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Fourth Lib Dem defects

12:34pm Wednesday 25th July 2007

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Shah Jahan Khan has become the fourth Liberal Democrat city councillor to quit the group in two years.

Earlier today Mr Kahn, the Cowley councillor, defected to Labour in a major coup that now leaves his new party the largest group on the council with 19 seats.

The ruling Liberal Democrat administration has 15 seats, the Greens eight, Independent Working Class Association four and Conservatives two.

Married father-of-three Mr Khan, 52, said he was "unhappy with the way they (Lib Dems) run things" and added "I know there are quite a few people who are not happy".

Flanked by Labour's Oxford East MP Andrew Smith and city council group leader Bob Price at a hastily-convened meeting this morning Mr Khan said: "Over the past few months I have become very unhappy with the lack of direction with the Liberal Democrat administration.

"They are out of touch with the people in east Oxford and have handled the introduction of the recycling scheme, which all parties on the council supported, in a disastrously inflexible and insensitive way."

Mr Khan also blamed a so-called "north Oxford bias" as another frustration, claiming the Lib Dems favoured that area as opposed to the south and east of the city and blasted their handling of the ongoing play area closure crisis.

Since the Lib Dems took control of the city council in May, 2005 four councillors have quit the group.

First Saj Malik left for Labour then Tia MacGregor and Paul Sargent left to sit as independent councillors before forming a Tory group.

However, Liberal Democrat group leader John Goddard insisted there was no crisis.

He said: "It's regrettable but in terms of numbers it means nothing at all.

"I feel sad these people haven't been more open sooner - that is a personal failing.

"We are quite a friendly group and we are open with each other.

"Every one of these people has chosen to leave without any warning whatsoever."

News of Mr Khan's defection will come as a fillip to Labour ahead of next year's city council elections when half the 48 seats are up for grabs - including Mrs MacGregor's Quarry & Risinghurst seat and Mr Sargent's Carfax ward.

Labour might be the largest group on the council, but cannot take control until September at the earliest when the next full council meeting is held.

Mr Price said: "Shah is well-known as a highly effective councillor for Cowley and he will be made very welcome by Labour members and councillors."

Mr Smith added: "I have known Shah for years, his choice to join Labour is great news and reflects a wider shift to Labour since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister."

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Lee Cole, Blackbird Leys says...
2:26pm Wed 25 Jul 07

What an absolute joke this is becoming. Councillors defecting left right and centre. Have they forgotten that the people who voted them into power voted for the party and not necessarily the person. It really is about time that by elections were introduced when people defect so as to try and secure the decisions made by the public. No wonder people think politicians are two faced.

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Arfur Jock, Oxford says...
2:37pm Wed 25 Jul 07

Snigger - left, right and centre - political defections - guffaw

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amy, oxford says...
3:25pm Wed 25 Jul 07

So he's leaving the Lib Dems to join Labour over the closure of play areas and the introduction of recycling. Were these not Labour policies in the first place? Obviously not the sharpest tool in the box.

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Ed, Oxford says...
4:15pm Wed 25 Jul 07

Sack the lot of them and call an election, and get independant members, none of this party political nonsense. This is what wastes time and gets nothing done; people spend too much time worrying about towing the party line instead of doing what they think is right.

No party, no baggage. Simple.

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Kate, Oxford says...
4:41pm Wed 25 Jul 07

He's not leaving the Liberals over the introduction of recycling, but over how they implemented the scheme - heavy-handedly with little flexibility for people who wanted bags instead of bins, for example, yet absurdly without enforcing fly-tipping regulations properly. And it's not true to state that closing play areas is a Labour policy (or was a Labour policy); Labour had to commission a review of the state of play areas, but it was a political decision of the Lib Dems to spend money not on upgrading them but on other things. And unbelieveably, they've done it in a way that means that the poorest south-east of the city will take the bulk of the playground closures - naked deprioritisation of services in areas where people have more sense than to vote for them!

And of course, the other reasons SJK left the Liberals is because they are a shower, barely on speaking terms with one another, running a council that's entirely officer-led.

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Tony Brett, Oxford says...
5:19pm Wed 25 Jul 07

Defecting in office is simply inexcusable if you ask me. Once a defector always a defector.

I hope nobody is stupid enough to vote in the future for anyone who defects while in office. How do you know they won't defect again?

I absolutely don't trust those that defect while in office, not even those that defect into my own party.

