Lambeth crisis, CEO arrested after latest £50m bailout – Inside Croydon

A neighboring borough’s financial problems continue to mount as, amid reports of rows with the leader of the Labor-led council, Brixton Town Hall’s most senior employee was jailed for drugs, alcohol and driving offenses

Two new scandals have rocked Brixton Town Hall in the last 24 hours.

Firstly, a former Labor councilor in neighboring Lambeth has been embroiled in the growing election day betting controversy, and today news broke that the borough’s chief executive had been arrested by police on alcohol and drug charges.

Bayo Dosunmu has been the £190,000-a-year chief executive of Lambeth Council since April 2022. He was due to be the returning officer for four general election constituencies next week, including Streatham and Croydon North.

But Municipal Journal reports today that Dosunmu was arrested Sunday “after failing to stop at the scene of an accident.”

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that Dosunmu was charged with possession of a Class A controlled drug, failing to stop after a road traffic accident, driving over the legal alcohol limit and using a motor vehicle in a public place without third party liability insurance.

Donsunmu has been with Lambeth Council since 2019 and has spent most of his career in the civil service.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 1.

A spokesman for Lambeth Council said: “Lambeth Council’s chief executive, Bayo Dosunmu, is currently absent from work and the council has put in place temporary leadership arrangements.” It is believed that “absence from work” actually means suspension. “We are unable to provide any further comment due to the ongoing police investigation.”

According to sources at Brixton Hill, Fiona Connolly, the council’s corporate director of housing and adult social care, will take over Dosunmu’s duties “on an interim basis”.

In an internal message sent to councilors, they were told that: “The council has strong leadership to navigate this difficult period and you, as councilors, play a key role in providing that leadership.” Councilors were then firmly instructed to keep their mouths shut…

Well-placed sources suggest that Claire Holland, leader of the Labor Party on Lambeth Council, had a falling out with Dosunmu and that things were not going well between them, although others suggest that Holland often defended the chief executive she helped appoint. Other sources describe Dosunmu as “out of his depth”.

This latest scandal comes after Lambeth last month cooperated with the Tory government on a £50m “capitalization drive” – ​​a bailout – as England’s last council teeters on the brink of bankruptcy.

This was mainly due to the costs of the compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse over decades – including the cost of the Shirley Oaks house – which skyrocketed to over £155 million, and the ongoing problems with the liquidation of the failed wholly owned Labor housing estate Lambeth (sound familiar?), Homes for Lambeth, which borrowed £79.5m from the council and delivered just 65 affordable homes over five years amid allegations of maladministration.

Brixton Town Hall will hold four elections on July 4, including in the new constituency covering Streatham and Croydon North, where Steve Reed OBE is seeking to extend his time in the House of Commons, where he has been MP for Croydon since 2012, taking up the post after as leader of the Labor Party on Lambeth Council.

So Reed, who is waiting week after week for a senior post in Keith Starmer’s government, may feel a little uneasy that one of Lambeth’s former Blairite councilors, Kevin Craig, is the latest and first Labor candidate to be ousted from office after placing a bet for the general elections.

Craig is the latest electoral candidate to be investigated by the Gambling Commission. But Craig placed a bet on him losing to the Tories in the seat of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, where he was a candidate. Craig was selected as Labour’s candidate for the position after he made donations of £100,000 to the Labor Party, which Starmer’s party says it will now return. Which is nice.

The Labor Party confirmed that Craig has been suspended by the party, although at this late stage next week he will still appear on the ballot with the word “Labour” next to his name.

Craig was a councilor for Bishop and as Brixton Buzz as reported 10 years ago, he was even an election agent for Kate Hoey, the Vauxhall MP who became involved (politically) with Farridge’s racists.

He is also the founder of PLMR, Political Lobbying and Media Relations Limited, a company of lobbyists offering paid political influence. So he seems to be a very good fit for Starmer’s new ethics-based New Labor Party.

Inside Croydon, however, he can confidently predict that Steve Reed will not bet on his seemingly solid electoral prospects. Last time we checked, Reed was a 1-500 favorite (bet £500 to win £1) to win Streatham and Croydon North, meaning the Ladbrokes branch around the corner has completely closed the book…

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• ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s seediest boroughs for the seventh year in a row in the annual round-up of civic rows in Private eye magazine