Wirral Local Elections – Wow!

We didn’t know whether we were still dreaming this morning when we woke up to  the news that Labour have LOST OVERALL CONTROL OF WIRRAL COUNCIL.

Some astonishing results included Birkenhead and Tranmere where the Greens ANNIHILATED Labour. Remember this was the ward that outgoing (and now gone) Wirral Council ‘leader’ Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies was due to stand. We told you he knew the writing was on the wall and in typical Pip fashion popped off before he was publicly humiliated.  However we didn’t anticipate the scale of the victory of the Greens – who DOUBLED the Labour vote. We can only echo the word of Cllr Pat Cleary who  ,up until now anyway, was the only Green councillor on Wirral Council – WOW!

Other astonishing results meant that  Independent  Cllr Meaden was defeated, Cllr Brightmore was booted out and Cllr (Angie) Davies was downed by another victory for the Greens in Prenton.

Meanwhile we’re going to have a lie down in a darkened room and come back to you with our full analysis of yesterday’s events and what it means for the future on politics on Wirral…

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch #17

THE OTHER HALF

We’ve been sent the other half of the Labour Party leaflet distributed in Birkenhead & Tranmere during the recent local election campaign..

Might we suggest that the Green Party stick to their ethical principles and recycle this leaflet next time the local elections roll around. They just need to cross out where it says : ‘Pat Cleary lives in West Kirby’ and replace it with ‘Phil Davies lives in West Kirby’.  Of course there would be very little chance of  Power Boy Pip getting elected where he actually lives. So with the Green Party increasingly making inroads in traditional Labour wards perhaps Pip will need to look for a safer seat come the next local elections. Then he won’t have to rely on his Sat Nav to steer him towards the ward he apparently represents in Birkenhead & Tranmere to find out how the other half lives.

SUFFRAGETTE CITY

Oh dear – forever late to the party here’s the Labour ladies with their kitten heels on the new carpet and their green and purple rosettes commemorating female suffrage. It must pain them to wear green and to add insult to injury doesn’t red and blue make purple? We just hope they realise that in 1918, Parliament passed an act  which only granted the vote to women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities.It wasn’t until 1928 that a Conservative Party led Parliament passed the Representation of the People ( Equal Franchise) Act  which granted 21 year old women the right to vote on the same terms as men.

Sadly for us there is  no appearance from Wirral Leaks regular – former Labour councillor Louise Reecejones (LRJ)  –  who was quietly replaced at the recent local elections by Cllr Kate Cannon. This is consistent to the Stalinist approach that the local Labour group take when it comes to historical  events. If there’s one thing they excel at it’s erasing people and events from their own history.

COURT REPORTS

This looks like it may develop into a regular feature. The latest news is that long time Wirral Leaks contributor Nigel ‘Highbrow’ Hobro finally gets his day in court.

Birkenhead County Court – 10.30am, Tuesday 22nd May 2018  (TOMORROW) 

Now we don’t know the precise details of the case against Wirral Council so we don’t know whether any members of the public will be able to attend the hearing. However we hope to provide you details of proceedings at a later date.

As we promised in Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch 15 : There is still no news on the outcome of the Morton v Information Commissioner‘s Office and Wirral Borough Council case . We also understand that our other main Wirral institution is also keeping under wraps a matter that will soon come before Liverpool Crown Court. We’ll keep you posted………

And sure enough whilst there is still no news on the Morton v ICO & Wirral Council case there have been developments on the Damien Renshaw child porn case ( which as far as we know as not been reported on Wirral and which we’ve known about since his suspension and subsequent sacking .Meanwhile Wirral Globe chose to tell us about Paul Thompson ,a nurse at Arrowe Park Hospital who has been struck off by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) for amongst many other misdemeanours  messaging a 18 year old colleague on Facebook saying he wanted ‘to give her a bed bath with his tongue’. Nice. Read more here : APH nurse struck off

Might we suggest that whilst this conduct is utterly repulsive it is hardly in the same league as former Arrowe Park Hospital IT worker Damien Renshaw . The 34 year old –  – was last week found guilty of downloading child porn. Read more here : Smirking Paedophile

It’s cases like these that provide us with an understanding of the  toxic culture within some parts of Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) than any number of independent inquiries.

AND FINALLY 

There was a news story this week where the headline read :  Shirley Ballas swears at Johnny Vegas on Celebrity Juice.  

