A dirty game
 

Politics that is. Dirty as a skinned knee.

I mentioned on another thread that a friend and colleague died on Wednesday night. He wasn't just my friend, he was leader of the labour group within the council. He became leader of the group in May, elected by the Labour Councillors of the Council to speak for us, act as manager and negotiate for us with the other two main parties, etc etc etc.

When he was elected by us, it was not unanimous. Within the local Labour party there are two factions, and that is reflected within the Group. Tom and another councillor were both standing for leader and the vote was close.....in fact it was fifty fifty and decided on the toss of a coin.

Somehow, he managed to work with the divisions and generally keep us from tearing each others' throats out, and I believe was a better leader than his opponent could ever be. The deal he got for us at the first full Council meeting could never have been achieved by that opponent.

His opponent, a friend and ally of a man who is attempting to take over the local party via the Local Government Committee(the liason between local party and their Labour councillors) has a wife who is also a councillor and they between them have spent the time since May, trying to undermine Tom with a view to getting the leadership next year. They work very closely together.

Tom never liked the factionalising. he wanted us to all work together for our goals and he was a strong enough character to keep the boat from rocking itself under the waves.

When he died, I was lying awake on Wednesday night, and part of me was just very very sad, but another train of thought kept intruding. Was their sadness genuine? I saw their faces, they looked as shocked and upset as me, but were they already plotting? What would the group do now? How do we keep moving forward with the energy that we've had since May? Will the BNP take the next election now Tom's not here to stand in that ward? How long will it take before the games begin?

I thought to myself, My God, what kind of grief is this? What sadness brings with it such calculation?

Ten AM the morning after Tom's death, less than twelve hours since he breathed his last, is the answer to that question.

The deputy leader, who never stood for leader and has held the post of deputy for about three years, whose wife is currently in a hospice in the last stages of a long and difficult disease, was approached by contender and his wife and they suggested to him, with sugar tones of concern that with all he had to deal with maybe he ought to hold an election for the leader's post......Go home, they said, rest and be with your wife......

For as long as I have known them, they have tried to manouvre themselves into that position, with him as leader and her as chairperson. Twelve hours until they made their move.....I wonder how many hours before the idea crossed their minds.

Politics is dirty. Even at a local level, it is vicious and cold. People position from any starting point, no matter how tragic.

On a side note, the deputy leader is not standing down. he has spoken to some of us and been assured of our loyalty. And now, the games begin.

This isn't limited to politics, you're describing life in general as well. Politics tends to attract these kinds of people because the rewards are based only on apprearence, you can be the most incompetent dingbat ever to walk the planet but you're a political god if you can convince people to love you. You're getting a front row seat to human nature, and it sucks.

Maybe you're right 9th. I have managed to avoid political (small p) environments most of my life and remained aloof from the battles when I've been unable to avoid them (such as office politics) party politics though, take it to a new level. I knew about it as a phenomenon but to be in the thick of it is very different. It's been a learning curve and then some.

Ug. Pretty ugly close up. Sorry about your friend btw.

Thanks. And yes it is ugly. I have never been more convinced than I am now, that I really don't want a long-term political career. A few years serving the community and then I am out. The second ambition is allowed into the equation things become far from pretty.

You can't seriously expect politics for be free from struggles for power. That's what politics *is*.

true enuff, MaggieL..... but in this case...



we're talking local politics, at the borough/county council level. None of these people are going to be prime ministers or presidents.....

one would expect at least compasion..... they *know* the deceased on an individual, daily basis.

Was there an autopsy? :eyebrow:

It was a heart attack. He had heart trouble.

Which is exactly why it's just as important to them as it would be if they were candidates for higher office.

Knowing about it and experiencing it first hand are two different things. I knew I was getting into a political arena and I knew that the local party was less than united; but we'd all been working closely together. That they moved into ambitious mode so soon was a shock to me. It shouldn't have been, but it still was.

no, Dana, it should be, and IS shocking, that they moved that way so fast. Lose sight of that, and politics truly does become inhuman and an end in itself.

Maggie, I feel that you and I are so far apart on so many issues that we may as well be from different species. Though I respect your achievements as an indivudual (I for one would love to be able to fly an aeroplane (or, as you colonials so quaintly put it, an 'airplane') ) I truly do deplore the mindset that your utterances on this board reveal, and feel that the gulf is so large that I can not even imagine any way to bridge that chasm. Whilst I would never be so rude as to ignore your posts, please be aware that my lack of response to any of your future pontifications will be down to sheer gob-smackednessincredulity at your thought-processes rather than animosty to you as a person.

Your work always sounds interesting DanaC and my condolences on the passing of your friend.

Thanks Sky. It is interesting, occassionally a cause for elation and now and again a cause for dismay :P

Quick update: The deputy leader's wife died on New Year's Eve at five to midnight. He was with her to the end, though his hope that she would live long enough to see their eldest son who is currently on the haj pilgrimage, was not fulfilled.

The funeral was today. I and a few of his closer colleagues went down to the mosque to pay our respects.

The day before New Year's Eve, I was invited for a coffee to discuss the upcoming local campaign by one of the vipers and was treated to an hour long attempt to convince me not to vote for Najib as the new group leader. From what I've heard they've approached pretty much everybody in the group to lobby them for support. They can swing for it. If Najib wants the role, it's his and I can't see them being able to swing enough of us to them to stop him.

I'm really glad I went down to see him at the mosque. And I was touched when he introduced me to his niece as his 'good friend'.

2006 will be a year he will never forget. He lost the wife he'd married back when they were both teenagers. She was only 48 when she died.

Quick story, if you'll forgive the ramble:

A couple of years ago, the sister of a mutual friend was in the same hospital ward as his wife, during an earlier stage of her illness. Because our friend was out of the country, her sister didn't have any visitors for a couple of days. Najib's wife was being visited regularly by their nieces. During one such visit, she sent them to go and chat with our friend's sister, because she had no visitors of her own and seemed downhearted.

*smiles* no wonder Najib loved her so much.

Anyway, that's the end of my rather rambling update. Now's where I have to put on my political hat. It's time to fight and take back our local party and group from the savage bastards who are intent on making it their own.