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By RICHARD OSLEY
 

Cllr Chada who has campaigned for cash to repair housing
Leader Raj battles to save seat despite popularity

Election Special: one week before polling and Labour fear losing their flagship Town Hall for the first time in 34 years.

LABOUR party leader Councillor Raj Chada has been penned back in an increasingly tense election fight that has turned into a battle for survival.
Conservatives believe they can make the startling gain of decapitating Camden’s Labour group in next week’s ballot – just months after he took over the reins at the Town Hall.
Cllr Chada would like to be using his status as leader to help Labour’s election campaign across the borough.
But he has had to go back to his Gospel Oak ward and campaign harder than ever before.
Four years ago – even four months ago – the ward appeared safe as houses for Labour.
There is a strong branch organisation in Gospel Oak, well-connected members in the area include former Downing Street aides Alastair Campbell and Fiona Millar.
But a late charge by the Conservatives has put the future of the ward in serious doubt. While the Tories have organised the fewest photo calls and election stunts over the past few weeks, strategists have worked hard on a nightly door knock.
One senior Tory said this week: “Raj Chada is dead as far as we are concerned. We can beat him.”
If Cllr Chada is beaten, he will have the unenviable record of having the shortest leadership in the history of the council after being given a difficult run out by his predecessor Councillor Dame Jane Roberts.
Some Labour insiders think that Dame Jane hung on too long and did not give Cllr Chada long enough to establish himself at the helm. They argue that he deserves longer in the job before voters judge him.
The Labour group would be losing one of its strongest councillors if Cllr Chada lost. Although sometimes accused of being a ‘Mr Nice’ and lacking the confidence to use his weight on contentious issues and conflicts with government policy, Cllr Chada is generally considered a forward thinker and was unsurprisingly elected as group leader last year unopposed. He is regarded as a safe pair of hands and colleagues are impressed with his decision to prioritise youth services and education.
The legal aid lawyer has even won approval from backbenchers who once grumbled at the way former council leader Dame Jane ran the group – insiders used to complain that she did not allow much room for internal discussions.
Elected in 1998, he is amongst a group of 30-somethings in the party that have all but wiped out the older generation of councillors from senior cabinet positions.
But unlike other young Labour lions, Cllr Chada has been open when things have gone wrong, faced up to problems and not blamed the press for scrutinising errors and mistakes – a familiar and unproductive tactic used by other Labour chiefs.
He was part of a council investigation that probed the lack of youth facilities in the borough in 2002, demanding more investment. Later, Cllr Chada tried to steady the ship at the head of the housing department as tenants hit out at government funding policy. He listened to residents in Camden Town and backed down on plans to swap a children’s playground for a new housing block.
Cllr Chada’s Conservative rivals are playing on the fact they live in the ward, whereas the council chief lives in Mornington Crescent. Lulu Mitchell, a florist, is well known in the area and polled high four years ago in Gospel Oak. The other Tory candidates are Keith Sedgwick and Chris Philp. Mr Philp has been a particular target for the Labour campaign and they have tried to play up his close links with the Conservatives’ central office. He has written policy documents which Labour say harks back to Thatcherism.
The Liberal Democrat candidates in Gospel Oak are Margaret Jackson-Roberts, Herbert Newbrook and Laura Noel. The Green Party’s candidates are Josephine Karen, Richard Thomas and Jane Walby.
 
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