Croydon Labour in Turmoil as Senior Councillor Speaks Out Against Leadership

Under pressure: Croydon Labour Leader facing revolt

SENIOR sources inside the Croydon Labour party have publicly criticised the group’s disastrous campaign that is threatening to see the party walk into its third straight election defeat, The Croydon Gazette can reveal.

Senior sources within the group gave exclusive quotes to local newspaper The Croydon Advertiser revealing the extent of split within the group. The source said, “There have been many concerns with how the Labour Group has been managed over a significant period of time. Regrettably many of those strands are coming together at a most unwelcome time. The lack of unity within the party is diverting attend and efforts away from what is the major goal, which is to gain power.”

Labour leader Tony Newman has come under severe criticism for his mis-management of the campaign, which has seen the group AXE its only domestic violence spokesperson, Karen Jewitt, who had campaigned to protect women who have been battered by their partners. Jewitt had also been raising awareness of online abuse and how violent wife beaters have been using Twitter and blogs to attack the friends of their victims to isolate the person they are abusing.

A Tory source said, “The Croydon Labour group has said that it wants to make tackling wife beaters a top priority, but their actions show they are turning a blind eye to these monsters. Wife beaters are bullies and cowards who lie and cheat their way through life - Karen was the voice against them and sacking her sends out the wrong signal.”

Research should that wife beaters are using sites like Twitter to target women. 

Croydon Labour’s ‘Staggering Hypocrisy’ Over Pledge to Tackle Wife Beaters

Betrayed: Domestic Violence Campaigner before her deselection

The Croydon Labour party was last night accused of staggering hypocrisy over its pledge to make tackling domestic violence a top priority – after The Croydon Gazette revealed that the group AXED its domestic violence spokesperson. Last summer the party ruthlessly deselected Karen Jewitt, a Woodside ward colleague of Labour Leader Tony Newman, despite many years of service to her constituents.

Jewitt, who campaigned relentlessly against wife beaters, once said, “The threat or reality of sexual and domestic violence impacts on the lives of many women. A third of all women experience domestic violence at some point in their lives, and around 25 London women are killed by their current or former partner each year.”

“Violence against women - especially domestic violence - has been identified as a key issue in all London boroughs in the crime audits and community safety plans drawn up under the Crime and Disorder Act,” she added.

Conservative members were left genuinely shocked at the sacking of a popular and well-liked woman who had campaigned for some of Croydon’s most vulnerable women.

It is understood that Jewitt was campaigning specifically around the growing problem of wife beaters using social media sites like blogs to target the friends and family members of their victims – a strategy to leave the victim feeling isolated and vulnerable.

A source inside Croydon Conservatives said, “We have a zero tolerance approach to wife beaters.”

In January the Metropolitan Police revealed a 15.5 per cent increase in domestic violence. Jewitt has since secured her position as a candidate in another seat. 

Croydon North MP to Host Domestic Violence Summit

Reed: Men Against Domestic Violence

Steve Reed MP, Croydon Labour’s leading light in the North of the Borough is set to headline a House of Commons event entitled: Men Against Domestic Violence. Topics under discussion include Assault or Grievous Bodily Harm (ABH/GBH),  convictions and loss of trust. The  invitation poses the question “Do only WEAK men will hit or verbally abuse their partner or child?”

One topic under discussion as the summit will include, “"Is Pornography a Moral, Social, Economic or Legal issue?”