Barnet Alliance for Public Services - residents, local organisations and trade unions campaigning for high quality public services in the London Borough of Barnet.
Staff Login
Our West Hendon - report from procession 11 April.
Others may give a more complete account of last night’s magnificent action by West Hendon residents and their supporters.I would just like people to know that this was a spirited display of unity and determination by quite a number of the hard-pressed and severely threatened residents - both ‘secure’ and ‘unsecure’ tenants and leaseholders, behind the OUR WEST HENDON banner + Labour candidates, members of ‘Occupy’ and BAPS, members of our Barnet Housing Action Group.
There were not too many of us, but we created a mighty impression on our procession up the High Road with the coffins, walking skeletons, the good humour, the music, the colourful placards saying things like HOMES BEFORE PROFITS and shouted cries of “Whose West Hendon?” “Our West Hendon”; “Whose Barnet?” “Our Barnet”; “Whose Homes?”; “Whose Community?”; “Whose Future?” - Songs: “Housing is a Human Right - not a Privilege” [to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down"]. Many people triumphed through the loudhailers - particularly our Janette. But her - and our - main success was in persuading a small crowd of small but wonderfully vociferous children to join us and make tremendous use of all the resources of the loudhailers. This became more crucial as time went on.
The original idea was to have been to attend the ‘surgery’ of the local MP, Matthew Offord, show him our petition - asking for no more than the right to keep their homes in the borough…. When we got to the church where the surgery was taking place we learned that the Labour candidate for the area, herself a resident of Offord’s constituency, had already been thrown out of the meeting, which had suddenly been reclassified as a “private meeting” by invitation only.
If you look up http://www.parliament.uk/ to find out what MPs’ surgeries are meant to be you will read this:
Most MPs hold a surgery to give the people in their constituency an opportunity to meet them. Rather like a doctor’s surgery, constituents can turn up at an MP’s office to discuss matters that concern them. MPs usually hold surgeries once a week and advertise them in the local press and sometimes in the local library. An MP will often take up an issue on a constituent’s behalf.
But not so the Barnet Tories! Mike Freer, temporary MP for Finchley & Golders Green, tried the same dirty trick a few weeks ago: suddenly declared his “meet the people” meeting an invitation-only affair, and actually refused entry to at least one of his constituents who did actually carry a written invitation in her hand! They have adopted the tactic of hiding from their constituents - and bringing in the police to throw them out when in danger of coming face to face with any of them. They do not apply the same tactics when dealing with international tax-dodging corporations, foreign-exchange gamblers, hedge-fund speculators and developers, fraudulent construction companies….
Somebody was smart enough to have already posted this report of what happened to Wikipedia. Well done, whoever you are!
Currently engaged in controversy after refusing to meet people from his constituency who wanted to talk to him about their evictions. Matthew Offord closed a public meeting and slipped out the side of the building into a police van which was then surrounded by the local people, including many OAPs and children. [9] [10]
This was where the children found their voice: faced with a line of policemen and women who barred their way, they shouted out “Come out, Matthew!” “Be a man!” “Come out with your hands up!” “We’ll wait all night” “You can hide but you cannot run”. He promised to come out and talk to us after 1 1/2 hours when the ‘surgery’ was finished. I asked a policeman to ask the MP if he would consider allowing a small delegation to draw his attention to the petition now. Offord refused. The singing, shouting and jeering continued.
We realised the danger of him slipping out the side door. He had gone back on his promise to come out and talk to all of us. He said he would speak to one or two. we rejected that. Too little too late. The usual suspects came to the megaphone to make the usual speeches, the ‘occupy’ people talked about creating a ‘people’s assembly’ right there, the children came up and loudly, cheerfully but movingly answered questions about how they felt about being chucked out of their homes….
Inside the police vehicle, our hero sat smart and waxen, unblinking, playing dead, like a Madame Tussaud’s figure, or a sort of bizarre mannequin: his eyed heavenward. But our staring, booing and gesturing through the window, not a yard from his nose, did succeed in causing a little twitch or two - an involuntary remnant of the universal life-force. Eventually the same policeman was asked to go and ask him just to speak out of the window for a moment or two. The policeman said only if we edged away from the van - which we did. Offord still refused.
The ‘Occupy’ people were joined by some angry residents in sitting down in front of the van. They were quickly and forcibly removed.
This is the crucial point. Numbers. If there had been some hundreds of real live residents there, it would have been impossible for them to remove people without risking riots, bringing in reinforcements and creating a great deal of fuss. That would have allowed them to make the case known generally. The West Hendon residents know very well that this is a Barnet-wide, [not to say nationwide and even worldwide] issue. They know that it needs answers and they know that a unified fight across the borough is needed.
Meanwhile, here are one or two details about Offord
Here is how his fellow Tories describe him:
Member of Parliament for Hendon
Matthew is the Member of Parliament for Hendon and lives in the constituency. He is a keen sailor, both on the Welsh Harp and also off-shore on larger yachts. He has participated a number of times with the Welsh Harp’s Seahorse Sailing Club in the Round the Island race off the Isle of Wight.
