Christmas Felicitations From Wirral Leaks : The Ghosts of Christmas Past

To mark our last Christmas broadcast from Leaky Towers we thought we’d bring you a ‘Ghosts of Christmas Past’ special and recall some of our previous festive greetings.  After all isn’t Christmas not only about tradition but about  repeats on the telly and from various body  parts?

First up we bring you this heartwarming pic from 2011 where we see Cllr Steve Foulkes aka Foulkesy doing what he does best – bringing comfort and joy whenever, sorry, wherever he goes. Only he doesn’t go does he? Locally he remains the living proof of the international and national trend that people will put politicians in power even when they’re proven liars…

Talking of liars – he we have Foulkesy’s chum and soon to be Mayor of Wirral Cllr George Davies proving once and for all that old adage that politics is showbiz for ugly people

Of course Davies was once the ultimate Satan’s Little Helper when he was the electoral agent for Frank Field – the former MP for Birkenhead. However much like his mate Foulkesy this wretched elf ditched Frankenfield when they saw that the writing was on the wall for the latter’s political career and they are both now feigning support for all things Corbyn and the union -backed new MP for Birkenhead, Mick Whitley. This means   they can continue to ride on the coat tails of local power and influence much as they have done for decades.

And finally the man himself who for so many years presided over his personal political domain safe in the knowledge that Birkenhead was one of the safest Labour seats in the country , which , of course it remains to be to this day…

Unfortunately for Frankenfield he had to stand as an independent at the recent General Election and the flag of convenience that was the Labour Party was no longer there to maintain him in power.  And let’s face it ,despite the promise of hanging around Birkenhead and doing his bit for ‘charidee’ that’s what it’s always been about for  Frankenfield – the power and the glory .

We can only imagine how Frankenfield must feel this Christmas  having been betrayed and  politically outmanoeuvred by his former acolytes Foulkes and Davies. But then that’s what you get when you have have sat on a throne of lies for four decades…

Meanwhile Merry Christmas to one and all from everyone at Leaky Towers!

A Farewell to Frankenfield

So as the dust settles from the General Election fallout we thought we’d send a long wished for farewell to  Frankenfield! And special thanks go to one of our readers who suggested a Smiths album cover as the inspiration for a fitting tribute  both marking the end of Field’s  imperious reign as the MP for Birkenhead and the death of his political career.

Yes , whilst we acknowledge  that Angie, Ali and Maggie ensured that Wirral remains an all red peninsula we all know that the big local political story from the General Election is that the most prominent and influential  politician on Wirral for the past 4 decades has finally left the building (or rather been bundled out the emergency exit  by his former party). As we know the ex-Labour man set up his own political vanity project known to us as  Frank Field’s BS Justice Party  but officially named as the Birkenhead Social Justice Party which was supported by a rag tag of local Labour ‘rebels’ including the hopelessly devoted ever faithful factotum and new electoral agent Cllr Moira ‘Matron’ McLaughlin.

However  Field  must have known the election result was on the cards when long serving Labour Party members had been telling him they were more loyal to the  Party than to the man himself  and wouldn’t be supporting his arrogant venture and especially when his former electoral agent Cllr George Davies abandoned him for an old mucker from Vauxhall’s whilst in pursuit of his sad little ambition of becoming the next Labour Mayor of Wirral  – a position which he would have relinquished if he’d stood by his former mentor and the man who got him (and other local Labour councillors) out of many a scrape of their own making. Let’s face it it comes to something when Field has to rely on the likes of former pottymouthed Labour councillor Harry Smith for  support.

Wirral Leaks readers will know that we’ve never been a fan of the man known to us as Frankenfield (and with very good reason) and will not mourn his passing into the political wilderness . We doubt whether  Mick Whitley , his Labour successor as the MP for Birkenhead will leave behind such an enduring legacy and after Field’s glorious forty years of wallowing in poverty that can only be a good thing.

However having said all that we are certain that we haven’t heard the last of the monarch of misery. No doubt Field will be penning pity party opinion pieces  for the likes of the Daily Mail and telling everyone in the Home Counties that Labour should have listened ‘to me! me! ME!’ and how Mick and the mob from Momentum have unfairly and unceremoniously unseated him from his rightful throne.

