Labour councillor Dobbie defects to Tories

It’s been a whacky old week in Haringey politics. I’m only now getting fully up to speed with it, as I’ve been moving house.

Labour councillor Alan Dobbie has defected to the Tories. Alan is a mid-ranking and very long-serving councillor who has held quite a lot of posts in the Council, including Mayor (twice), and Labour chief whip only a couple of years ago. Though he’s not been ‘Cabinet’ material (and in the current crop of Haringey Labour councillors, we’re talking IKEA self-assembly, rather than Chippendale, here), Alan is something of a player.

At first I was surprised, as the move looks extrordinarily dotty, but if you look at Alan’s blog, there has been a sprinkling of complementary references of the ‘you-know-where-you-are-with-the-Tories’ kind. It's easy to see why he didn't try to switch to the Lib Dems, as he's certainly no Liberal. In political terms, I’d say Alan has a reactionary and paternalistic view of the world that would make him equally at home in either Labour or the Tories. I can recall him speaking up strongly in the council chamber - in favour of the invasion of Iraq, and more recently, the introduction of ID cards.

However, I quite like Alan, he’s cheerful and friendly, and was one of the very few Labour mayors that could chair a council meeting. I hope he'll support Lib Dem proposals in the council chamber.

He's a Noel Park councillor, the ward that covers the heart of Wood Green. There’s no prospect of a Tory recovery here (see bar chart). Noel Park is a crucial Liberal Democrat/Labour marginal, and last time out, the Tories scored less than ten per cent of the vote.