Last month in Harrow Council, the ruling Labour group split over claims by a group of nine Labour Cllrs of institutional racism in the Labour group. See here.
Last week in Ealing Council we saw a split in the ruling Labour group caused by an attempted coup led by senior members of the Labour group who represent Ealing North.
The leader of the Council, supported by the Ealing Southall group of Cllrs who vote as a block for the leader of the Council when called upon, swiftly disposed of the challenge.
The result of the coup has been that the Labour group have sent the leaders of the coup to the backbenches to think about their actions. The group is believed to be made up of no more than 7 Cllrs, nearly all from Ealing North.
Cllr Colm Costello who represents Hobbayne ward has written about this on his blog had this to say to us, "The Labour group has 40 Cllrs, and 17 of them are Ealing Southall Cllrs who are known to vote as a block for the leader of the Council whose main job is working as a researcher for the Ealing Southall MP. The group who tried to force the leaders hand were no more than 7. You don't have to be a genius to work out that this group is not very good at maths.
What worries me here is the influence that the Ealing Southall MP has over this Council leader and the Labour group in general. The leader of the Council spent most of the time in his speech to Council this week talking about all he has done for Southall and that should worry the residents in the rest of the borough who might feel they are paying taxes but being overlooked so the leader of the Council can hold on to his job".
With hardly any Ealing North Labour Cllrs in senior positions in the Council now, it is fair to say that the leader of the Council has an even bigger debt to pay to his friends in the Ealing Southall group for helping him hold on to his job.
Looks like Ealing North is not a priority for Ealing Labour anymore.