31 May 2010

Be afraid - part four

The new Tory Cabinet in H&F was announced at last week’s council meeting:
Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh – Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic and Housing Development
Cllr Nicholas Botterill – Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment and Asset Management
Cllr Mark Loveday - Cabinet Member for Strategy and Chief Whip
Cllr Helen Binmore - Cabinet Member for Children’s Services
Cllr Joe Carlebach - Cabinet Member for Community Care
Cllr Harry Phibbs - Cabinet Member for Community Engagement
Cllr Lucy Ivimy - Cabinet Member for Housing
Cllr Greg Smith - Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services

The leader of the council has taken on personal responsibility for demolishing estates in the borough with an addition to his portfolio.

And if Cllr Phibbs is the answer to the council's problems engaging with the community, what was the question? Hard-nosed Harry will go down well telling residents that their homes and local communities are being sold off to developers.

27 May 2010

Be afraid - part three

"We cannot afford to care." So said Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, Tory leader of H&F council, at its AGM last night.

Just days after the elections on 6 May, one local voluntary organisation was told that funding for its long-established summer playscheme for disabled children has been cut - a few weeks before it was due to take place.

hfconwatch will be monitoring Tory council cuts as they grapple with the £25 million budget risks unveiled before the election. Email any news to: hfconwatch@hotmail.co.uk

CLEARLY the Tories are rather prickly about this post, having issued a denial/rebuttal 48 hours after the annual council meeting. A press release from the council (rather similar to H&F Tories' own website) has given this blog more publicity than it's had for a long time. As Cllr Greenhalgh knows, politics is about priorities. We all know what the Tory council's priorities are for the next four years - just read previous hfconwatch posts over the last four years.

Cameron 'lies' slur over Bailey defeat

According to the Daily Telegraph, David Cameron is smarting about Shaun Bailey's defeat in Hammersmith:

He was still angry over “appalling” Labour lies that he blamed for preventing celebrated candidates such as Shaun Bailey winning in marginal seats. “They were telling people in Hammersmith they were going to have their council house taken away by the Tories.”

What lies, Prime Minister? H&F Tory leader Cllr Greenhalgh is already ploughing on with his plans to demolish council estates in the borough.

For the real reasons why Labour won Hammersmith, see: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/articles/article.asp?a=5925

23 May 2010

Be afraid - part two

Chelsea & Fulham Tory MP Greg Hands lost out in the carve up of Ministerial posts in the new coalition government, despite being a shadow minister.

But Hands has now been appointed as Parliamentary private secretary to George Osborne.

So watch out for Greg and George creating havoc, with the first Tory cuts announcement due on Monday. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are threatened as services are slashed.

08 May 2010

Be afraid - what next in H&F

Tory leader of H&F council Stephen Greenhalgh has wasted no time warning local residents that the Tories plan to press ahead with redeveloping estates in the borough.

Speaking at the conclusion of the council count on Friday, Greenhalgh said the pace of change would be quickened (no doubt helped, he hopes, by a Tory government).

All those people in College Park & Old Oak, Wormholt & White City, Shepherds Bush Green, Askew, Hammersmith Broadway and North End who voted against the Tory plans to wreck their communities will be horrified by Greenhalgh's comments.

The election is over; the war continues.

Bailey slaughtered

After his humiliating defeat in Hammersmith, what will Tory candidate Shaun Bailey do now?

He faces more humiliation as he returns to his 'day job' as chief executive of the 'charity' MyGeneration which faces a Charity Commission inquiry into its £16k unaccounted for expenses.

Bailey was outdone by a much better Labour candidate and campaign and he was undone by the Tory H&F council's plans to demolish affordable housing.

H&F Tories didn't seem too unhappy about Bailey's defeat. 'These things happen' was a typical comment.

Today's newspapers contain lots about the Tory A-listers like Bailey who failed to win despite huge backing from Cameron and Ashcroft. See the Telegraph for example: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100038562/shaun-bailey-and-joanne-cash-were-on-camerons-a-list-and-lost-should-dave-take-it-personally/

05 May 2010

H&F Propaganda published on election eve

Surprise surprise - H&F News arrives through letterboxes throughout the borough the day before the council elections. When will this disgrace stop?

PS the propaganda was compounded by the Horton and Garton estate agents' advert wrapped around H&F News, with a blue rosette on the back cover and the front suggesting a change of occupant at No.10. Fortunately H&F News is now widely loathed.

Bailey - the last laugh

Thanks again to The Independent for this snippet:

Email of the day
Manchester United fans are writing to their candidates, asking what they intend to do about the club's financial state. They will be happy to read that Tory candidate for Hammersmith, Shaun Bailey, thinks "football matters". In fact, he cares so much that he replies: "Here in (name) we are lucky enough to have a great club in (name), whose fortunes I try to follow closely."

24 HOURS to save our borough

Be afraid. A Conservative council in H&F has been bad; a Conservative council with a Conservative government would be disastrous for Britain and for H&F.

The best round-up of all the horrors of the last four years in Tory H&F is published in The Independent today: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/poverty-and-injustice-in-david-cameronrsquos-model-borough-1962318.html

Pass it on and make sure H&F residents know what's at stake on 6 May.

What manifesto pledges will go next?

When H&F Tories reneged on their manifesto pledge in 2006 not to introduce home care charging, there was uproar amongst disabled and older people.

The H&F Coalition against Community Care Cuts wrote recently to local political parties about their plans for social services after the 2010 elections. Despite asking three times, they got no response from the local Conservative Party.

So what secrets have the Tories got up their sleeves? We know there are plenty of holes in their budget so expect more cuts in services for older and disabled people if the Tories retain control of H&F council.

Charity should begin nearer to home

Chelsea & Fulham Tory candidate Greg Hands has been busy reporting the former Prime Minister's foundation to the Charity Commission.

But Hands has been silent about what has been going on closer to home. Hammersmith Tory candidate Shaun Bailey has still to explain why My Generation, the charity he runs, had almost £16,000 expenses unaccounted for in its last accounts.

The Charity Commission are investigating Bailey's charity. Hands up Shaun!