Labour Victory in Ealing Southall

Virendra Sharma is the new Ealing Southall MP.

He has pledged to work very hard for his constituents. It was a reasonable night for the Liberal democrats but a disasterous night for the Tories, who came a poor 3rd despite a desperate campaign involving 5 personal visits from David Cameron, a high profile candidate and some very dodgy campaigning tactics.
It is a great credit to the local people that they saw through the Tory's gimmicky candidate with no history or substance and rejected him! It is only proper that a local politician who has stood by his political convictions for a great many years should prevail over one that was drafted into the Tory party only days before the by-election!

To watch the Ealing Times video of events at the count last night click here

Tory candidate Tony Lit exposed as a naked opportunist

Tory businessman Tony Lit has been exposed as a shameful opportunist. Click on title above to read about it. Only a few weeks ago he donated £4,500 to the Labour Party. Now he is standing as the Tory candidate in the Ealing Southall by-election this Thursday. Joan Ryan, the Labour Party vice-chairman who is running the by-election campaign, said: "David Cameron's personal intervention to overrule local Tories and appoint a candidate has totally backfired."

So much for conviction politics! What party will Tony Lit decide to support after he loses this week?

BBC's Hard Talk - with Alastair Campbell on the Blair years.

Click on title above to watch Alastair Campell's interview.

Snubbed Wannabe Gurcharan Singh Defects!

Cllr Gurcharan Singh and four other former Labour councillors have defected to the Tories because of Singh's failure to get selected as the Labour candidate for the Ealing Southall by-election on Thursday 19th July. Quite frankly, Singh's insatiable personal ambition has been a divisive influence and liability for far too long and suffice to say the Labour party will not be mourning his loss nor that of his followers. Any councillor who opportunistically betrays his voters and colleagues is an asset to no party. The Tories are very welcome to Cllr Singh! His predisposition to changing colour should ensure his compatability with Dave the Chamelion!

Mark Steel : Many climate-change sceptic groups funded by oil industry

Follow the link to read what comedian and Independent columnist Mark Steel has to say about climate change click here

Tory U Turn - Station Rd 'SAVED' by Ealing Southall by-election?

At a meeting of the Council's Overview & Scrutiny Committee last week Cllr Costello did a complete U-turn and offered no defence of his former decision to re-open Station Rd to through traffic. The Tory councillor backed down from his professed principle of opposition to roads being closed off in the face of overwhelming opposition and a well organised campaign by local residents which was supported by Hanwell Labour. It is perhaps worth noting that he was not moved by the rather passionate protests of dozens of local people during the Hanwell Area Committee meeting on June 6th, when he forced the controversial re-opening of Station Rd through. Far from it - it appears that Cllr Costello had a massive change of heart after the sad death of the late Piara Khabra, Member of Parliament, and cynics might be tempted to conclude that the resulting by-election in Ealing Southall might have had alot to do with it! His fellow Tories do not want any boats rocked until at least after the by-election. Whatever the reason, Cllr Costello has eaten a large slice of humble pie and done a remarkable U-turn and that has to be a good thing for residents. So, if a little uncomfortable with having to ditch his principles perhaps he can derive some comfort from the fact that his leaders are probably very relieved he's decided to tow this week's Tory party line. He's obviously prepared to listen to his leadership - if not the local people. What was noticeable though was not one of his fellow Tory Hanwell councillors turned up to support him up in the meeting. Too afraid to face the wrath of residents? No marks for bravery there!