposed to uphold the order of fairness that underpins the democracy and fair play nature that is supposed to be Britain.One would almost expect excesses from tories but the reality is that some of the worst and most unapologetic are by Labour and Lib-Dems.Labour are the elected administrators and should lead by example.If you or I tried to claim half of their allowances, the full force of HM Inland revenue and customs and excise would most probably ruin you. And all on the explicit orders of both the Chancellor and his predecessor to not let a penny to be lost on enforcing allowance restrictions on the self employed and public taxpayers.The hypocrisy is so disgraceful that in lesser countries the fuse of revolution would be lit.The Keens along with all the other claimants of such immoral deeds should be deselected. The local Labour party needs to light the torch of morality and lead the way on this and show it still has the ideal of for the people and high morals of fairness and a level playing field for all. Lifelong Labour voters are appalled, new voters are disgusted and no-one with sense will vote labour. Certainly not this candidate no matter what she does from now on. It's too late.

Michael Brandt ● 6222d

The Sunday Telegraph reported on 6th April 2008:"MP couple claimed £40,000 without receipts" by Ben Leapman, Home Affairs Correspondent"A married couple, both Labour MPs, claimed almost £40,000 of household expenses in a year without submitting one receipt."Alan and Ann Keen were paid the money from the public purse even though they gave no explanation of why they needed it."The payout emerged as details of MPs' expenses were released to The Sunday Telegraph by the House of Commons three years after they were requested under freedom of information laws. The Speaker, Michael Martin, will go to the High Court to challenge a tribunal ruling that further disclosures should be made."The money paid to the Keens came from the additional cost allowance (ACA), which is intended to help MPs meet the cost of maintaining a second home. The Keens have two homes: a flat in central London and a constituency home nine miles away in the west London commuter belt."While other MPs submitted detailed accounts of how they spent their ACAs, the Keens, who have been branded "Mr and Mrs Expenses", each put in monthly claims for £1,640, a figure calculated as one-twelfth of the annual permitted total, without stating what the money was for. Each received the maximum payout of £19,681.75 during 2002/3 - a total of £39,363.50 between them."There is no suggestion the Keens broke the rules. Their claims highlight the lax Commons expenses regime at the time, which was tightened the following year to force MPs to account for their spending. In 2003/4, when the new regime took effect, the Keens received £4,000 less than they had done the previous year."The other five MPs whose 2002/3 expenses were disclosed - Tony Blair, Margaret Beckett, Peter Mandelson, Barbara Follett and John Wilkinson - all provided the Commons authorities with full explanations of where the money went. For example, Mr Mandelson's claim for £12,588 included £3,850 for rent and rates, £2,100 for food, £1,050 for cleaning and an £812 newspaper bill, among other specified costs."Ann Keen, 59, is a health minister and has been MP for Brentford and Isleworth since 1997. Her husband, 70, a former football scout, has been MP for Feltham and Heston since 1992, and chairs the all-party football group. Neither was available for comment."

David Giles ● 6222d

Good question Colin.Is there anyone with integrity left in the Brentford and Isleworth Constituency Labour Party ?I suspect than even if there were, right now there are not enough Labour Party members left in Brentford and Isleworth who would be even bothered to turn up at a meeting to deselect Ann Keen. Labour Party morale is at rock bottom.Mrs Keen looked very worried when she was shown on TV sitting behind Gordon Brown earlier this week. There may be more revelations to come regarding the Keens.

David Giles ● 6222d