BACKROOM DEALS, BROWN ENVELOPES, BLACKMAIL AND BETRAYAL.
JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE POLITICS OF OLDHAM
This is my final word on Reform Oldham for now, so I want to set out plainly what happened, in the order it happened.
It started with Lewis Quigg. Reform's former Oldham leader was forced from office after people inside his own party put him under intolerable pressure. What was done to him amounted to blackmail.
Charlotte Hall
Lewis Quigg was forced to resign as leader of Oldham Reform.
And then when he did not comply with Wilkinson's deal with Labour, Reform councillors submitted a complaint to regional office, that if there had been any truth to, they should have complained at the time they first knew.
blackmail (noun) - the act of getting money from people or forcing them to do something by threatening to tell a secret of theirs or to harm them
Blackmail is not a nice word. So by all means find me an alternative if you disagree. But as far as I can see, this is textbook blackmail.
His replacement, Mark Wilkinson, only told the people of Oldham there would be "no deals" with Labour after I released details of the secret deals. His wife, daughters, and members of the Failsworth mob then decided to attack me whilst the elected councillors hid in the background. As a tactic, it was no different than what the Pakistanis and Islamists from within Labour deployed.
Sofia Fedeczko
Wilkinson cannot hide from the facts. He had already agreed a deal. He had met with the Chief Executive and Labour councillors on multiple occasions and carved up roles for himself and his associates prior to his statement claiming 'no deals'.
When exposed, and put under pressure from his own councillors who explained to him what this deal actually meant (I would wager everything I own that he never read the council paper), Wilkinson promised to abstain. Not to stop the deal BUT so the deal could pass without Reform's fingerprints on it.
He then went into a secret meeting with Kipling, Shah and the other leaders where he u turned again, and with nine other Reform councillors, helped hand Labour control of the Place portfolio, while Reform took on Children's Services without the executive power needed to run it.
At the same time, Wilkinson's own allowance doubled, and tens of thousands of pounds in extra allowances were suddenly on the table for other Reform councillors. I don't believe in coincidences like that. That money and the positions was the price of the deal.
The Chief Executive, Shelley Kipling, was at the centre of all this. Her not-so-secret friend in the Reform group, Cllr Andy Brooks, had met with her privately and exchanged text messages with her. After I challenged him over it, and why a newly elected backbench councillor was bypassing his leader to meet with the Chief Executive, he contacted me late at night and threatened to call the police. So much for Reform's commitment to free speech. And looking back, no different to the bullies in the Labour Party.
At the same time Andy 'Backroom Barry' Brooks was issuing his threats, Reform's own councillors were contacting me and sharing how they were being bullied and manipulated in the run-up to that council meeting.
Kipling has made claims about the commissioners she has never backed up with evidence. Reform hasn't challenged her on any of it. Why? Are they scared to take on the Labour Party appointed chief executive? Or do they want to share a bed with her?
Nor has anyone in Reform explained Wilkinson's U-turn or their silence on the additional money they left with.
I'm no longer sure Reform Oldham can be saved.
If there is a way back, it starts with want to be MP Andy Brooks going and the Failsworth mob losing its grip on the group. The upcoming by-election will be interesting. Whether the Reform Failsworth councillors campaign for a Reform candidate will be telling.
The councillors who admit in private what happened then also need to find the courage to say it in public. Muttering behind closed doors won't undo any of this.
Whoever takes over, whether it be Paul Taylor or Robert Barnes (my information is that both are contenders as is want to be MP and former Conservative, Jonathan Ford) has to open with an unreserved apology to the people of Oldham. They need to take responsibility for what happened.
The must promise publicly that Reform will never again deceive its voters, trade its principles for allowances, or help Labour prop up the rotten system it was elected to tear down.
Then there is the matter of Lewis Quigg. I'm sure the complaint will be dismissed once Reform HQ catch up with what really took place. But the fact remains, Reform Oldham without Lewis Quigg in a central role leaves Reform weaker.
Looking back, the whole Reform group failed the people who put it there, every one of them. Likewise, I also failed. I should have intervened earlier.
Oldham is my hometown. I have a duty here. No matter what else I do, I have to stand by the people that stood by me first. For this, I apologise. It is clear to me that without my direct involvement in the politics of the town, Labour will reclaim control and the town will be lost to Pakistani gangsters and Islamists.
I walk away from this shaking my head in disbelief that some people genuinely thought I could be frightened into keeping quiet. They thought I'd shut my mouth for some political party while my townsfolk were betrayed and my friends were attacked. They thought I'd look the other way while the people who covered up the gang rape of Oldham's children moved into positions of influence ahead of the national inquiry.
To anyone who thought I could be threatened, bought or bullied into silence, or worse I would keep my mouth shut for the sake of a political party, just who have you been following?
To everyone who stood with me, thank you. The truth matters. However uncomfortable it may be, the truth always matters.
Raja Miah MBE
My name is Raja Miah MBE. For eight years I have exposed how politicians, police and public bodies failed working class White girls who were systematically raped by Pakistani grooming gangs. Together, with the support of the people of Oldham, we forced the Government to concede a National Statutory Inquiry after years of resistance.
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Raja Miah MBE