Tulip’s final address
TO Camden Town Hall for a full council meeting, where council leisure chief Tulip Siddiq was last night delivering her final report as the department’s head. She steps down in May when she will head off to fight out the Hampstead and Kilburn parliamentary constituency. The muttering on the opposite side of the room was that, with the election campaign always in the background, her speech was more about herself than leisure services.
She Obama’d to the chamber: “You’ve challenged me. You’ve encouraged me. You’ve motivated in me a passion for politics… which I hope to take to Westminster with me.”
Hey ho. You can re-live it again below. Click play. Speakers up. We’ve added the appropriate musical accompaniment for such a stirring final address:
Richard Osley 
Whilst making a charming, polished speaker can I gently ask:
“What are Tulip’s achievements for her Regent’s Park ward?”
That’s apart from closing the ward’s library and being nigh invisible for the last year as she walked the streets of Hampstead & Kilburn constituency canvassing, despite her home ward being belaguered by the threat of Euston doubling in size at a cost of demolition of 223 homes , Maria Fidelis and St James’s Gardens etc
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It’s a little bit unhinged to blame any councillor for the proposed blight from HS2 Ltd, given decisions are made in Whitehall. I thought the Lib Dems were working on a ‘cross-party’ basis on HS2? It seems every time you pledge to work with others, in the next breath you make a political attack. I’m not sure residents want that.
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It has been mentioned, Tulip spends more time elsewhere than in her own ward. Don’t suppose, she even lives in the Regents Park area.
As for HS2, it was always a waste of public money for Camden to oppose ;
Fib Dims will go with the flow – they are like that.
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Paul – To be fair to Tulip, she did manage to get a new Citizens Advice Bureau opened in the old Regent’s Park library. It’s a shame however that that was at the cost of Kilburn CAB closing down…
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The council didn’t have any role in that – that was a private matter between the CAB and their landlord – as you know. You guys are searching for issues aren’t you?
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Theo – Perhaps you should remind yourself of Camden Labour’s pledge in 2010 to ‘protect advice services’…
http://camdenlabour.org.uk/building-camdens-future-together-camden-labour-manifesto-launched/
I don’t think the 500+ people who signed the petition regretting the loss of Kilburn’s CAB think this is an issue created by the Lib Dems
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James – there’s a really big trust issue with you and the Lib Dems, distorting facts, breaking promises etc, and you aren’t helping yourself ere. We signed a 7 year funding deal for advice services, which are the best funded in London and work with them to help people deal with the gvt’s welfare changes. The matter of the CAB’s lease was a private matter between them and their landlord – we stepped in to help them with a new place and we’ve signposted other services in Kilburn and West Hampstead.
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What a load of boring drivel (sorry if that is spelled wrong havent got a local library to check it up in a dictionary.) Her party really dont want her to be a MP if they told her this was a good speech or a good idea. The whole comparison with Obama thing is disrespectful, despite her smiles, she just doesnt have it. All fur coat and not really interested in local, working class people just her political career.
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