What’s more Wirral Leaks is far from finished with Field as he’ll soon play a starring role in our outgoing series of posts which we hope may finally explain to Frankophiles why we are rejoicing that his reign in Birkenhead is finally over…

Wirral Leaks General Election Special – The Twelve Days of Christmas (Day One)

 

As you all know Christmas comes early this year with the General Election to be held on the 12th of December. Somewhat like Christmas scenes from Leaky Towers it promises to be the traditional family festive fare featuring rows , recriminations and ill chosen presents/politicians.

So for the next twelve days we thought we’d open our own  advent calendar from hell and report on the General Election in general and the local political manoeuvring in particular.

Therefore we’d appreciate your leaks , comments and copies of flyers that are currently doing the rounds. We’ve been sent a few of the latter already – for which many thanks.

We’ve also been sent some videos . The first one –   see here  – features Mick Whitley the prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for Birkenhead  who tells us that “It’s time for real change” . And after 40 years of Frank Field misrule we think that many people in Birkenhead will get behind that particular sentiment . Now that Frankenfield is heading up his own political vanity project in the form of the Birkenhead Social Justice Party (more on that in the coming days) the Labour Party heir apparent Mick also tells us that :

Really Mick? If that’s the case can you tell us why your video features you in deep discussion Frank Field’s former electoral agent and the current Deputy Mayor of Wirral Council, Cllr George Davies, looking particularly gorgeous in his fetching subliminal red Adidas trackie?

Might we suggest that if you truly want ‘real change in Birkenhead’ that you disassociate yourself from this corrupt , dishonest and apparently disloyal political opportunist or whatever the outcome of the General Election it would appear that whether it’s Whitley or Field that Birkenhead will be condemned to the decline, despair and deceit that has characterised the local political landscape for the past four decades…

It’s a ‘No’ to Norbury

Empty political gestures are no substitute for deeply held beliefs.  

Considering how gleefully the local press reported that the first attempt by the Birkenhead Constituency Labour Party to elect a successor to Frank Field ended in an embarrassing lock out  at Birkenhead Town Hall you’d have thought they’d be happy to report that Mick Whitley eventually got the gig. But no – they’ve got stories to tell about how Frankenfield is saving Birkenhead from the ravages of a corrupt political regime (take your pick as to whether that’s a Labour controlled council or a Tory controlled government). Whilst we’re on the subject of Field’s alleged saving of the increasingly depressing House of Fraser store in Birkenhead can someone explain his preference for Mike Ashley over Sir Philip Green? Answers on a postcard. Mark your entries with the word ‘HYPOCRISY’…

However if you think Whitley has it bad trying to gain some leverage with the local press spare a thought for the runner up in the parliamentary candidacy race. Poor Cllr Tony Norbury – who received 116 votes compared to Whitley’s 224 – is having a torrid time of late. Not that we’re particularly sympathetic. Norbury always seemed to be spectacularly naive as to how local politics works. At the end of the day he just didn’t have the right connections  – be that with the press ,unions or self-serving politicians . Moreover can we just say that political posturing with placards is no substitute for a deeply held belief in tackling racism, especially within the local Labour leadership (i.e. Cllr George Davies).

Apparently Norbury’s week got even worse as not only is he not off to Westminster – can you imagine? – he’s also off the local panel list and therefore cannot run as a councillor in May 2020!

They say bad luck comes in threes so we can only hope and pray that his Buxton bolthole wasn’t flooded during the recent Biblical downpour!…

Frank Field’s Home Supporter

We’ve already raised the issue of  Cllr Moira ‘Matron’ McLaughlin’s political affiliations in our Social Justice Worriers post . However, for obvious reasons – to Wirral Leaks readers anyway – Field’s electoral agent and Wirral Council Deputy Mayor George Davies has to keep a very low profile on the political front at the moment and so it would appear that ‘Matron’ has taken over the role as Field’s faithful factotum.

So much so that she is allowing Field to use her home address as a P.O. Box for his new political venture. As you can see on the Birkenhead Social Justice Party website you can write to Frankenfield c/o Matron’s Rock Ferry residence:

We know this because it is the same address that Matron provides as contact details on on the Wirral Council website.

Now on the assumption that Matron and Field are not co-habiting then we really think the former should do the honourable thing and declare herself a Birkenhead Social Justice Party supporter and knock the ‘Independent’ malarkey on the head.

