“In a text message seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Coun McCarty said she had heard that her friend’s ousting in his Arthur’s Hill ward had been orchestrated by councillors in the West End of the city in order to get more black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates selected.”
For that, she was suspended for “Islamophobia” and accused of “racism.” So does that mean there was no such effort by councillors in the West End of the city? Or is even wondering if there is such an effort “Islamophobic”?
The problem with charges of “Islamophobia” is that there never seems to be any rational discussion surrounding them. What if McCarthy’s suspicions were accurate?
“Councillors stage walkout after Newcastle Labour politician suspended over Islamophobia spotted at meeting,” by Daniel Holland, Chronicle Live, September 9, 2022:
Dismayed councillors staged a walkout when a Newcastle politician suspended by the Labour Party over an Islamophobia scandal was spotted at a council meeting.
Joyce McCarty was seen at Wednesday night’s meeting of Newcastle City Council, the first time she has attended a public meeting since being suspended over claims of a “Muslim plot” against former city Labour leader Nick Forbes earlier this year. Former lord mayor of Newcastle Habib Rahman dramatically left the council chamber after seeing Coun McCarty, who is sitting as an independent during a 12-month ban from her party, at the back of the room and was followed by fellow Labour councillors Shumel Rahman, Nicu Ion and Abdul Samad.
Coun Habib Rahman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it was “difficult and painful” to see the former deputy council leader at the meeting and sat on the Labour side of the chamber, rather than in the section reserved for independents.
The Elswick ward councillor said: “I could not feel comfortable remaining in the chamber last night, after spending all of my life standing against racism in all forms. How could I sit there when there is a perpetrator of racism there?”
The Show Racism the Red Card campaigner added: “It was a great show of solidarity from my colleagues and I commend them. We demonstrated to every victim of hate crime, race crime, Islamophobic crime, that we support them and stand against perpetrators.”
The walkout came as new council leader Nick Kemp was delivering his first annual report to the authority. Coun McCarty has been contacted for a response.
Labour launched an investigation earlier this year over claims of a “Muslim plot” surrounding the dramatic removal of Coun Forbes from his Arthur’s Hill seat in February. In a text message seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Coun McCarty said she had heard that her friend’s ousting in his Arthur’s Hill ward had been orchestrated by councillors in the West End of the city in order to get more black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates selected.
She was initially suspended in late March and then given a formal 12 month suspension in July, after being “found guilty through investigation of Islamophobia”. In the meantime, she had been comfortably re-elected in her Wingrove ward at May’s local elections, where she had remained a Labour candidate on ballot papers….
