Forum Topic

Which political party runs the London Borough of Hounslow?

Oddly enough, its not very clear on the LBH website?

Simon Groves ● 6190d23 Comments

Perhaps Vanessa, although I was referring to my experiences at five local authorities where I worked over a 10 year period, which were under different political control.I would, perhaps naively, be surprised if things at Hounslow have changed that much, given that most of the Councillors I worked alongside during my time there are still in place.

Adam Beamish ● 6182d

Mind you Adam, things have changed since you were at Hounslow, and who knows what goes on now.

Vanessa Smith ● 6182d

Just to add to my previous post, I have to say that in my experience I never came across a Councillor who expected, because his or her party were the ruling party, preferential treatment.Even at Hillingdon I found the Councillors to be entirely reasonable and if you explained to them there was nothing by law you were able to do then they would accept what you said.

Adam Beamish ● 6184d

Andrew, if you don't mind me asking, who are you precisely ?.Your comment about 'senior management have been instructed that they serve the leader of the council' alarms me, and I wonder whether this is just you speculating or whether you have any evidence of this ?.As I always say, Council Officers shouldn't be used as political pawns, I don't disagree that it does happen (from personal experience at Hillingdon I know that only too well) but that was the only authority where I ever witnessed it happening, every other authority I worked at (including Hounslow) didn't have that kind of culture - Members of all parties generally respected Officers and didn't expect their political colour to carry any additional weight, and Officers didn't think "oh, I must go the extra mile for that Councillor because he/she is part of the ruling party, but it doesn't matter about that Councillor because he/she is in the minority group".

Adam Beamish ● 6184d

A very perceptive view I think. With the disenchantment with all things Labour and the Lib-Dems locally at sixes and sevens I should think the Tories must be cock-a-hoop at the moment. One thing's for sure - we live in interesting times and talk of taking Tory seats is just so much wishful thinking.

Vanessa Smith ● 6184d

Phil, beyond the traditional duelling between yourself and Vanessa you will know there is real substance behind what she is saying.You will be looking at the predictable betrayal of Peter Hills and Linda Nakamura and will know that is what could well be in store for the ICG.You will know, I am sure, that senior management have been instructed that they serve the leader of the council, meaning the Tories, and are to give you the bare basics of a service between now and the 2010 elections, where it seems to be being presumed there will be an overall Conservative majority.The Conservatives, and their senior officers, are preparing for an administration which doesn't include you.I know you know all this, and I'm guessing you are keeping your powder dry and evaluating all your options.  I know you will not be happy by the Tories refusal to support you on Mogden, and that you need to deliver for your residents.  You will be considering your response, and I'm guessing you'll be looking to next year's budget.In Hounslow we have an odd situation in which the main opposition actually feels threatened by the prospect of a rupture within the administration.  It is a situation like no other I have experienced in all my years of local government.I know you well enough to know you will probably have a response to the circumstances in which you find yourself.  But, in poking fun at Vanessa you know full well that you are only stoning the messenger, and for you to pretend otherwise is to be deplored.

Andrew Penty ● 6184d

Not at all.  We'd just do what we did to you and take their seats.

Phil Andrews ● 6184d

Oh! Are you going to threaten the Tories with court action too?

Vanessa Smith ● 6184d

Who knows Vanessa?  But then you know us well enough to know that we always make provision for any eventuality.  ;o)

Phil Andrews ● 6185d

Dan, the West Area Independents may well be having a re-think since they were dropped like hot bricks at the last AGM. That was so inevitable, and obviously the Tories think they have served their purpose and now don't need them coming in to the elections next year. Wonder if that could be the fate of others?

Vanessa Smith ● 6185d

This thread is quite interesting to an outside observer. I did not realise until now that the Conservatives could not achieve a majority simply with the ICG (which I naively thought was the Isleworth Community Group but now learn is the Independent Community Group). They have to rely on garnering other votes from somewhere, and I read it is the West Area Independents they turn to. The position is possibly further confused by certain councillors switching from one group to another (resulting in a father and son now in different groups!)Councillot Andrews writes of Labour "going into opposition without a fight in Hounslow following the local elections of 2006". Usually if you lose local elections, that's what you do, Phil (though no doubt if the BNP won an election, they would declare a thousand year reich). If Labour had fewer councillors than the Conservatives - which I understand is the case - it would have been even harder to form a workable alliance than for the Conservatives, especially any alliance however loose involving a group headed by a former member of 15 years standing of the National Front with a self-confessed record of using violence other than in self-defence.The real problem that this unholy mess creates is that come the 2010 elections, you can be quite sure that no group that has supported the coalition in charge, whether as a formal member of the administration (even if they have now slipped out of it) or as an allegedly issue-by-issue supporter, will accept responsibility for anything that has not gone too wonderfully. One of the besetting problems with politics today is that political parties are hard to pin down to accept responsibility. Hopefully, the position after 2010 will be clearer both locally and nationally. Much as people may dislike the concept of whips, it is important for the public to know which party stands for what, and on the big issues it is right that a party line is established so that, after the event, the public can know which party stood where on an issue.

Dan Filson ● 6186d

Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

Phil Andrews ● 6189d

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PO5Gh3QGFI

Colin Murphy ● 6189d

"They're wheeling them all now, aren't they...?"Are Ruth,Matt and Corrina still in the bunker waiting for the flak to die down regarding Al and Annie?

Paul Fisher ● 6189d

Ken will be with us a while, whilst Robin is re-programmed."Ann Keen is a parody of virtue"Robin Taylor June, 2009

Colin Murphy ● 6189d

They're wheeling them all now, aren't they...?

Phil Andrews ● 6189d

I always thought ICG stood for 'Independent Conservative Group' - not so?

Ken Collins ● 6189d

"It helps him and his handlers ..."Phil, you're living in a fantasy world again.

Robin Taylor ● 6190d

MickThe "right-wing ICG" is just a bit of wishful thinking on Robin's part.  It helps him and his handlers to justify going into opposition without a fight in Hounslow following the local elections of 2006.  They could hardly tell their voters, or for that matter many of their members, that it was about refusing to embrace a meaningful programme of community engagement, could they?

Phil Andrews ● 6190d

If you judge political parties by their actions rather than their "self-description," then the current Labour Government is way to the right of Maggie Thatcher. This authoritarian, "Big Brother" bunch of control-freaks makes MAggie look like a diehard liberal. She would never have even tried to get away with some of the stuff Blair and his cronies foisted on us (although she may well have like to).

Mick Brent ● 6190d

Paul.The ICG are in coalition with the Conservatives. The latter are a self-described centre right party.That says something about where the ICG are in the political spectrum, surely?

Robin Taylor ● 6190d

I can detect some desparation appearing in your postings now Robin when you have to resort to such rubbish as describing the ICG as a right wing political party.

Paul Fisher ● 6190d

Simon.Hounslow is run by a coalition of two right wing political parties. These are the Conservatives and the Independent Community Group.The Tories have 22 seats on the council, whereas the ICG (which is led by a former active long term member of the National Front) has six. There are sixty seats on the council, so the coalition functions with some ad hoc help from the Lib Dems and the West Area Independents.

Robin Taylor ● 6190d