Nesimi Erbil left the civic centre in 2018 after two criminal convictions and a conduct ruling against him

A former Labour councillor who left the civic centre in disgrace six years ago has returned to take up a new role on the executive committee of Edmonton and Winchmore Hill Constituency Labour Party (CLP), the Dispatch has learned.

Nesimi Erbil was suspended from the Labour Party for five years after racking up two criminal convictions – now both spent – for fraud relating to his use of a fake taxi badge in 2014 and for a public order ‘road rage’ offence in 2016.

After continuing to represent Lower Edmonton for a few years as an independent councillor, Erbil subsequently stood down prior to the 2018 local election in Enfield. Several of his family members, including deputy council leader Ergin Erbil and cabinet member for licensing Susan Erbil, were elected to the civic centre for the first time that year.

Nesimi Erbil – who is a director of several businesses spanning construction, real estate and jewellery – rejoined Labour following his suspension. Then, late last year, he was elected as secretary for the local party in the newly renamed Edmonton and Winchmore Hill constituency.

The Dispatch has spoken to Labour members in the constituency who have expressed alarm at Nesimi Erbil’s new position of influence, including one member who described his ascent to the voluntary role as “bizarre” and said they were unaware of his chequered past until “googling his name” when they became suspicious of who he was.

There have also been claims of Labour membership cards not being properly checked on the door before meetings – one of the factors that previously led to Enfield Labour being rebuked by the party’s National Executive Committee in April 2019 following a lengthy investigation into the 2018 selection process.

Former council cabinet member Alan Sitkin was part of the same Labour group as Nesimi Erbil – under previous leader Doug Taylor – prior to Erbil’s suspension in 2015. Alan told the Dispatch: “There was a strong consensus [in the Labour group at the time] that he was not befitting of the values we wished to represent. I was embarrassed to be a councillor in the same Labour group as him.

“I am gobsmacked there are any circumstances where he has been allowed to return.”

The Dispatch has asked Edmonton and Winchmore Hill CLP to comment on Nesimi Erbil’s new role within the party but both they and the Labour Party’s London regional office have refused to comment.

Among other concerns raised by local CLP members is the poor standard of minute-taking that has been in evidence since Nesimi Erbil became secretary. In a copy of the minutes taken for one meeting, seen by the Dispatch, there are a number of indecipherable sentences. One CLP member remarked: “His minute-taking skills are appalling.”

Before he had stood down as a councillor, Nesimi Erbil was at one point excluded from Enfield Civic Centre and other council offices for six months – with an exception for meetings he needed to attend as an elected member. This came following a conduct complaint in response to an email Nesimi Erbil sent to fellow councillors, claiming “I’ve been stitched up”.

The councillor conduct committee of 2nd March 2017 ruled: “The email did not meet the expected general principles of conduct set out in the code in terms of openness, honesty, leadership or accountability.”

Nesimi Erbil is understood to be highly critical of Edmonton MP Kate Osamor. A ‘motion of no confidence’ in Osamor was passed by the CLP in February, following her suspension by the Labour Party for making a reference to the war in Gaza in a newsletter commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day. However, there have been reports she will soon be reinstated.

Other executive committee members for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill CLP include former deputy leader of the council Ian Barnes, who is now CLP vice chair, and current council planning committee chair Sinan Boztas, who is CLP treasurer. In November 2022, Cllr Boztas admitted failing to properly declare his landholdings on the council’s register of interests, but ignored calls to resign as chair of the planning committee.

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