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amy, oxford says...
6:21pm Wed 25 Jul 07

Kate, children's play areas throughout the city were run down over a matter of years (by not maintaining them as well as by removing play equipment from some of these) while Labour was running the council. After all, let's not forget Labour has run the council for the vast majority of the past 25 years. And as to recycling, do you think people don't remember the flipflopping by John Tanner (who else!) over recycling policy when he was in charge of this? The Lib Dems may be a shower but by God, they have a hard act to follow. I think it's pretty disgusting that people will switch parties like this,caring nothing for those who voted for them only because they were standing for a particular party. And then political parties scratch their heads and wonder why people don't vote...

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Kate, Oxford says...
7:24pm Wed 25 Jul 07

Amy,
Yep, maintenance of playgrounds hasn't been great over the last couple of years. Equipment has been taken away from playgrounds when it's not safe to leave it there any longer. But at least the Labour group recognises there is a problem, and wrote and submitted a budget to fund play area maintenance, to keep at least some open. The Lib Dems preferred to waste their budget bids on an alliance with the Greens to employ more council officers to witter on about climate change, when the role of local government in climate change policy is pretty miniscule.
And the point about closing play areas disproportionately in parts of the city that are poorer still stands: even if they have to close play areas, they could at least do it in areas where parents can afford to do other things with their children!

On recycling, I don't recall Tanner flipflopping; he was pretty vocal about the need to get the recycling rate up and get the best facilities for doing so for Oxford people.

Good luck to Shah, anyway; he did what he thought was right, and I hope that people in Cowley understand that.

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hunt, oxford says...
8:15pm Wed 25 Jul 07

How can he stay with the party he felt did not work for him. Oxford lin dems arfe all about pose north oxford


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Mary Cornwell, Oxford says...
12:04am Thu 26 Jul 07

What I find amazing is John Goddard admitting to a personal failing. Not before time mind, but still maybe even he has noticed that leading a group from which a quarter of the members leave in just over a year is something of a personal failure.


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Denise, Oxford says...
12:13am Thu 26 Jul 07

Kate from Oxford wrote about play areas and climate change.

Thanks to a Green amendment to the LibDem budget there WAS additional money for play areas. Labour voted against this amendment, but it got through anyway.

Labour later tried to cut climate change funding and put it into playgrounds instead - a blatantly political move which they knew had no chance of success but would sound good in election leaflets.

Tackling climate change requires a concerted effort locally and nationally.

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Roger, says...
1:51am Thu 26 Jul 07

On the issue of playgrounds, look at what the politicians do - not what they say. In the Green-run East Oxford area there are no playgrounds under threat of closure as the local Green-run area committee has invested considerable cash in them over the years.

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Peter Metro, Oxford says...
9:01am Thu 26 Jul 07

As soon as someone defects there should be a by-election.How come none of the Green councillers and there supporters are never Oxford born?

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Elise, Oxford says...
10:49am Thu 26 Jul 07

Peter Metro wrote:
As soon as someone defects there should be a by-election.How come none of the Green councillers and there supporters are never Oxford born?
Where did this 'information' come from? Of course there are Oxford born Green Councillors and supporters!

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Mike, Oxford says...
2:41pm Thu 26 Jul 07

Where Cllrs were born has nothing to do with their knowledge of and commitment to local people and issues. I was born in a hospital, but that doesn't make me a nurse.

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Phil Cockayne, says...
7:24am Mon 6 Aug 07

Legally, (at least in the case of where the first-past the post voting system exists), voters vote for the candidate and not the party. Were this not the case, then, legally, a sitting councillor would have to resign their seat and force a by-election. Let us not forget that elections cost public money - every year Oxford City Council struggles to find enough to pay for everything. As an ex-councillor I know that local authorities are run by officers not councillors, so elections are a waste of money anyway. I'd much rather the money was spent on more worthwhile things such as erm....play areas?

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David Phipps, Oxford says...
4:32pm Sun 12 Aug 07

Phil Cockayne says by-elections are a waste of money as the Council is run by Council Officers. Council Officers booking themselves into the Randolph Hotel for a couple of days and nights on the pretext of having a conference when the Councils own conference centre stands empty is a waste of money. Private party on the tax payer is what that is.

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Michael, oxford says...
11:20am Sat 25 Aug 07

I am staggered at the posts by David and Phil. The idea that Officers "run" Council's is complete garbage. Officers are of course employed full time and that is bound to give them better knowledge but in my experience Oxford City Council is run by a loudmouth or bullying councillor who makes everybody from his own party to the officers run scared...that is why the Council is such an utter shambles.

As for David what is this drivel about a Council "conference centre"? If the Council own a conference centre would you care to indicate where this fabulous construction has been built?

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Peter Devonshire, Oxford says...
2:00pm Sun 26 Aug 07

He is a traitor, and no doubt this is a tactical move on his part for power. He should not be allowed to stand if he is not sure where his loyalties lie.