When not on the water, Matthew also likes to be under it as he is a keen scuba diver and qualified up to the level of instructor. Over the years he has dived in several Mediterranean countries, the Caribbean, the Maldives, in the English Channel, off the coast of Cornwall and too many quarries and lakes in Lancashire and Cumbria!
He is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and in 2005 undertook a 2,000 km exploration of the Libyan Desert. Travel in general is another of his interests and Matthew has visited many countries including Cyprus, India, Israel, the United States and almost all of the countries which recently joined the EU.
Matthew has worked for the BBC at Television Centre near Shepherd’s Bush.
Here is some of his voting record:
How Matthew Offord voted
Member of Parliament for Hendon
Matthew is the Member of Parliament for Hendon and lives in the constituency. He is a keen sailor, both on the Welsh Harp and also off-shore on larger yachts. He has participated a number of times with the Welsh Harp’s Seahorse Sailing Club in the Round the Island race off the Isle of Wight.
When not on the water, Matthew also likes to be under it as he is a keen scuba diver and qualified up to the level of instructor. Over the years he has dived in several Mediterranean countries, the Caribbean, the Maldives, in the English Channel, off the coast of Cornwall and too many quarries and lakes in Lancashire and Cumbria!
He is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and in 2005 undertook a 2,000 km exploration of the Libyan Desert. Travel in general is another of his interests and Matthew has visited many countries including Cyprus, India, Israel, the United States and almost all of the countries which recently joined the EU.
Matthew has worked for the BBC at Television Centre near Shepherd’s Bush.
- Voted very strongly for raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year
- Voted moderately for a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU
- Voted strongly for fewer MPs in the House of Commons
- Voted very strongly for reducing central government funding of local government
- Voted very strongly for encouraging occupational pensions
- Voted moderately against a wholly elected House of Lords
How Matthew Offord voted on Social Issues
- Voted very strongly against equal gay rights
- Voted moderately for smoking bans
- Voted very strongly against allowing marriage between two people of same sex
How Matthew Offord voted on Foreign Policy and Defence #
- Voted strongly for use of UK military forces in combat operations overseas
- Has never voted on replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system
- Voted moderately for more EU integration
- Voted moderately for a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU
How Matthew Offord voted on Welfare and Benefits #
- Voted moderately for reducing housing benefit for social tenants deemed to have excess bedrooms (which Labour describe as the “bedroom tax”)
- Voted very strongly against raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices
- Voted very strongly against paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability
- Voted very strongly for making local councils responsible for helping those in financial need afford their council tax and reducing the amount spent on such support
- Voted strongly for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits
How Matthew Offord voted on Taxation and Employment #
- Voted very strongly for raising the threshold at which people start to pay income tax
- Voted very strongly for increasing the rate of VAT
- Voted strongly for higher taxes on alcoholic drinks
- Voted moderately against lower taxes on fuel for motor vehicles
- Voted very strongly against increasing the tax rate applied to income over £150,000
- Voted very strongly for encouraging occupational pensions
- Voted very strongly for automatic enrolment in occupational pensions
How Matthew Offord voted on Business and the Economy #
- Voted strongly for reducing the rate of corporation tax
- Voted very strongly for measures to reduce tax avoidance
- Voted moderately against stronger tax incentives for companies to invest in assets
How Matthew Offord voted on Health #
- Voted very strongly against restricting the provision of services to private patients by the NHS
- Voted strongly for reforming the NHS so GPs buy services on behalf of their patients
- Voted moderately for smoking bans
How Matthew Offord voted on Education #
- Voted strongly for greater autonomy for schools
- Voted very strongly for raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year
- Voted strongly for academy schools
- Voted very strongly for ending financial support for some 16-19 year olds in training and further education
- Voted very strongly for university tuition fees
How Matthew Offord voted on Constitutional Reform #
- Voted very strongly for reducing central government funding of local government
- Voted very strongly for an equal number of electors per parliamentary constituency
- Voted strongly for fewer MPs in the House of Commons
- Voted moderately against a more proportional system for electing MPs
- Voted moderately against a wholly elected House of Lords
- Voted very strongly for local councils keeping money raised from taxes on business premises in their areas
- Voted very strongly for greater restrictions on campaigning by third parties, such as charities, during elections
- Voted moderately against removing hereditary peers from the House of Lords
How Matthew Offord voted on Home Affairs #
- Voted very strongly for the introduction of elected Police and Crime Commissioners
How Matthew Offord voted on Miscellaneous Topics #
- Voted a mixture of for and against laws to stop climate change
- Voted very strongly against slowing the rise in rail fares
- Has never voted on selling England’s state owned forests
- Voted very strongly for capping civil service redundancy payments
- Voted very strongly for Labour’s anti-terrorism laws
Julian Silverman
