Newcastle’s ousted council chief claims a party selection contest was “clearly manipulated” against him – but says the city is now in need of fresh leadership.
Nick Forbes will leave Newcastle City Council in May after 11 years in the top civic centre post and 15 as the Labour Party’s figurehead in Newcastle.
The 48-year-old confirmed last Monday that he would not seek re-election as a councillor in May, having suffered a landslide defeat in a vote by Labour members to choose their candidate in his own Arthur’s Hill ward.
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Coun Forbes claims that he could have had that selection battle re-run or taken up the option of standing in another seat, but did not “want to look as though I was clinging onto power at all costs”.
The moderate council leader has alleged an ambush by left-wing members of the Labour Party and said he should have been given a week’s notice of a challenge by local activist Abdul Samad to his seat.
However, sources on the other side of the political split have insisted that Coun Forbes and his allies were in fact aware of the potential for him to be unseated, that the selection process was "normal", and say that Mr Samad’s pledge to make Arthur’s Hill his only priority as a councillor was the deciding factor in the vote.
In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Coun Forbes said that the race was “clearly manipulated against me” and called for “pockets of toxicity” in the party to be rooted out.
Asked why he did not seek to stay in office if he felt his removal from the ward was unjust, he replied: “I felt that would have been wrong for two reasons. Firstly, I didn’t want to look as though I was clinging onto power at all costs – that would not have been good for the party, it certainly would not have been good for the city, because it would have meant continued political tensions in the months and years ahead.
“And I decided that, although I am leaving politics sooner than I would have liked, it is better to go with dignity and celebrate what I have achieved than be remembered for trying to stitch up grubby deals to stay in office.”
Having already faced a leadership challenge last year, Coun Forbes said he “had a sixth sense that my time in Newcastle was coming to an end” and was planning to step down as council leader in 2023, adding that the city was in need of “fresh thinking”.
He told the LDRS that he had wanted to serve one final four-year term as a city councillor and had hoped to become chair of the Local Government Association, where he is currently Labour’s leader, in that time.
Coun Forbes said: “Rather than a managed transition, it is going to be a bit more bumpy.
“But I have felt for a while, particularly post-Covid and post-COP 26, there is a huge amount of work to be done reimagining the city and recreating the economy – it feels like that needs fresh thinking, fresh ideas, and a fresh approach.”
The council leader, who is seen as a key ally of Sir Keir Starmer and was heavily critical of Jeremy Corbyn, added: “There are still pockets of toxicity within the Labour Party that need to be rooted out if it is to be taken seriously as a party of government.
“I am determined that what has happened to me is used to sort out some of the internal problems with the party in the city and ensure it looks outwards and speaks to the electorate rather than obsesses with settling internal scores.”
