Exit Stage Left

As the above Green Party leaflet doing the rounds shows  opposition parties are delighting in the fact that the local Labour Party continues to enact a form of political autophagous. What is surprising is that some members of the Labour old guard are so under threat from their own members that they appear to be colluding with the opposition in ensuring maximum damage is inflicted upon their own body politic.

Consequently we couldn’t let Monday’s full Wirral Council meeting go without commenting on the dramatic scenes of Cllr Moira ‘Matron’ McLaughlin being allowed to open proceedings with a ‘short statement’ comprising a triple whammy of slagging off what she considers to be ‘the wrong sort’ of members of the Labour Party , rewriting history and that old stand-by, feigning victimhood.

Thanks to the John Brace film productions you can watch the ‘playing to the gallery’ unfold below from the 8 minute mark:

Apparently the local Labour Party no longer has the values that she ‘holds dear’ – which, based on her appalling track record, from our point of view, can only be a good thing! Whilst ‘Matron’ still graciously approves of a small number of local Labour members there can be no doubt that they will be the same members usually referred to on here as a ‘cabal’. Understandably the ‘cabal’ resent the challenge to their long held power base from what the Rock Ferry councillor describes as an ‘organised takeover by the hard left’ and Matron is now apparently their appointed spokesperson.

Needless to say there was the usual (unsubstantiated) allegations of ‘bullying,harassment and vilification’ by local Labour party members which  Matron claimed had been raised at local,regional and national level and been ‘ignored and tolerated’ and therefore  ‘condoned’…or perhaps there just wasn’t any substance to them. Just sayin’ ! She actually identified herself and others such as recently deselected Cllr Chris Meaden and Clllr Ron Abbey as ‘victims’ – no,really! Victims of what ? Democratic party processes?  We’re just surprised at this point she didn’t reach for a hanky and dab away the crocodile tears for full dramatic effect.

Remember this is coming from the councillor who  ignored,tolerated and condoned appalling PROVEN and EVIDENCED bullying and harassment when she oversaw an utterly toxic and dysfunctional culture within the Department of Adult Social Services (DASS). Matron preferring to be  comfortably numb – then and now – to the ‘unpleasant’ reality of what was happening within DASS courtesy of her corrupt Cheshire chums.

And on she went in full Hattie Jacques in Carry On Matron mode complaining about Cllr Chris Meaden’s replacement who she pointedly refused to name but in a far from comradely manner described her previous tenure as the leader of Wirral Council as being ‘chaos’.

Yvonne Nolan (for it is she) was described as being ‘parachuted in’ and of having no knowledge of the area or any interest in Rock Ferry. ‘It’s disgraceful’ Matron harrumphed as though she’d caught Sid James having a crafty fag under the bedsheets. Once again the hypocrisy was staggering as Matron went all ‘Cassandra’ on us and  predicted  that Nolan would be an ‘absentee councillor’. Er,hang on a minute can somebody tell us how far Wirral Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies’ home is from his safe Birkenhead ward? Just askin’!

Apparently it was the Mayor’s discretion to allow Matron to chew the scenery , sorry make a personal statement. The current Tory Mayor Cllr Geoffrey Watt didn’t afford Labour councillor Tony Norbury the opportunity to reply. But then he wouldn’t would he? This was stage management at it’s most cynical. It was an absolute pass the sickbag moment as the Tory benches rose in unison to give Matron a standing ovation. It was interesting to note that not all Labour councillors stood up to applaud. Ever the chancer former leader of the council  Cllr Steve ‘Foulkesy’ Foulkes can be seen nervously twitching in his seat but resolutely stayed put, obviously not wanting to upset his new found allies on the ‘hard left’ who keep him in a position of power and influence.

Watching this sickening scene was an insight into how politics on Wirral has long been nothing more than a pantomime with the main political parties playing their parts. All trying to upstage each other by pretending to be outraged and shocked and appalled before nipping into the Mayor’s parlour for a little snifter and a pat on the back. No wonder when a challenge to the status quo (and allowances and expenses) arrives it is met with catcalls from the supporting cast and luvvie speeches of support from opposition party leaders . It would seem that for long standing politicians at Wirral Council , familiarity breeds content…

 

 

 

Who are the real ‘Red Menace’ ?

Thanks to those who have got in touch with reactions to some rabid stories which have appeared in both the local and national press concerning the ongoing melodrama within the local Labour Party (and specifically Birkenhead Constituency Labour Party).