Has the silly season arrived early ? Now we know hasbeen hoofer Ballas was born in Wallasey but as far as pitching a local angle on a (non) news story goes this is about as tenuous as it gets. What next ? Paul Hollywood eats cake on The Great British Bake Off ?

 

Pip’s Cabinet Kerfuffle

Following the local election comes the the arrival of the new civic year with the Mayor-making ceremony held earlier this week at Wallasey Town Hall which witnessed  Tory Cllr Geoffrey Watt installed as this year’s incumbent. Watt’s yawn-inducing acceptance speech gave Wirral Council CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson the opportunity to do what he does best – multitasking. By which we mean blinking and looking utterly vacant .

Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies then did what he does best  by rewarding failure – in this case we mean nominating former Cabinet member responsible for Children’s Services , Cllr Tony Smith to be Deputy Mayor (and therefore next year’s Mayor). This follows the inglorious record of failed and disgraced councillors who have been Labour’s nomination to be Wirral’s first citizen following on from the likes of Cllr Moira McLaughlin and Cllr Steve Foulkes.

Pip later moved on make the announcement of a Cabinet shake-up which involved the creation of new portfolios and the dropping of Cllr Christine Spriggs from Leisure and Recreation in favour of Cllr Philip ‘Brightboy’ Brightmore . We can only wonder what prompted Pip to oust Spriggs – but we have a fairly good idea.  The other change of note is Cllr Paul Stuart heading up ‘Law and Order’ (no laughing at the back). Might we suggest that Stuart’s first test will be the argy-bargy brewing with Wirral Council staff who are part of the much heralded ‘Safer Wirral Hub’ at Solar Campus (more on that developing story later.)

Meanwhile here’s a Labour sources interesting observations on the recent election campaign , The Contact Company and the current Labour cabinet

Dear Wirral Leaks,

During the campaign in Birkenhead & Tranmere, it was widely known throughout the Labour camp that they were keeping record of Labour members within the ward who were planning on voting Green. It was claimed by Sheila Murphy, a delegate to Wirral Labour’s LCF, and Paul Jobson the Labour candidate that members who say on the doorstep they will vote Green can be removed from the party.

It is my understanding speaking to North West branch that this is false. Members may vote for whoever they choose as it is a secret ballot, provided they do not campaign for another party. It is my belief this was an intimidation tactic used by the Labour campaign to force members to vote Green.

However, if such a list exists separately from the data political parties may keep when knocking on the doorstep, then there would possibly be a legal infringement.

You may have also picked up a leaflet printed about Pat Cleary during the campaign, much of which was a personal attack up Pat rather than over policies. It should be noted that on Twitter many Labour members made their feelings clear over personal attacks against candidates rather than those on policies.

However, it is not only members who were being forced to get behind the campaign.

Wirral Council’s cabinet were also whipped to attend campaign days in Birkenhead & Tranmere on “action saturdays”, and it was only until this issue was raised by Labour’s LCF that other target seats were included too. Again, this was well known throughout the Labour campaign.

The pouring of resources into Birkenhead & Tranmere it is well known is less to do with a fear of Pat Cleary, and more due to the fact that there is a fear Phil Davies will lose his seat next year and throwing everything into the ward this year was meant to stem the Green tide. However, it may have come at the cost of Pensby, and the possibility of winning other seats.

One final note, an investigative piece into workers rights in The Contact Company, and Phil Davies and Liverpool City Region’s links to the company and its owner Asif may be well worth a look in to. Agency workers  on minimum wage, 13 week, zero hours contracts working over 40 hours a week, many getting sacked for spurious reasons linked to a LABOUR council leader…. you get the idea.

Please respect my anonymity, but understand I am only trying to uncover what is going on behind the scenes because the majority of Wirral Labour Party want this current cabinet out, and are in fact good people.

  Yours Faithfully,

  A Labour Source.

We managed to track down copies of the offending leaflets referred to above on Twitter courtesy of  @LuciBella_

Wirral Leaks Election Selection – The Results

 

Phew! we bet you’re all glad that’s it’s over and you can all get back to what passes for normal on Wirral.

It seems to be very much a case of ‘as you were’ with no gains or losses for any political party in the local elections . However considering the effort that Labour put into trying to topple lone Green councillor Pat Cleary in Birkenhead & Tranmere this has to be considered a huge moral and political victory for the popular and hardworking councillor deep in hardcore Labour territory . Although superannuated  Birkenhead MP  Frank Field was in attendance at the count and said he hoped for Labour success in his constituency even ‘The Field Effect’ couldn’t save them. This must come as a bitter blow to someone who is used to getting his own way in what he regards as his own personal and political fiefdom.

