A furious row has broken out between the council leader and her outgoing number two after he slammed her running of the council.

Former deputy leader Cllr Daniel Anderson claimed it had been “almost impossible” to work with Cllr Nesil Caliskan and said she was “unfit for holding public office” in a blistering attack on his former boss.

But the council leader rejected the claims and hit back at Cllr Anderson, accusing him of “ungraceful behaviour” and suggesting his comments were “sour grapes” because he missed out on the top job.

The row erupted after the former deputy leader pulled out of the running for a seat at the top table in protest at the handling of the Labour Group’s annual general meeting (AGM).

The deputy leader and four other long-serving cabinet members claimed the AGM was in breach of local party rules – a claim that has been rejected by London Labour.

Cllr Anderson said: “I was not prepared to serve in a cabinet led by Nesil Caliskan, who I deem to be unfit for holding public office, let alone leader of a £1 billion entity.

“Over the past year we have gone from a competent and highly respected administration to one that has proceeded from one calamity to another.”

The former deputy claimed several key decisions had been mishandled by the leader, including a consultation on ending weekly refuse and recycling collections, and the suspension of Cllr Yasemin Brett over her opposition to the North London Waste Plan.

He also claimed there was “no proper engagement” between the leader and himself, and he had only found out about issues like the cut to the number of homes on part of the Meridian Water scheme “by chance”.

Cllr Anderson said: “I almost resigned over the bin consultation. That was almost breaking point. I was convinced to hang in there. It became intolerable.”

But Cllr Caliskan denied she had mishandled key decisions and questioned why Cllr Anderson had not stepped down earlier.

Enfield Independent:

She said: “He was prepared to serve whilst I was leader. He had been doing so for a year and did not resign at any time.

“Why did he still submit a nomination for deputy leader and cabinet if he wasn’t willing to serve while I was leader?”

Cllr Caliskan said Meridian Water would still provide 10,000 homes and pointed out that not all issues are discussed at cabinet.

She claimed Cllr Anderson could have called a cabinet meeting to discuss the matter or raised the topic at a recent meeting of the Labour Group.

The council leader said the bin round shake-up had been subject to “a statutory and incredibly thorough consultation” and Cllr Anderson had not voted against it when it came to cabinet.

She added that she had been within her “legal and governance rights” to remove Cllr Brett from cabinet and pointed out that she was later reinstated.

Cllr Caliskan said: “Cllr Anderson is understandably disappointed that he failed to be elected leader of the Labour Group, but I advise him now to start working with his fellow Labour councillors instead of attacking our democratic decisions.”

The latest spat is part of a long-running feud between different factions in the borough’s Labour Group.

It first broke out after the 2018 local elections, which sparked complaints that the vetting process for would-be councillors had not been carried out according to party rules.

The Labour Party’s National Executive Committee came up with a string of measures – including yearly leadership elections – aimed at tightening up its oversight of the Enfield group following an investigation into the complaints.

But five cabinet members withdrew their bids to be re-elected to the top table after claiming members had not been properly consulted over this year’s leadership election.

London Labour said the elections went ahead according to local party rules.

An Enfield Council spokesperson said: “The internal party politics of the Labour Group are not a matter for the council.

“However, Enfield Council has achieved a significant amount and continues to be hugely ambitious for the people of this borough.

“Recently the borough has achieved the best Ofsted rating ever achieved for its children’s social services department, been ranked as one of the most improved councils in the UK by an independent assessor and delivered a number of important milestones for our £6 billion Meridian Water development, which will bring 10,000 homes and 6,000 jobs to the borough.”