Forum Topic

Questions raised about 'Three Jobs Nigel' - but what about his Libdem colleague Two Jobs Jon (Ball)

Seems to be endemic among Libdem politicians round here. Jon Ball, the longstanding (and utterly useless and untrustworthy) Ealing Common Ward Councillor is standing again as a Councillor as well as standing for the Ealing Central and Acton MP job. As one of his highly dissatisfied Ealng Common punters I've already asked him publicly on the Acton forum which of the two jobs he really wants? - or is he planning to emulate the despicable example we've had in from Ealing Southall in recent years and pretend to do both - and get paid for both  -  while doing neither properly? Predictably and characteristically, answer comes there none from this uncommunicative waste of space.So why should anybody in Ealing Common Ward vote for him as a Councillor, knowing that at best he'll immediately resign from the Council if he gets the MP job and waste our time having to vote again in a byelection; or at worst hang onto both jobs but just turn up to a Council meeting once in a blue moon to claim his lucrative 'allowance'?And let me assure the rest of you in Ealing Central and Acton that on the basis of his demonstrable track record as a Ward Councillor the last thing we need is to have him as our 'representative' in  the Westmonster parliament.I might have been inclined to give the Libdems a try in this general election, but with Jon Ball as their candidate, NO WAY!!!!Happy to substantiate the above if anybody wants to know more.

Chris Veasey ● 5997d10 Comments

It would be quite common for people to do that. The Ealing Southall MP Mr Sharma has done that along with many others. Will Ian Gibb be standing as a councillor? I know that people like Nigel work hard in the community and like many people whether elected or not do care about their community. I will be voting labour in my ward, but I think Nigel Bakhai would do a decent job for anyone.

Peter Chadburn ● 5997d

No it's not possible to do both jobs properly  -  being a Westmonster MP is, or should be, a full time job-and-a-half, even if your constituency is in or close to London. Having said which, from what I know of him I have a fair amount of regard for Nigel Bakhai. For Jon Ball I now have none -  that is based on solid and bitter experience as an Ealing Common Ward punter.

Chris Veasey ● 5997d

But it is possible to stand for both. at least you stand a chance of serving your community. if you fail to get to westminster you may end up as a councillor. if you become an mp then of course you should resign the second job. unlike some.

Peter Chadburn ● 5997d

But the fact remains  -  if such a candidate gets elected to both and then resigns one, forcing a byelection, then he/she has wasted the time of the electorate. That sort of hedging of bets is simply unacceptable and amounts to treating the electorate with contempt.So the question remains: quite apart from his demonstrably abject track record of DISservice to the community he has previously been elected to represent, why should anybody vote for Jon Ball?

Chris Veasey ● 5996d

I believe that he is dedicating his efforts to running for Westminster, not Cleveland ward

Robin Hall ● 5996d

If the local electors elect me as both their councillor and their MP, I will take a view as to whether I can continue to do a good job as a councillor.  I am proud to have served Ealing Common residents as a councillor for 8 years.  If I don't feel I am continuing to keep this standard up, I will resign as a councillor and a by-election will be held in Ealing Common ward in the usual way to replace me.Some people have very successfully combined being a councillor and an MP.  I think for instance of Ronnie Fearn, the former Lib Dem MP for Southport, where I originally hail from.  Ronnie has continuously served as a councillor for the same ward for nearly 50 years, including 2 spells as the town's MP and now being a working peer.  He is generally regarded as an exemplary councillor and is always re-elected with large majorities.Closer to home we have the bad example of Ealing Southall's current MP, Virendra Sharma, who has remained a councillor since being elected as an MP but has turned up to hardly any meetings and generally made almost no contribution to warrant his councillor's allowance.  I am very happy to pledge that I will not follow his example - if I feel that I am not doing a good job as a councillor I will stand down.With regards to the negative comments made by Mr Veasey about me here and elsewhere, I think forum members should be aware of the background.  Mr Veasey lives at the end of a road at the closest point to South Ealing tube station.  He has a long-standing dispute with other ward residents who live in roads at the other end of the same controlled parking zone and - perfectly legally - park outside his house when they travel by tube.  Mr Veasey has raised this many times including directly with me, at the old Ealing Area committee and more recently at ward forums.  I took Mr Veasey's case on initially as I felt it might be part of a broader problem, but it has become apparent over the years that while in an ideal world we should do something to resolve this problem, any possible solution involving breaking controlled parking zones into smaller sub-zones would create more problems than it would solve.  As it happens, the Conservative councillors have also come to the same conclusion so this is not a point of differentiation between the parties locally.In brief, Mr Veasey is unhappy that nobody has been able to deal with an issue where the convenience of one ward resident is pitted against the convenience of another.  Sometimes in politics it is impossible to make everyone happy.

