Yesterday the five Barnet bloggers issued an open challenge to Tory leader Richard Cornelius, calling for him to speak out about the conviction last Friday of his former colleague Brian Coleman of the offence of common assault, by beating, of Finchley cafe owner Helen Michael - see previous post:
Let's republish the letter here:
On Friday 3 May Councillor Brian Coleman pleaded guilty to the charge of common assault by beating of Helen Michael, in the High Road in North Finchley. Evidence from CCTV was shown in court and proved incontrovertibly that this incident was nothing less than an utterly indefensible act of aggression. It resulted from Councillor Coleman being caught parking in a loading bay, trying to evade the hugely controversial parking payment scheme he had imposed on residents in this borough.
Despite the fact that he has now been convicted of a criminal act of assault, Barnet Council has refused to comment, absurdly claiming that this is unnecessary as the attack did not take place while the Councillor was on council business.
Indeed local Tory members, including leader Richard Cornelius, openly continued to support their fellow member after he was charged, and were privately informing others that the story of the assault was false. Councillor Coleman was suspended from the party only after intervention from Conservative Central Office. Since the conviction, local Conservatives have issued no statement.
By his own actions Councillor Coleman has shown himself to be unfit for public office: such bullying behaviour, dishonesty and hypocrisy are not acceptable in an elected representative of the community.
We demand therefore that he stand down from his seat in Totteridge, and that the Conservative Party expel him from membership.
We call on Richard Cornelius, as leader of Barnet Council, and on behalf of the Conservative Party in this borough, to apologise to Ms Michael, and to dissociate himself and his colleagues from this appalling incident.
To remain silent is not an option: to remain silent is to condone an act of violence against a woman, and this was and must always be absolutely unacceptable.
Within a couple of hours of this being published, a statement was issued by deputy leader Daniel Thomas, quoted in the local Times here:
“Party officials will be meeting soon to conclude the issue of Cllr Coleman's membership, which remains suspended. There is an internal process to follow. The Conservative Party deems conviction of assault an extremely serious matter.”
You will note that no statement was issued, as it should have been, in reaction to the conviction, until forced to bow to pressure.
That a council would refuse to comment on the pretext, given last week, that the violent assault by a councillor bore no relevance to his elected role, and that the Tories would choose to remain silent until five days after the trial, and then only to appear to defer any decision to another source, is utterly shameful.
If the Conservative Party deems conviction of assault to be an extremely serious matter, why was it not deemed so on Friday?
In today's local Times, opposition councillors have spoken here of their astonishment at the reaction of local Tories to the case: Labour's Councillor Barry Rawlings said:
“If there is any justice in this world, this will be the end of his political career. If assaulting residents doesn’t end your career, you have to wonder what you have to do.”
Libdem councillor Jack Cohen commented:
“The whole reputation of the council is at stake. His career is pretty much over.
I was astonished when I heard about the allegations and when I saw the CCTV footage of the assault, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve never seen anything like it, or anything approaching it, in 25 years on the council – it’s truly remarkable.
He’s never apologised for anything but a little bit of humility from Councillor Coleman would go down well at the moment.”
Strong words: 'the whole reputation of the council is at stake': but true - and of course the changes to the standards' regime, thanks to Eric Pickles, and thanks to the local decision not to predict the need for the discipline of independent councillors, means that there is really no effective sanction which can be imposed on Coleman through any council procedure.
Brian Coleman remains as councillor for Totteridge, even though he is suspended from membership of the Conservative party. He may continue in this role, albeit as an independent councillor, because although he was convicted of a criminal offence, he did not receive a prison sentence. His presence on the council until the next election, of course, will be a gift to the opposition, and a source of continuing anxiety, embarrassment - and danger - for the Tories.
What of the longer view of the future, however? What of his suspended membership? Can he stand again as a candidate for the Conservative Party?
It is not impossible, believe it or not.
Mrs Angry understands that the decision as to whether Coleman can renew his membership may well be left to the local association to decide. This does not prevent central party officials intervening, as they did before, of course.
It would appear that the only way a candidate is barred from standing is if he or she is not on the list of candidates approved by the local government committee. It has even been suggested that one does not have to have membership of the party to stand as a candidate ...
Brian Coleman still has his loyal admirers within the foetid mass of Tory councillors in Broken Barnet, boneheaded fools who would stand by him whatever he did. He also has friends in the Camden half of his former GLA constituency. His agent there was the only supporter to attend court last week - a brave thing to do, in the circumstances.
These diehards are in the minority, however. Most of the others now realise the extent of damage that his behaviour does to their own electoral prospects - but still they lack the guts or the integrity to criticise what he has done. Many of these councillors privately insisted before the trial that Helen Michael's version of events was false: naturally they are reluctant to admit that they were wrong, now that the CCTV footage has proven that she was telling the truth, and that Coleman was not.
So we have waited in vain for the response from his former colleagues which this appalling behaviour demands: a swift condemnation of Coleman's act of assault, and an immediate expulsion from the Conservative Party. The beating of a woman, in the high street, in full view of witnesses, and a camera, is apparently not sufficiently serious to warrant this reaction.
Why has no Tory councillor - not a single one - spoken publicly about the incident since the trial, and sought to distance themselves from what was an appalling act of aggression against a female resident?
Because this is how they are: cowardly, misogynistic, putting their warped perception of local party loyalty before any consideration of decency, integrity, or respect for their residents.
Their failure to condemn is because they saw in him what they are too, or what they aspire to be: utterly self-serving, remorseless, victorious: defiant.
This is Broken Barnet, where the enduring legacy of Margaret Thatcher, the true face, the ugly, brutish face of suburban Conservatism, has crawled back home to die.
It's a horrible sight, isn't it?