Croydon West election just got interesting with Labor split – Inside Croydon

There have been few surprises in Croydon’s election campaign so far, but tonight’s rally for a Taking The Initiative Party candidate could cause a stir, reports our political editor WALTER CRONXITE.

Desertion: until she declared for TTIP, Donna Murray-Turner was considered a potential future Labor candidate

Probably the biggest surprise of the Croydon general election campaign so far, possibly no more surprise, was the inclusion on the candidate declaration lists of Donna Murray-Turner as the candidate for the Taking The Initiative Party in Croydon West.

In what has been a tumultuous election campaign so far (only 17 days to go, folks!), Murray-Turner’s defection from the Labor Party has surprised many.

Just over two years ago, Murray-Turner was a serious contender to become Labour’s candidate for Croydon mayor.

During that time, Murray-Turner released an extremely emotional, very personal and somewhat upsetting video that was widely seen on social media. In her video, recorded in her car, Murray-Turner made serious allegations against a senior TTIP figure and accused the party of having inadequate protection policies.

Murray-Turner said TTIP shared confidential information with the subject of a complaint. This, she said, “weaponized” the complaint and put the victim at serious risk of further harm.

“They are not a safe pair of hands,” Donna Murray-Turner said of TTIP just two years ago.

“Listen to what I’m telling you a lot,” a clearly agitated Murray-Turner said at one point in her video.

“See TTIP? And organizations like them? Look at them. Do your research my people. Keep yourself safe from harm. These people: they like to appear, they like to break away from our poverty. I’m not saying their intentions aren’t right, but if you don’t have the right framework, you can’t give people an alternative life.

“We have to examine ours. Just because they’re black doesn’t mean they’re safe. What qualifications do they have? And I don’t just mean paper qualifications. What is part of their job?

Big Event: Anthony King is the host of tonight’s election event, organized by TTIP

“I am 100 percent not surprised by their hypocrisy. One hundred percent.”

So that Donna Murray-Turner is now a high profile parliamentary candidate for the same Initiative Party is a twist.

Running for Parliament is a bit of a step up for Murray-Turner, who has never held elected public office before.

However, the former immigration officer has become a high-profile figure locally, often appearing on TV or radio, usually as an interviewee in the wake of the latest horrific knife crime tragedy on the neighborhood’s streets.

In September 2018, Murray-Turner was installed by the then Labour-led council as chair of the borough’s safer neighborhood board. The Safer Neighborhood Board should bring together councillors, the public, community groups and the police and provide an opportunity for open discussion and accountability.

On her own online profile, Murray-Turner still lists herself as chair of the Croydon Safer Neighborhood Council. According to the council’s own records, with Murray-Turner as chairman, Croydon’s Safer Neighborhood Council has held no formal meetings since. November 2019.

It might be worth considering whether Croydon’s neighborhoods have become any more ‘safe’ in the last five years or so…

“The police are quite happy not to have to attend Town Hall meetings to account for themselves,” according to a Katharine Street source.

“Imagine if District Commander Andy Brittain has to appear and explain why he is still using Perry Lathwood, the officer convicted of assaulting a black woman at a bus stop in Croydon last year. Brittain and senior MET officers were given a free pass while Donna’s ‘chaired’ the Safer Neighborhood Council.”

Murray-Turner is closely associated with Anthony King, who describes himself as a “community activist”. King’s MyEnds is trying to work with the community to reduce knife crime and drug gang operations. Murray-Turner was a regular at King’s weekly meetings, taking the lead in addressing violence against women and girls.

MyEnds: Anthony King’s organization has received £1.6m in MOPAC grants from 2021. Now King is organizing TTIP election events

In 2021, MOPAC, the Mayor of London’s office for policing, awarded an £800,000 grant to King’s MyEnds and other organizations to fund efforts to reduce knife crime in Croydon. In April this year, MOPAC did another £800,000 grant to community groups in Croydon including King’s MyEnds.

There were 11 violent deaths in Croydon in 2023, more than in any other borough in the capital.

When the newsreel camera is on and Murray-Turner has appeared to give his views on what lies behind Croydon’s horrific death toll, it is never entirely clear for whom he is speaking. In one of her most recent appearances on local television, for example, Murray-Turner said she fully supported the Met’s controversial live facial recognition raids in Croydon town centre.

The highest level at Scotland Yard must have been delighted to have such support from the community. That £1.6m of grant funding for MyEnds and associated groups must have the desired effect.

Anthony King is billed as the ‘host’ of a TTIP event in Whitehorse Road tonight to launch Murray-Turner’s general election bid.

“Meet your next MP!” screams the event poster.

Despite the absence of any meetings of the council’s Safer Neighborhood Board, Murray-Turner still brags about her position as chair, mentioning it in pot bios before public appearances for other organizations. “Donna Murray-Turner is the polar opposite of a looker. She is involved,” according to the information for one of her speeches. “She drives change at every level.”

A biography notes that DMT “advises New Scotland Yard (she participates in four advisory forums)” and “works with the City of London to reduce violence against women and girls”.

So Murray-Turner’s work in the community seems to have impressive citywide seals of approval.

It seems unlikely that the Labor mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, or Sarah Jones, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Croydon West, would regard Murray-Turner’s defection to TTIP with such approval.

Tragic event: Donna Murray-Turner (centre) with Labour’s Sarah Jones (right) speaking on TV news the day after 15-year-old Elianne Andam was killed last year

“It seems odd that Donna should be standing against Sarah in Croydon West,” said a senior Labor source Inside Croydon. “They always seemed to work so well together.”

Another Croydon Labor insider spoke of regret at Murray-Turner’s decision to stand for TTIP. “It’s a real shame,” they said. “He’s wasting his career. He has so much ability and charisma.”

But someone who remembers Murray-Turner’s failed campaign to be Labour’s mayoral candidate in Croydon in 2022 says that at selection meetings he would “get up and go on and on about the other candidates. Simple lies. She was reckless, as if she would say almost anything to get a few more votes.”

Murray-Turner, or any TTIP candidates, appear unlikely to be elected to Parliament in the July 4 general election. As a party, Taking The Initiative has only been registered since 2017, an effort to harness the political energy of Black Lives Matter. circulation.

They fielded several candidates in the Croydon local elections but attracted little popular support. However, they attracted complaints to the police, questioning whether their candidates were actually qualified to stand for election in Croydon.

Inside Croydon he wanted me to talk to murray-turner. But the phone of the self-appointed community spokesman was switched off.

Looking for an explanation for her decision to leave the Lab at this time, her recent activity on social media may provide some clues. Keir Starmer’s abusive treatment of Diane Abbott and the party’s delays in reinstating Labour’s first black female MP have angered Murray-Turner.

“The silence is deafening,” she wrote in March.

“There has been nothing said by local Labor or Tory leaders to address the vicious attack on (Diane Abbott) in a borough that has a majority black, Asian and mixed population.

“As a black woman with a public profile…” Murray-Turner put herself first, just in case you hadn’t noticed, “…the lack of alliance speaks volumes.”

But she has a point.

Whether, as Donna Murray-Turner actually wants public approval as a community spokesperson, she will get a lot of votes, however, we will find out on July 5th.

Read more: Bringing the parties to the reserve: the manifestos are devoid of promise
Read more: Kerswell chooses to go “in-house” and count the scenes at Fisher’s Folly
Read more: Scotland Yard’s cyber crime unit investigating Croydon Labour
Read more: Before your next vote, you must read this from The New Yorker

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