Loyal member of ‘Newman’s Numpties’ is declared the selection winner less than half-an-hour after online voting deadline.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Stitch-up: London Labour has not released the voting figures for its GLA selection ballot
The candidate selected by Labour to stand in Croydon and Sutton at May’s GLA elections had their name on the electronic ballot papers twice.
Within a suspiciously brief 25 minutes of its voting deadline at 5pm today, the London Labour Party declared that Croydon councillor Maddie Henson was the winner of its ballot of members across the two boroughs.
The voting was conducted entirely by Anonyvoter, the online voting system provided to the Labour Party by Henson IT Solutions Ltd, the same company where Maddie Henson is the co-owner.
Henson IT Solutions Ltd’s copyright mark even appeared on the bottom of every single remote voting form provided to members.
London Labour has failed to produce any voting tally for the supposedly democratic selection, the outcome of which will do nothing to calm concerns about ballot rigging in party selections.
Party members in Croydon receiving the express result declared their flabbers well and truly ghasted, even those used to the usual dodgy standards to which they have become accustomed to in dealings with Labour in the borough and across London.
Stitch-up: Maddie Henson had her name on the digital voting form…
London Labour had suspended the selection process for the GLA candidate in Croydon and Sutton in November, at the same time that it announced an investigation into allegations of voting fraud over the parliamentary selection in for the Croydon East constituency.
… twice, once as the candidate, and once as the owner of the suppliers of the online voting system
Last week, Labour admitted that it had found evidence of deliberate manipulation of membership data in Croydon East, while failing to state by whom nor what it was doing in respect of the perpetrators. The Labour Party has reported itself to the Information Commissioner over the episode.
And on Friday, it opened member voting for its Greater London Assembly election candidate.
The Conservatives have always held the Croydon and Sutton seat since London Assembly elections began in 2000, with Neil “Father Jack” Garratt the incumbent. In previous London elections, Labour has withdrawn campaign resource from Croydon and Sutton to avoid winning the seat, rather than risk reducing the number of its London-wide list candidates getting on to the Assembly.
With the London elections just a few weeks away, neither Henson nor the only other person to put themselves forward for selection, Merton councillor Martin Whelton, appear to have much chance of winning on May 2. Especially not with Henson’s track record in other campaigns outside her home ward in Addiscombe.
In her own publicity material sent out to Labour members across the two boroughs, Henson made great play of how she was a key member of Val Shawcross’s campaign team for Croydon Mayor in 2022, when with Labour holding a stonking lead in national opinion polls, in Croydon they still lost…
After Henson’s selection was announced today, one respected member of the local party said, “I’m not suggesting any Anonyvoter funny business, but I don’t know anyone in Croydon that voted for Maddie.
“How the hell did she get the GLA gig?”
Another said: “Maddie’s a member of the Newman Numpties – the councillors who bankrupted the borough and who are supposed to be banned from being candidates for higher office. So how was it considered appropriate for her to be allowed to go forward here?”
A third Labour member in Croydon simply said, “Fucking hell! I despair.”
Others pointed to the strange phrasing of the announcement made by London Labour, and wanted to know what the voting figures were for the two candidates, and for those who chose to abstain.
“I reckon ‘abstain’ was an outstanding winner,” said one cynic.
The London Labour announcement read: “The procedure to select constituency candidates for the London Assembly election in May is drawing to a close and we are pleased to announce that Maddie Henson will be Labour’s candidate in Croydon and Sutton.
“Maddie is a councillor in Addiscombe East ward and a commited [sic] campaigner with a track record of winning marginal elections.
“Commiserations to Martin Whelton, who ran an excellent campaign, too.”
Read more: Labour Party forced to halt second Croydon selection process
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
Read more: Questions asked over Town Hall Mayor’s business deal
Read more: Labour councillor’s leaflet causes anger in Addiscombe
Read more: Newman Numpty Henson allowed to run for Assembly selection
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Are you serious? Has this really happened? If so, where the hell are the electoral commission. This is a commission and police matter. And before anyone bangs their drum, no party would be free from wrong doing scrutiny. What a farce. A criminal farce at that.
It’s an internal party matter, so not likely to be subject to the external checks and balances that you refer to, Laurence.
But you’re right: it looks crooked.
Impressive bravado from Croydon Labour being the equivalent of telling voters that “We haven’t changed, we have no regrets about bankrupting the council and voters can just lump it”.
Can only see other parties saying don’t vote for a Labour party that has no shame about bankrupting the council.
A little conflict of interest perhaps???
“Within a suspiciously brief 25 minutes of its voting deadline at 5pm today”
Were you hoping to see the votes transferred onto individual floppy discs, and wheelbarrowed into a local sports hall for counting? The (informal) polls Inside Croydon periodically run also display their results instantly! With a 2 horse race, I’m sure the copy was written a long time ago (hopefully with placeholders for the names…).
Chris, the result would have been known before the voting deadline, to the husband of the winning candidate at least.
Now that the ballot has officially closed, we should be told the turnout and votes cast for each candidate. That should not be difficult.
Unless there is something to hide
Think there’s a matter of proportion that you’re missing here, Chris.
This website is not one of the two largest political parties in the UK, which is supposed to adhere to principles of fairness and democracy, and which expects to form the next government of this country.
We have no responsibility to our readers for accountability in respect of the occasional bit of unscientific polling we conduct, beyond our undying commitment to the truth.
But there is an expectation that the Labour Party ought to conform with principles of openness and transparency towards its members and the public at large, in particular over matters of candidate selection, particularly where those candidates are to be presented to the electorate at large.
And Labour are a million miles away from doing that, in respect of this example and many others.
The sad thing is that Croydon is almost totally polarised between the red North and the blue South. It make little difference what scandals the parties get up to, they know that they can rely on the faithful to turn out and vote for them regardless.
So party faithful, left, right, centre and green, are all idiots? I don’t think so. I think most Croydonians are sensible and by and large want the same things: good governance, quality services and value for money. Mind you, party members might all be idiots if the old adage, ‘there’s no point in having a mind if you never change it’ holds true. That’s what being a party member means.
I’m a Labour member who voted for Martin Whelton. How am I supposed to trust the result of this vote?
It should have never been allowed to go ahead in this form. In normal organisations there’s a principle called ‘the appearance of impropriety’ which would have stopped an obvious conflict of interest like this from ever being allowed.