Crooks, Thieves, Trots And Lovers - Setting The Hackney Labour Party Record Straight

Last week I reported that my post on the Audit Commission Report, The Crook, The Thief, The Trot And His Lover, had been withdrawn due to issues raised during legal review.

This was a great shame, as the piece was intended to dispel rumours about the politics behind the awarding of three performance stars to the Borough by the Audit Commission. In my article I'd explained that the Commission's very positive findings in respect of Hackney, Camden and Lewisham was in absolutely no way related to the fact that Audit Commission Chief Executive Steve Bundred had previously been employed by all three and would obviously benefit in career terms from the Midas touch effect of his presence on the performance of these local authorities. I had also dealt with and dismissed a raft of scurrilous allegations about this fine individual, involving Marxist articles, Arthur Scargill, Gerry Adams, Tessa Blackstone, John and Barbara Mills, Margaret Hodge, John McCafferty, Neil Kinnock, Chinese students, Sue Collinson and Trevor Turner, the acquisition of residential property in Islington and loads of something allegedly called "wonga".

Gold Bundred, he's the man... the man with the Midas touch

I must confess that I was not looking forward to the work involved in completing this article and shoving it through Legal Services, never mind the additional effort defending us from the ridiculous slurs likely to ensure from follow-up comments. So I was really excited yesterday when I received the following email:

From: "Sidney Partacus" <spartacus@been-there.com> To: "Luke Akehurst" <lukeakehurst@email.com> Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:54:49 Dear Luke I may be able to help you with your blog post "The Crook, The Thief, The Trot And His Lover", which I understand you have been forced to withdraw. I can understand the difficulties that you are facing putting together a solid defence of your colleagues in the face of the shocking allegations. This happens to be a subject that is of great interest to me and I have been planning to write a book on the subject of Hackney Labour Party from 1980-today for quite some time now. My working title is: Hackney - From Despair To Triumph (The Labour Party In Hackney, 1980 To Today). May I suggest that you leave the question of Hackney's three-star award for me to address in my book. I would be grateful if you were to invite your readership to contact me at the above email address with information that might be helpful to me in progressing my opus. I have yet to finalise the structure of the proposed tome, but I currently anticipate chapters entitled: Early Corruption & Mismanagement; Racism & Nepotism; Tombstone Voters; The Changing Population; McCafferty & His Cronies; Blair, Clarke & Other Locals; Trottergate; The Hung Council; The Crofton Affair; The Millbank Intervention; Fun In Charles Square; Contracts & Conservatives; The New Corruption; Sons & Lovers; Wives & Girlfriends; Fires & Other Accidents; Education, Education, Education; The CPZ Goldmine; Green Horrors; Ballot Boxes & Postal Voting; Grants & Community Groups; Dealing With The Effnics; Running A Brothel; The Property Men Arrive; Estate Decanting; PR Rules OK; Stuffing Boff and Loose Ends & Performance Stars. My aim in each instance will be to raise the false allegations and firmly refute them. I look forward to working with you and your readers on the topics above and will also be happy to include material on any other topics that were not in my original briefing that you think would be worth dealing with. Yours in comradeship Sidney Stoke Newington

Given this excellent offer to help, I won't be going ahead with my proposed post. I shall be passing on as much help and assistance as I can to Comrade Partacus and I encourage everyone else to do the same. I'll keep readers informed of progress and I'll be one of the first to publicise this excellent book when it is eventually ready for publication.