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Worried, says...
6:48pm Sun 26 Aug 07

Tony Brett wrote:
Defecting in office is simply inexcusable if you ask me. Once a defector always a defector. I hope nobody is stupid enough to vote in the future for anyone who defects while in office. How do you know they won't defect again? I absolutely don't trust those that defect while in office, not even those that defect into my own party.
Tony,

How you forget history.

One name springs to mind........

Winston Spencer Churchill

He swapped regularly and carpet bagged for seats.

So as usual, your comments signal the paucity of thought endemic to the LibDems

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Worried, says...
7:20pm Sun 26 Aug 07

Kate wrote:
Yep, maintenance of playgrounds hasn't been great over the last couple of years. Equipment has been taken away from playgrounds when it's not safe to leave it there any longer. But at least the Labour group recognises there is a problem, and wrote and submitted a budget to fund play area maintenance, to keep at least some open.


What utter sophistry. The LibDems have been in control for a very short time, a couple of years. Labour ran most of the play areas down over a 10 year period prior to the LibDems taking control of the council. The fiscal ineptitude of the years under Labour control and the deliberate undermining of the LibDems last coalition by its Green Party partners is nothing short of a disgrace for the voters of Oxford. The LibDems have been clueless in terms of finding solutions to Labours mismanagement of the council spending for the last two decades and are being deliberately left in the mire by a party that claims to have the solutions yet is happy NOT to be in control.

The Lib Dems preferred to waste their budget bids on an alliance with the Greens to employ more council officers to witter on about climate change, when the role of local government in climate change policy is pretty miniscule.


More misleading and deception. Labour tried to find a political soundbite policy to grab headlines. There is NO MORE money being spent on the officers who are dealing with the environment.

And the point about closing play areas disproportionately in parts of the city that are poorer still stands: even if they have to close play areas, they could at least do it in areas where parents can afford to do other things with their children!


A postcode lottery for childrens play areas? How disingenuous of you. The poorer areas were the ones deliberately run down by Labour.

On recycling, I don't recall Tanner flipflopping; he was pretty vocal about the need to get the recycling rate up and get the best facilities for doing so for Oxford people.


Tanner jumped on the need for netter acheivement of targets after the LibDems were backed into a corner on the recycling issue. The council cannot afford three hundred different solutions as (again due to Labours mismangement for nearly 20 years) to do so would be too expensive.

Good luck to Shah, anyway; he did what he thought was right, and I hope that people in Cowley understand that.


Yes, good luck to him.

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Cllr Ken Tiwari, Oxford says...
11:26am Sat 29 Sep 07

There must be some reward for defecor,as
I my seat was given to
one first LibDem defe-
ctor,some of us have to pay very heavy price,I pray to god to
help us from cruel ones:Cllrs Ken Tiwari
quote

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Roger, East Oxford says...
3:50am Tue 9 Oct 07

Cllr Ken Tiwari wrote:
There must be some reward for defecor,as
I my seat was given to
one first LibDem defe-
ctor,some of us have to pay very heavy price,I pray to god to
help us from cruel ones:Cllrs Ken Tiwari
quote
Who is/are this/these person(s)?

There is no Councillor Tiwari listed by the Council, which is reassuring, because I can never understand what he writes. Worse, he does seem to be depending on his god to protect him from his cruel colleagues, and I personally don't find that a very satisfacatory approach.

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Cllr Ken Tiwari, Oxford says...
12:34pm Fri 12 Oct 07

For your information,
Cllr Ken Tiwari repre-
sent Risinghurst and
Sandhil parish(Elected

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Oxford Crusader, Oxford says...
6:38pm Thu 25 Oct 07

The staple industries around Shah Jahan Khan's part of Oxford are dodgy Asian car gents near Cowley Marsh, and the ubiquitous ladies of horizontal refreshment. There may well be other dubious enterprises, but I don't penetrate (no pun on the ladies of the night - or perhaps with modern shift systems day and night)the mean streets of Cowley too often.

As politicians are opportunists , without ptinciples or conscience, it stands to reason defectors expect reward. As to council officers running the show (farce) - didn't they always? Councillors come and councillors go, but like Tennyson'd brook, the officers go on forever.

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Dan, Oxford says...
5:39pm Sun 2 Dec 07

What does it matter? They're all hand-wringing Lefties.

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Pringle, Englanistan says...
11:45am Tue 25 Dec 07

Sack the gay Liberal Party and call in the BNP to give Britain back to the British.

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Shah Jahan Khan Shah Jahan Khan

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