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Cllr Chada who has campaigned for cash to repair housing |
Leader Raj battles to save seat despite
popularity
Election Special: one week before
polling and Labour fear losing their flagship Town Hall for
the first time in 34 years.
LABOUR party leader Councillor Raj Chada has been penned
back in an increasingly tense election fight that has turned
into a battle for survival.
Conservatives believe they can make the startling gain of decapitating
Camden’s Labour group in next week’s ballot –
just months after he took over the reins at the Town Hall.
Cllr Chada would like to be using his status as leader to help
Labour’s election campaign across the borough.
But he has had to go back to his Gospel Oak ward and campaign
harder than ever before.
Four years ago – even four months ago – the ward appeared
safe as houses for Labour.
There is a strong branch organisation in Gospel Oak, well-connected
members in the area include former Downing Street aides Alastair
Campbell and Fiona Millar.
But a late charge by the Conservatives has put the future of
the ward in serious doubt. While the Tories have organised the
fewest photo calls and election stunts over the past few weeks,
strategists have worked hard on a nightly door knock.
One senior Tory said this week: “Raj Chada is dead as far
as we are concerned. We can beat him.”
If Cllr Chada is beaten, he will have the unenviable record
of having the shortest leadership in the history of the council
after being given a difficult run out by his predecessor Councillor
Dame Jane Roberts.
Some Labour insiders think that Dame Jane hung on too long and
did not give Cllr Chada long enough to establish himself at
the helm. They argue that he deserves longer in the job before
voters judge him.
The Labour group would be losing one of its strongest councillors
if Cllr Chada lost. Although sometimes accused of being a ‘Mr
Nice’ and lacking the confidence to use his weight on contentious
issues and conflicts with government policy, Cllr Chada is generally
considered a forward thinker and was unsurprisingly elected
as group leader last year unopposed. He is regarded as a safe
pair of hands and colleagues are impressed with his decision
to prioritise youth services and education.
The legal aid lawyer has even won approval from backbenchers
who once grumbled at the way former council leader Dame Jane
ran the group – insiders used to complain that she did
not allow much room for internal discussions.
Elected in 1998, he is amongst a group of 30-somethings in the
party that have all but wiped out the older generation of councillors
from senior cabinet positions.
But unlike other young Labour lions, Cllr Chada has been open
when things have gone wrong, faced up to problems and not blamed
the press for scrutinising errors and mistakes – a familiar
and unproductive tactic used by other Labour chiefs.
He was part of a council investigation that probed the lack
of youth facilities in the borough in 2002, demanding more investment.
Later, Cllr Chada tried to steady the ship at the head of the
housing department as tenants hit out at government funding
policy. He listened to residents in Camden Town and backed down
on plans to swap a children’s playground for a new housing
block.
Cllr Chada’s Conservative rivals are playing on the fact
they live in the ward, whereas the council chief lives in Mornington
Crescent. Lulu Mitchell, a florist, is well known in the area
and polled high four years ago in Gospel Oak. The other Tory
candidates are Keith Sedgwick and Chris Philp. Mr Philp has
been a particular target for the Labour campaign and they have
tried to play up his close links with the Conservatives’
central office. He has written policy documents which Labour
say harks back to Thatcherism.
The Liberal Democrat candidates in Gospel Oak are Margaret Jackson-Roberts,
Herbert Newbrook and Laura Noel. The Green Party’s candidates
are Josephine Karen, Richard Thomas and Jane Walby. |
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