Everything’s Gone Green : Green in the background and Green to the fore makes reds go green with envy !Pic courtesy : Wirral Globe

Cleary thanked the people of Birkenhead and Tranmere for re-electing him “in the face of a horrible,negative campaign by the Labour party” . Meanwhile Wirral Council leader  Cllr Phil  ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies stood by with a face like a smacked arse as Wirral CEO  Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson read out the result .

We were left wondering which one of the following options that Stressed Eric will choose to do with his mega electoral expenses :

a) deposit in an offshore bank account

b) donate to a local charity

c) prop up the bar and order trebles all round in ‘Brew Dog’

The closest result of the night was in the Pensby and Thingwall ward where Labour candidate Kate Cannon held off the challenge of Conservative candidate Michael Collins by a mere 23 votes. Close but no cigar for the poacher turned gamekeeper . Suffice to say that some of our most devoted readers were very pleased indeed that their former colleague experienced the bitter taste of disappointment.  Schadenfreude can be such an unseemly emotion but can be so,so satisfying.

Meanwhile ambitious Labour councillor Gillian ‘Gilly’ Wood came over all stateswomanlike as she was (inevitably) announced the victor in the Claughton ward and starting channelling the Pankhursts. Unfortunately the gravitas was somewhat undermined by the reporting of her profound words as follows (full report read here ) :

Suffragits ? Faught?  Listen guys and guyesses from the Globe we know it was a late night – but really?  As Her Ladyship said : ” The rousing speech ended up not so much Emmeline or Christabel but more Emily Davison .” Perhaps suffragits was a subliminal message about the gits that Gilly has to suffer .  Those gits being Gilly’s her fellow ward councillors – Cllr Steve Foulkes and Cllr George Davies.

As you know a couple of the reasons that we continued Wirral Leaks whilst in self imposed exile is that we wanted to cover the local elections and reach a million hits . It looks like that serendipitously that both events will coincide within a few hours. So it will be just a case of tying up a few loose ends and we can finally enjoy our day in the sun.

 

Seen at the Deen

As we previously reported in our Reds Go for Greens post the most interesting battle at local elections in May will be in the Birkenhead/Tranmere ward where the local Labour group are determined to oust lone Green councillor Pat Cleary. Accordingly we’ve been keeping a keen eye on the frantic electioneering.

As Cllr Cleary’s support for both the Birkenhead & Tranmere Neighbourhood Forum and their concerns over the annexing of The Lauries by the Wirral Chamber of Commerce and Birkenhead Market Trader’s Association claims that they are being ‘ignored’ by Wirral Council in the latter’s ‘transformation’ plans indicate he is seen very much as the fly in the Birkenhead/ Tranmere ointment and needs to be swatted away come May . We’ll have much, much more on these two stories at a later date  : Birkenhead Market Traders

However today’s post concerns last week’s return of the Birkenhead Constituency Committee after a near six month hiatus. The choice of venue for the meeting was particularly interesting. The Committee meetings have hitherto always been held in Birkenhead Town Hall . However on this occasion it was held at ‘The Deen Centre’ on Borough Road. At first we thought the building was a misspelt tribute to Tranmere Rovers/Everton  footballing legend  Dixie Dean. We then discovered that ‘Deen’ is an Arabic word with several meanings but most usually taken to mean ‘religion’ or ‘faith’.

We understand that ‘The Deen Centre’ has been establishing itself not only as a resource for increasingly influential local Muslim community but the wider Birkenhead/Tranmere  community . This may explain the choice of venue for this particular Committee meeting. Although with Beaconsfield Community House and Birkenhead YMCA the area seems particularly well served with community resources for the hungry and the homeless.

Viewing the John Brace footage of the meeting it appeared to be the usual series of presentations . About one of which we’d like to ask  – when did it become OK to discuss someone’s personal circumstances in a public meeting? She who shall remain nameless describes a 56 year old woman as ‘old’ and is met with cries of “that’s not old” and raucous laughter . “If you met her – she looks 80″ came the response” !

