Members vote for full selection contest – but expect party stitch-up to protect her
Liverpool councillor and former mayoral hopeful Ann O’Byrne was ‘triggered’ last night by local Labour party members at a meeting to decide whether they want a full selection contest.
Cllr O’Byrne featured on Skwawkbox last year when she failed to answer questions about a council report that exposed worrying dealings at BICo, a cash business in which O’Byrne and some of the council’s most notorious right-wingers were involved – including a £20,000 payment to a company that employed O’Byrne’s daughter, also a councillor, and sums totalling around £160,000 to businesses whose directors had close links to BICo or were based at the same address. The controversy was used by Keir Starmer as a pretext for scrapping the entire mayoral shortlist of three women councillors, including the highly-regarded left-winger Anna Rothery.
O’Byrne went on to become an ally of Starmer’s preferred mayor Joanne Anderson and last September removed left-wingers from a Labour WhatsApp group after they asked questions about Anderson’s willingness to allow a weapons fair to take place in the city.
But locals have told Skwawkbox they expect the party to order or intimidate others on the panel of potential candidates not to stand against O’Byrne in the selection vote in what would be yet another abuse by Starmer’s cronies of member democracy in the city.
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Questions to answer? 🤔
https://kilfoyleonpolitics.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/bico_report-1-5.pdf
I’ve just had a look at the bico report you provided Toffee, ta. What a pile of WOC (the company, not the report, thanks for it). Woke capitalism at its best/worst, complete with lies and 100% kosher pork pies. Up at the start it (‘Background’) proudly proclaims:
“The development of BICo and the role that it was to play were formalised in a Cabinet Report on July
10th 2015 that stated: “A recent ‘Beautiful North Community Car Park Business Plan 2013-16’ states
that a Community Interest Company (CIC) model has been adopted as the probable way forward for
managing the surplus funds.”
SW blows that particular lie to smithereens. Profits went no-where near ‘community’ interests: “a £20,000 payment to a company that employed O’Byrne’s daughter, also a councillor, and sums totalling around £160,000 to businesses whose directors had close links to BICo or were based at the same address.”
Would you buy a car from Ann O’Byrne?
Wow!
Thang goodness that Skwawkbox keeps issues like this in view and reports on them. Other media surely don’t.
Whether – as Sir K claims – the atrociously corrupt relationship between BICo and several right wing Labour councillors was the real reason for scrapping the entire mayoral shortlist of three democratically selected women councillors or not, it is edifying a local Labour members vote for full selection contest. More power to them.
Ann O’Byrne Failed to answer questions put to her after promising to do so, looking at that photo of OByrne I can see why she doesn’t want to answer questions, here are a few suggestions 1/ Arrogance, 2/ She is guilty. 3/ Entitlement. 4/ Corruption/ theft. 5/ Her belief Co conspirators including the human wardrobe will back her up. I could be wrong, but failure to answer those important questions is all you need to know.
If ian Byrne gets triggered can we expect the same respect for members voting for an open selection? Let me guess thats different!