Silly us – whenever have either of them done the honourable thing?…

 

 

Social Justice Worriers 2

 

As a follow up to yesterday’s post concerned with the incident at Friday’s launch of Frank Field’s BS Justice Party we’ve discovered this tweet from former Wirral councillor Louise Reecejones (LRJ) which was posted on the same day.

As you may have witnessed Frankenfield can be seen in the Youtube video we linked to yesterday accusing  LRJ of being responsible for inducing a heart attack on a now deceased former Labour councillor. Now LRJ  alleges that she was ‘assaulted’ by ‘Frank Fields lynch mob’ resulting in a ‘bruise’.

It’s all getting very messy isn’t it? And you all know how we love a messy drama! So it would appear that now is not the time for us to sail into the sunset. Pass us the catering size pack of multiplex popcorn …

 

Social Justice Worriers

A ‘Manifesto’ will be published soon apparently. Frank Field is absolutely not making it up as he goes along . Honest.  

So how did the launch of the Birkenhead Social Justice Party go yesterday Frank? Not quite as planned by the looks of it!

There was the forewarning in the local press that something momentous was going to happen outside Birkenhead Town Hall involving Frank Field. However when it transpired that he wasn’t throwing the towel in on his political career the one man and his dog that turned up had a, er , field day. The one man in this case being the spouse of former Wirral councillor Louise Reecejones (LRJ).

As you can see below Mr LRJ had a right old go at Frankenfield:

 

You can make your own judgment about Mr LRJ’s claims but for ourselves we’re sick of people telling us they’re going to expose Field and the fact he has more skeletons in his closet than a fancy dress hire shop in the run up to Halloween. Yeah, yeah, whatevs…

We’re far more interested in the bit players in this particular psychodrama. Inevitably we see Field groupie ‘Independent’ Cllr Moira ‘Matron’ McLaughlin doing her usual defence of the indefensible act but then Field has pulled this stunt on her behalf before, most notably in the aftermath of the investigations in adult social care that nearly brought down the Labour-controlled Council in 2012.

We’d be particularly interested to know whether the ‘Independent’ Matron has nailed her white rosette to the mast of the Birkenhead Social Justice Party (BS Justice Party) and accordingly whether she will be calling a bye-election anytime soon ? Our guess is probably not . After all look what happened to fellow Rock Ferry ‘ independent’ Chris Meaden who was cast into the political wilderness at the last local elections. We’ve probably done this gag before but we can’t help asking – What’s the difference between a  Wirral ‘independent’ and a supermarket trolley? A supermarket trolley has a mind of its own …

We’re also interested in the nervous looking press officer /special advisor (?) hovering in the background in the obligatory navy blue suit who must be already rueing the day he took this gig on . Does he know what he’s let himself in for? And has anyone whispered the word ‘Wirralgate’ in his ear?…

Having said all that we don’t think ‘Wirralgate’ ,his association with Tom Quinn or the various unsubstantiated allegations that we hear about Field that will lead to his eventual political  downfall. It will be his own hubris…

Whitley Beats Witless To Become Birkenhead’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate

Frank Field’s worst nightmare

We called it correctly (again) as Mick Whitley has beat allcomers including Cllr Tony Norbury  to become Birkenhead’s Labour candidate at the next General Election.

With friends in high places and support of powerful unions Whitley was a shoo-in.

Although the Whitley v Field battle to win the hearts,minds and votes of Birkonians started yesterday with Frankenfield’s little spoiler (more on that later) we guarantee that this one will run and run…

Frank Field’s BS Justice Party

Will Field need a new electoral agent? I think we should be told…

After yesterday’s announcement of today’s announcement (or should that be pronouncement) we learn that Frank Field is still in deep denial that his political game is up.

In typical passive aggressive Frankenfield-style he hijacks this weekend’s announcement about who will be his successor as Labour’s next parliamentary candidate and gets his retaliation in first.  For what it’s worth and with the backing of some powerful unions our money is on Mick Whitley to be the victor in this particular long drawn out debacle.

However back to the star of the show – and forever the drama queen – we have  Frankenfield outside Birkenhead Town Hall telling us he will be fighting the next General Election under the banner of the Birkenhead Social Justice Party or the BS Justice Party as we’ve already taken to calling his latest vanity project.