Jon Ball ● 5996d

Sorry, I forgot to mention that my Labour opponent for Ealing Central & Acton is also standing to represent Northolt West End ward on the council.  That is much more of an issue as Northolt is not within the Ealing Central & Acton constituency so if the interests of Northolt residents clashed with those of Ealing or Acton residents he would have a conflict of interests.However, this is somewhat academic as he has no realistic chance of winning the Ealing Central & Acton constituency.  Even his betting odds have now slipped to make him a 10/1 outsider with the bookies.

Jon Ball ● 5996d

Regarding Jon 2 jobs Ball, he has a habit not to respond to any emails. Is he in this game just for the dosh? How much will he make from two jobs if he gets them? Hasn't he heard of the MP expenses scandal? Wellbetter no say much this site seems to favour the lib dem types....

Jenny Robertson ● 5996d

And that 'explanation' about one of the key issues I have had with you just illustrates how dishonest, two-faced and uncommunicative you are as a politician. You know perfectly well that:-a) I was not just raising this for myself or my household, but many others in this neighbourhood, many of who are too elderly and/or too diffident to campaign themselves;b) You not only followed Councillor Ian Green's and other Councillors' lead in speaking in support of our case (Councillor Green said forcefully "I KNOW there is a serious problem there" - are you saying he has changed his mind too?) at sucessive Ealing Area Committee meetings, but also VOTED in favour, as did the other Ealing Common ward members. c) You subsequently, apparently, did a complete U turn, for reasons which remain obscure and highly dubious, joining with Councillor Joanna Dabrowska (who had also previously voted in our favour) at the first Ward Forum, when Councillor Green was safely out of the way on his year as Mayor.d) You have never, till now forced to by this bad publicity, had the guts or honesty to seek to explain your unaccountable U turn  -  not that I accept your stance as honest. Indeed so far as I recall you have NEVER replied directly to any communication from me throughout your time as a Ward councillor. e) Furthermore, you have not mentioned the additional problem my local community suffers due to the parking and traffic chaos caused by the adjacent Grange school, made far worse by the Council's scandalous failure to fulfil its parking enforcement duty. Not only have you failed to support us (again not just me or my household) over this  -  indeed you subscribe to the demonstrably crackpot notion that the absence of any on-site school parent parking deters school parents from driving here  - but at Planning Committee last year you voted along with others to wave through a further expansion of the school which would increase the problem, while expressing not the slightest concern about our problems. In fact you seem to have formed a team with Councillor Dabrowska, who is a Grange school governor -  the clearest possible conflict of interest with the duties of a Ward councillor.In summary, your behaviour towards the people of this part of the ward has shown you to be sneaky, two-faced, untrustworthy and uncommunicative. The fact that the other two (Conservative) Ward councillors have also proved to be so does not make you any less unfit to serve as the MP for Ealing Central and Acton  -  the other two are not standing for the MP job, you are. And (I trust) anybody can see that you would be a throroughly uncommunicative, unreliable and untrustworthy representative for the people of Ealing and Acton in parliament. Voting for you in this election would be like a turkey voting for xmas.

Chris Veasey ● 5996d

So far as I recall he has NEVER replied to any ofthe emails or letters I've written to him throughout his years as an Ealing Common Ward councillor.

Chris Veasey ● 5996d