21 October (Part 2) - A Magic Carpet ride to Starmerdom
Over the years I have spoken to Abena
Oppong-Asare several times but only as a Bexley
Councillor, not as MP for Erith & Thamesmead as she is now. I always found her
to be very pleasant lady although probably in the shadow of Councillor Mabel
Ogundayo and Deputy Leader of the local party. I once mistook Abena for Mabel
and was roundly told off for it.
After that I took careful note of what each of them looked like from both front
and rear and never made that mistake again.
Why
Mabel did not get past Round 1 of the
December 2019 selection process I have no idea but
Sir Kneel Starmer must think Abena is among the most talented of his MPs because
she has just been appointed Shadow Minister for some Department or other
that I have forgotten already and cannot be bothered to look up.
Teresa Pearce was always going to be a hard
act to follow, always helpful to everyone, even a privileged white
life-long Conservative who she knew was never likely to vote for her.
As far as I can see Abena is totally consumed by the pushing of black issues. Colour dominated
her
opening speech and of her first 24 Tweets as an MP
20 were aimed at her black audience.
I confess to being very disappointed by her performance and genuinely hoped to
find something to praise in her first speech as a Shadow Minister.
Sure enough there was an extensive catalogue of black names who were her heroes.
Things were not going too badly for me until she got to the name Bernie Grant who as
Council Leader in Haringey in 1985 after PC Keith Blakelock was murdered on
Grant’s patch said “What the police got was a bloody good hiding”. Out of
context or not that was an appalling thing to say but it surprised me not one jot.
I had been working alongside Bernie Grant and his brother four or five years
earlier. One of the pair was
nothing but a trouble maker and after exploiting his position
as union leader once too often he was sacked. A brand new roll of best Axminster just
delivered to a telephone exchange was spirited away by one of Abena’s heroes. Maybe
it has become a magic carpet for Abena.