On 25th July, Cllr. Steven Frear resigned from the Sandwell Labour party, thus doubling the number of non Labour members on Sandwell Council.
The Bristnall councillor, first elected in May 2006, had been Chair of the Planning Committee in Sandwell, one of the most lucrative of internal posts for councillors outside the Cabinet magic circle. But recently he had fallen out of favour with leader Eling’s Stalinist regime.
Frear’s resignation was both blunt and to the point.
Cllr Steve Trow, who nowadays seems to act on behalf of the Leader, covering Eling’s absences when he’s working in Rotherham or at home in Belper, told fellow Labour councillors that Cllr Frear’s reasons for leaving Labour related to “political differences with the Labour Party and its locally elected representatives.”
Dissatisfaction with Eling’s authoritarian approach, in the previously compliant voting fodder that is Sandwell’s Labour councillors’ group, is widespread. This may have encouraged Frear’s boldness “to tell it as it is.”
Gone are the days when dumped Labour councillors went quietly and, if they had to bite the bullet, retreated discretely to a private room and fitted a silencer before they pulled the trigger.
Cllr Frear’s reasons for resignation hint at the state of the Labour party in Sandwell. It is clear that, in some areas, the Labour party in Sandwell has swung dramatically to the left. Or, perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that hard left infiltration has taken hold with a race among the rabid to out Corbyn Corbyn.
The thinly veiled advice of the radical new Labour party chairman, Ian Lavery, to activists to deselect off message MPs is being applauded and followed. A leading Labour militant in the Wednesbury North party blogged support with “Well said Ian. There are many who need firmly reminding of this”.
The schemes of these extremists are now being directed closer to home and at the replacement of moderate Labour councillors in Sandwell.
Also, the ruling Eling clique, determined to get rid of any internal opposition from existing Labour councillors, wants to cull many of them. Rumour puts the number on that hit list at 20. A difficulty lies in their replacement. Standing by ready to take over are extremists. Eling may yet discover that this “cure” is worse than the “disease” and he’s in the dangerous position of riding a tiger which is a man eater.
Moderate Labour councillors who hope to retain their positions by keeping quiet are likely to be overwhelmed by the Trotskyist tsunami.
The reference to “locally elected representatives” in Frear’s resignation is also interesting. One of the hallmarks of Labour control of Sandwell is how many councillors are related or married to another councillor. Sandwell council membership has become a number of family businesses.
Prominent among these are the Giles family. The family patriarch, a trade unionist Sandwell council employee, was debarred by his job from being a councillor but that is no obstacle to family ambitions. Daughter Elizabeth is a councillor in Charlemont, since 2015. Previously, she had been a councillor in Wednesbury South until de-selected by the local party. Wife, Elaine was similarly councillor in Oldbury until 2015 when the local Labour party gave her the heave ho. She was resurrected in Bristnall in 2016 despite local ward party opposition. It is understood that there are more of this clan queueing for election.
Cllr. Frear’s reference to “locally elected representatives” may very well include that fellow Bristnall councillor and represent local resentment at her being foisted onto Bristnall.
Cllr. Frear is the first, he is unlikely to be the last. Now the dominoes have started to fall.