The Political Undead

Under solid Labour Council control since the war, Hackney residents were proud to revel in the council tax bills with the greatest potential for reduction in the whole of London and public services with the greatest potential for improvement in the whole of England.

But they were subsequently to experience years of in-fighting, budget meltdowns, service cuts and chaos in the 1990s when a hung council resulted from the expulsion of those Labour Group members who supported an enquiry into Labour's cover-up of the Trottergate paedophile scandal. When the New Labour shock troops were sent in by Millbank to sort out the mess we covered it up (I say "we", but of course this was all before my time, personally), so the record now shows that 17 Labour members resigned the whip to form Hackney New Labour. The truth of course is that we constructively expelled the b******s before they got a chance to blow the lid on Hackney Social Services' "minor child-care problems". Labour’s National Constitutional Officer wrote "on behalf of the General Secretary of the Labour Party" to threaten the dissidents with suspension and expulsion on the grounds of "conduct prejudicial to the party as a whole", and to demand that minority members provide "a written dis-association... from the contents of" their letter of ultimatum.

Meral Ece, LibDem Councillor

That did the trick OK.

Mark Trotter, former Labour paedophile

No doubt these same suffering electors will be delighted at being given the chance to vote against Meral Ece next May. She was one of those who made a treacherous stand over Trottergate, was sacked and ended up in the LibDems; with Ian Sharer, Ken Hanson, David Phillips, Josh Lamb, Linda Hibberd and Geoffrey Shenker. Of those who failed to show this treacherous lack of discipline and remained in the Party, only Underpants Man has gone on to a successful political career. Meral on the other hand has, for some unknown reason, been picked as the LD candidate for the Hackney, Islington & Waltham Forest GLA seat. Presumably this is so she can extend the positive impact she has had on Lib Dem fortunes in Hackney and Islington to Waltham Forest. Deputy Leader of the Council at the time of her expulsion, Meral left the "Jurassic Labour Group" to form "Hackney New Labour", changing allegiance again after this odd bunch led by the shambolic Gerry Ross fell apart. She then became Deputy Leader of the Hackney Lib Dems, who in turn descended into an orgy of infighting, changing leaders three times in three years.

Ece courageously went on the chicken run to neighbouring Islington and did not defend her Dalston ward in 2002, leaving the rest of her group in Hackney to reap the electoral whirlwind of councillors crossing the floor and sink back from 18 seats to the 3 that they retain to this day. Across the border in Islington - or carpet-bagger-land as people with less political integrity than me like to refer to it - the newly re-elected Councillor Ece acted as the same lucky talisman for the Lib Dems as she had for the Hackney Lib Dems. At the first election she went into as their Deputy Leader in 2006 they bucked the national trend to lose 12 seats to Labour. With Meral's reputation as a fence mender, bridge builder, team player and election winner, she is sure to maximise the LibDem vote across N.E. London. If this sounds a bit personalised, it's because I've read about what this woman and her mates did to the Labour Party in the '90s. I didn't actually see it as I wasn't a Hackney Councillor at the time and, of course, I'm not over-concerned about discovering the truth about Labour in the 1990s. But after her expulsion and re-emergence as a LibDem I did listen to (and laugh at) some of her screeching diatribes across the Council chamber. It is my personal view that Meral Ece has no place in public life, and is not worthy of running a whelk stall, let alone scrutinising the governance of Greater London. Unlike many of our current, fine Hackney Labour Councillors. Several of whom have consistently backed the unfairly accused Mark Trotter against scurrilous allegations and at least one of whom proposed the erection of a statue to him in Town Hall Square.