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Council Leader Raj Chada and Mayor Barbara Hughes
MP Frank Dobson (left) with former Labour councillors
John Richardson and Ivor Walker
Roy Shaw on leave shortly before leaving for France in
1944 |
War hero Roy celebrates his half century at the Town Hall
Council legend jokes WWII was great training for '70s and '80s meetings
WHEN Labour councillor Roy Shaw started his career in local
government 50 years ago, Councillor Raj Chada – current
leader of Camden Council – was not even born.
Last Thursday, at the Yeomanry Hall in King’s Cross, Cllr
Chada, 32, was one of a number of figures from across party
lines who turned out to pay tribute to Cllr Shaw, 80, as the
elder statesman of Camden politics celebrated his 50th anniversary
as a councillor. The forthcoming election in May – which
Cllr Shaw is fighting – will be the 12th time he has had
his name on a ballot paper.
The councillor for Haverstock ward revealed that when he first
stepped inside the council’s marble halls he had his heart
set on a back-bench seat at Westminster – but decided the
Parliamentary drinking culture of the era would not agree with
him.
He said: “My original idea was to do one or two terms in
local government and then to find a seat in Parliament. But
in those days most of the MPs seemed to spend their time drunk
in the bars. I decided it was not for me and I would spend more
time in local government.”
Born in West Hampstead in 1925, Cllr Shaw, a former Beckford
and William Ellis school pupil, said he was “bitten by
the political bug” after helping Labour in their 1951 General
Election campaign in Hampstead.
The former solider, who served as a tank wireless operator and
gun loader during World War II – “life was tough but
good training for Camden Labour Group meetings in the 70s and
80s” – was then working as a sergeant in the Intelligence
Corp.
His tank regiment was one of the first to cross the Rhine into
Germany after D-Day.
After becoming secretary of the Hampstead Labour Party in 1951,
Cllr Shaw was elected to Hampstead Borough council in 1956.
He moved to St Pancras in 1961 and served for three years as
an alderman before the London Borough of Camden was formed in
1964/65. He has served in the Town Hall ever since.
Well-regarded as an expert on local government finance, Cllr
Shaw served as Labour chief whip at the Town Hall from 1965
to 1973. In 1974 he became deputy leader and took over the top
job the following year. He became deputy leader again from 1990
to1994.
He said: “One of the biggest changes over the years is
that the council has softened. There was a rigid distinction
in the old days between officers and members. An officer had
to stand up if he was addressing members. Local government was
also much simpler then – there was much less paperwork.”
Despite the changes, Cllr Shaw has no plans for retirement –
“I will keep going as long as I can” – and has
a few tips for aspiring politicians in the run-up to next month’s
elections.
He said: “Be prepared for a lot of hard work. You have
to read your documents. If you don’t the officers and other
members will recognise it and you will be regarded as lazy.
“Treat officers with respect. Your job is not to manage
the council – a lot of councillors think they should interfere
and they should not. Day-to-day management of the council is
up to the officers. Long-term policy is up to the members.”
Former councillors and current colleagues from across the political
spectrum queued up to pay tributes. Speaking to an audience
that included Holborn and King’s Cross MP Frank Dobson
and former Labour stalwart Roy Hattersley, Cllr Chada, a councillor
of three years – which, he quipped “felt like 50 at
times” – revealed that both had been the only sons
in families with five sisters. He added: “You suffered
as I have done. I thought: ‘How does it shape your character?’”
Cllr Chada added that Roy had always been a popular figure with
female members of the party.
Talking about his wife, the executive member for Social Service
Geethika Jayatilaka, Cllr Chada said: “I know you have
taken my wife out to lunch more times than me.
“Fifty years is a long time and your public service started
before that. It is truly a magnificent achievement – an
underrated achievement in an underrated profession.” |
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