However keeping it classy the meeting wouldn’t have been complete without a Foulkesy face-palm moment. Whilst encouraging  people who attended the meeting to continue to report crime Cllr Steve Foulkes uttered these words of wisdom :

Some people are confusing reporting crime with being labelled , I’ll say the word – a Birkenhead word – ‘ a grass’ ……………If anyone wants to give names of criminals who are operating in the area , use us ( councillors)  – we’re very good at being copper’s narks  

So having tried to downplay the use of a pejorative term to describe someone raising legitimate concerns with the right authorities (grass) Foulkesy then goes and uses a different but equally insulting word (nark) to describe an informant !  – fine work. But then from what we know of Foulkesy and his ilk they’re not that keen on people behaving in such a way   – unless of course they’re tooled up with a recording device and are willing to smear political opponents #Wirralgate.

Talking of which it just so happens Wirral Leaks has the names of some senior politicians who it is alleged have been involved in potential criminal acts. We would have forwarded them to Foulkesy but then suddenly remembered that there might be a slight conflict of interest!

Reds Go for Greens

As this leak from the Labour Campaign Forum (LCF) proves the campaigning for the local elections to be held in May has already begun.

The man in charge (no laughing at the back) is LCF Secretary  Cllr Paul Stuart, a man who is a past master at plotting and scheming as certain members of the Wallasey Constituency Labour Party (CLP) can testify.

As you can see the local Labour Party has but one target in May and that is to oust Pat Cleary the incumbent Green councillor in Birkenhead & Tranmere .

The campaign is based on the desperate, lazy and unimaginative # VoteGreenGetBlue . The man they’re relying on to achieve a Birkenhead & Tranmere Labour stranglehold is Paul Jobson (see below). Doesn’t he look peachy keen in his Labour Party fleece with his name on? Bless! Just to reinforce the lowest common denominator aspect Jobson is seen here being promoted on the Frank Field’s Community News Facebook page (run by Anna McLaughlin – daughter of Labour Cllr Moira ‘Matron’ McLaughlin) . No doubt to enable him to trade on the Field brand name. It’s just a shame that Jobson has chosen to promote his credentials by purloining the single -use plastic (SUP) campaign championed by , yes you guessed it ,Cllr Pat Cleary. Oops!

Read all about it here : Cutting Plastic Waste In Wirral

As a source tells us : “The motion, to begin with, was highjacked by the Labour Party in the form of a press release and a story with their friends at the (Liverpool) Echo.”

Article here: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/wirral-aims-first-place-merseyside-14021616

More a case of #VoteRedGetGreen ! This is reinforced by our final picture as it would seem that Team Foulkes may have misunderstood the Cllr Stuart memo! Oops ! they did it again! #LETSGOGREEN

 

 

 

 

I Can See Cleary Now The Labour Reign Is Gone

The most heartwarming news of the local elections was the astonishing result of the Green Party ‘s Pat Cleary taking the Birkenhead & Tranmere seat.

And so we say “Bye Bye Bri” and farewell then to Labour cabinet member Brian Kenny who was very much part of Labour group power elite.

Meanwhile a less than gracious Power Boy Pip dismissed the momentous event as a “protest vote”   Displaying his usual lack of political acumen he failed to elaborate on what this was actually a protest against and at the same time displayed his contempt for the voters of Birkenhead and Tranmere. Could it be they were voting for someone who actually bothers to be active in the community and can cogently explain the Green Party’s ideology?

Meanwhile the usually mute Alison McGovern ,who apparently is a Wirral MP ( who knew?),popped up out of hibernation and offered the unique insight that only a MP can bring to the party  by saying  “you can get funny results at elections”.
Thanks for that Ali Bongo – you can get back in your (ballot) box now.

No reaction so far from Birkenhead MP Frank Field in whose constituency this remarkable result took place in – but then this is a man so much in denial he’ll say that the outcome of the election in fact endorses the wonderful work that he and his team are doing in the area.  No, Frank dearie it’s not,it’s really,really not.

Also on the way out is pesky (former ) Councillor Ian Lewis. We can only hope that his peskiness proves to be more of a potent force outside the Town Hall than inside because we need as many people as possible who are willing to shake up the political scene on Wirral.

Finally might we suggest that the result in Birkenhead/Tranmere will do more than any damning report to rattle the ruling Labour group out of their political complacency.
Whilst it wouldn’t surprise us if the resounding result is dismissed by these golf-obsessives as the “rub of the green” (geddit) we must remember that power is what these people crave and when one of their own is taken down these people must finally sit up and take note that they can no longer rely on a docile and compliant electorate – which can only be a good thing for democracy and the people of Wirral.