Frankenfield will be 80 the next time the General Election is due, however with the Tory government now down to a working majority of one an election could be any time soon. Whenever it does take place it seems inevitable that in the interim we’ll have to get used to even more bogus news stories which will be endless variations on today’s tired old tune from the former Labour MP for Birkenhead :

I will be standing again as a candidate at the next election with the aim of doing what I have done for 40 years: always putting the interests of our town and our country first while championing the views and interests of the underdogs in our society.

Come off it Frank , you’ll just carry on championing your own personal views and interests and denigrating anyone who disagrees…

One question : Will Field’s electoral agent and current Deputy Mayor of Wirral Council Cllr George Davies be joining Field in his new political (misad)venture or is he waiting until he gets the mayoral chains for him and his missus next year before he too jumps onto Field’s sinking ship of fools?…

CCG and Mrs Jones

Our health correspondent Dr Love provides us with a commentary on recent events concerned with the proposed closure of two local walk in centres and the role of the  Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Cllr Christine Jones. It really makes you wonder whether they’ve ‘got a thing going on’…

Dear chum

Councillor Christine Jones is the joint chair of Wirral’s Joint Strategic Commissioning Board.

She acquiesced when their recent meeting was turned into – for the most important item on the agenda – a meeting of the CCG Board. ‘Legal’ because Council and NHS budgets aren’t ‘pooled’ for the related purpose, but a smack in the gob for councillors. (And see the John Brace reference below.)

The CCG agreed unanimously to close two walk-in centres.

Cllr Jones forgets to say that ANY closures had been opposed unanimously the previous week by a joint meeting of Wirral and Cheshire West and Chester Councils attended by Labour and Tory councillors.

She repeats the argument that people were ‘confused’ about existing services. NO reasonable evidence has ever been presented for this.

She accepts that there will be improvements in NHS111 (now rechristened variously ‘Ask Alexa’ and ‘Fuck off and die’).

She accepts that axed services will allegedly be covered by extra GP appointments, ignores the 100,000 missing NHS doctors and nurses, and accepts the CCG’s clear statement that this appointment system won’t necessarily be with a GP but with various assistants (less skilled, lower paid).

She fails to follow her own Council’s and her Party’s policies to oppose any closures.

She forgets that her party’s policy (nationally and locally) is to oppose the whole ‘sustainability and transformation partnership’ edifice, of which the CCG and its cut and pasted plans are part.

Her colleague who follows her is also worth listening to – for different reasons.

Here’s the video of the meeting with Cllr Jones’ comments from 31 minutes in. https://wirral.public-i.tv/…/webcast_interactive/429803

But the most jaw-dropping feature of this sorry episode is that last month she wrote to a local campaigner and said, “The community consultation the CCG delivered on the urgent care review proposals showed unequivocally strong opposition to any closure of walk in centres. I stand by the wishes of Wirral residents and council and will oppose any closure of services”.

Campaigners expect councillors (especially from the ‘people’s party’) to have a grasp of the ideology behind the rapid dismantling and demoralisation of the NHS. Our little local difficulty is simply a tiny part of the ambitions of those who would beg a trade deal from Trump and leave any bits which they haven’t already plundered to the slavering jaws of United Health of Minneapolis (the previous employer of NHSE boss Simon Stevens and with huge existing NHS contracts including via its Optum system).

BTW the other joint chair (and chair of CCG) Dr Paula Cowan is a key part of the whole unedifying process. She has form in forcing through cuts https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/fertility-treatment-cut-back-part-12583527

So is it the ‘aristocratic embrace’ that subverts Cllr Jones? Or is it just lovely to sit next to the NHS’s own Emily Maitlis?

She’s going to feel rather conflicted when her council colleagues refer the decision back to the Secretary of State for Health especially now that the whole process has been exposed by local video man John Brace https://johnbrace.com/is-the-decision-to-close-2-walk-in-centres-at-moreton-and-new-ferry-last-week-unlawful/?fbclid=IwAR3fGmjIDxS7NSjvNft2xoyqmX38vmOUERnSCo9tQP4U9P-5qIepFTQXrqw

The meeting video also shows Cllr Tony Norbury saying what a blow this is to the people of Birkenhead. Perhaps he’s failed to notice that elements within Birkenhead Labour – as well as Frank N Field and the local GP who runs an excellent ‘saved’ walk-in centre – are jubilant because ‘their’ Globe-splashed campaign had such a victory.

Yours, Dr Love