There might actually be something resembling a council candidate selection meeting for Labour members in Broad Green ward tonight – though most reasonable people will see through it as a thinly disguised foregone conclusion By STEVEN DOWNES Some Labour members …Continue reading→

Uncharacteristic ‘openness’ from the Labour Party exposes their latest sham selection process, with candidates for next year’s local elections being named without grassroots members in most wards getting any say at all. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES The fix is in. …Continue reading→

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council cannot be trusted to run elections in the borough, according to senior political officials. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES An experienced election agent for the Labour Party has effectively declared that he has no confidence in …Continue reading→

WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on the latest casualties of the council’s financial collapse Pat Ryan, a Croydon councillor for nearly 30 years, was last night deselected by members at a Labour Party meeting in his home ward of Crystal Palace …Continue reading→

‘The conduct of Labour Party affairs locally does seem to be almost tailored to create continuing unease and disaffection’. WALTER CRONXITE,  political editor, with the latest round-up of shenanigans “Croydon North’s in meltdown” was how one angry Labour member put …Continue reading→

Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on the latest allegations of rule-breaking by a veteran Labour councillor “Pat has lost it.” That’s the view of a senior member of the Labour Party in Crystal Palace after a month in which their …Continue reading→

KEN LEE on the announcement from Steve Reed OBE’s agent that he has gone out and found a proper job One of the leading members of the Blairite clique which controls the Labour group on Croydon Council is standing down. …Continue reading→

WALTER CRONXITE reports from South Norwood on what may prove to be a significant Labour selection decision In the end, it wasn’t even close. Labour’s selection meeting to choose a candidate to stand in the forthcoming South Norwood by-election overwhelmingly …Continue reading→

WALTER CRONXITE reports on the latest public arm-wrestle among the Blairites and Corbyn supporters in the party in Croydon Labour’s selection of a candidate to stand for the council vacancy in South Norwood in a by-election to be staged in …Continue reading→

Sssshhhh! Keep it quiet, but Steve Reed OBE’s secret campaign to undermine and unseat the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party came to central Croydon this morning with a visit of the challenger, Owen Smith. Not that Reed, vice-chairman …Continue reading→

More details have emerged from the Croydon North Labour annual meeting a fortnight ago which demonstrate that the power struggle in the party nationally between Blairites and supporters of Jeremy Corbyn is also being played out fiercely at local level. …Continue reading→

WALTER CRONXITE reports on a Lambeth by-election result which offers a warning to Croydon Labour Steve Reed OBE, the Progress MP for Lambeth South/Croydon North (delete to distaste) got a bit of a warning overnight, after a Lambeth council by-election …Continue reading→

WALTER CRONXITE, our man outside the Town Hall with a Yorkie bar and Mike Fisher’s discarded copy of the Racing Post, sees a clear message in the latest council cabinet reshuffle: mediocrity will be rewarded in Croydon Tony Newman, Croydon’s …Continue reading→

GENE BRODIE, our libraries and bookish gyms correspondent, on the council’s latest crass move over another bogus-looking consultation Croydon’s Labour-run council is being accused of trying to “fix” the borough’s latest consultation on the running of its public libraries, by …Continue reading→

When is an apology not an apology? When it’s based on an arse-covering, self-justifying lie. That seems to be case with the pair of Palace fans who wandered into a Croydon Council meeting on Monday night, Upper Norwood “councillors” Pat …Continue reading→

Inside Croydon’s Editor, STEVEN DOWNES, on the latest shabby episode in the Town Hall chamber This was the scene in Croydon Town Hall during a full meeting of the council last night. Two well-paid local councillors engrossed in the Crystal …Continue reading→

Croydon Council this week moved to cancel all its investments in tobacco, pay-day loan firms and the arms industry, as Labour’s new administration at the Town Hall seeks to ensure a more ethical approach to the way the borough’s affairs …Continue reading→

Plans for a three-form entry primary Free School on Highbury Avenue appear to be in some disarray, with no head teacher yet appointed just seven months before the school is supposed to open, no planning approval granted to build on …Continue reading→