First there was the Wirral Globe front page story which was headlined : ‘Death Threats made to to Birkenhead MP Frank Field‘ although the article provides no examples of such threats being made on social media. Tweets wishing someone is dead may not be very nice but they still doesn’t constitute a death threat. Consequently the article just provides Frankenfield the opportunity to resurrect memories of Militant Tendency that resemble nothing more than McCarthyite-era fears of reds under the bed .

This ‘Red Menace’ theme was expanded on yesterday at great length in what can only be described as another piss-poor piece of scaremongering even by The Daily Mail’s risible standards under the headline :

How the hard left is reclaiming Merseyside: Three decades after Derek Hatton made them unelectable, Corbynistas are forcing Labour moderates from their heartlands

This week local Labour Party Secretary  John Maher and Labour councillor Tony Norbury are featured after last week’s Frank Field inspired press tsunami which starred his superannuated political groupie Cllr Moira ‘Matron’ McLaughlin playing a supporting role as a ‘witness’ to a bullying incident that she heard about secondhand on Twitter.  It didn’t stop The Sunday Times  publishing the story as ‘fact’. Whereas the sad fact in all this is the press attention that is being given to these no-marks for the former’s political ends and the latter’s personal ends.

Read it for yourself and make up your own mind: here

Having said that we’re inclined to believe some of what is written about Maher as needless to say we’ve featured him on Wirral Leaks before . Once again how prescient of us to write in 2016 about this Labour -turned Green-turned Red again political chameleon :

From what we can gather about his behaviour within the Green Party is that if he’s true to his “principles” it won’t be long before he falls out with his suddenly rekindled allegiances within the local  Labour Party  – as it’s a case of Maher-way or the highway.

Read more here :   A Maher-vellous Result for Labour 

However much of what is claimed in the Daily Mail shock horror probe about Maher is all a bit ‘meh’ .  Among the anonymous reports about him making people feel ‘incredibly uncomfortable’ there is this hilarious quote :

I was a police officer prior to re-joining the Labour Party and have been trained in reading body language when in confrontational situations. To me it was clear that the body language displayed by both John Maher and [a friend] was clearly threatening…

Meanwhile regurgitated from last week’s scare stories published elsewhere there’s patronising tales of Maher and Norbury upsetting the Labour ‘laydeez’ with their belligerent ways. All of the above conduct has apparently been reported to Andy Smith the Labour Party’s top official in the North-West by a group of six Labour politicians who plotted, sorry, met with Smith one Saturday at Birkenhead Town Hall (somebody needs to tell Daily Mail it’s not the Wirral Council HQ but again why let a lack of local knowledge get in the way of cutting edge investigative journalism?)

Who are the unnamed ‘Gang of Six’ we ask ourselves? We’d go for  Birkenhead MP  Frank Field , Cllr George Davies (of course), Cllr Phil Davies , Cllr Moira McLaughlin,  Cllr Steve Foulkes , Cllr Brian Kenny  or Cllr Jean Stapleton  (you may have your own pick of the politicians – let us know) .

Whoever they were they were complaining about an ‘an orchestrated campaign to remove long-standing and hard-working’ Labour officials in which ‘suggestions have been made that people are corrupt and ineffective’

We have to say that this is something we can wholeheartedly get with. What’s more we think that knowing what he knows about the local Labour cabal Maher has been rather restrained – and yes, Mr Maher we have seen the emails which contain similar information to that which was sent to Anna Hutchinson – Regional Director of Labour North West.

Under the circumstances is there a more sickening, hypocritical spectacle than Wirral Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies whinging that ‘Bullying is a serious issue, and to have it ignored like this just beggars belief.  Isn’t this someone who was part of a small gang of Labour politicians who tried (and failed) to suppress allegations of a bullying culture at Wirral Council which we maintain persists to this day? And could this be the same ‘gang’ who are now feigning victimhood about being ‘bullied’ themselves? We think the people of Wirral should be told – and fear not Wirral Leaks will be telling ALL very soon…

… and finally in light of the information contained in the Daily Mail  article can we say the most offensive thing we could identify was the sight of Derek Hatton’s mullet!

 

Wirral Leaks Election Selection – 1 week to go

We didn’t know whether the local elections had been cancelled as you’ve all been very quiet and then suddenly our inbox (and your letterbox) has been pounded in the hope of a big finish and/or happy ending (!) and then suddenly we realised it must be the last week of local election campaigning!

GREEN SHOOTS

You poor ,poor people – it’s a case ‘Hobson’s Choice’ for most of you and if you’re living in Birkenhead & Tranmere ward you’re really unlucky – it’s a case of ‘Jobson’s Choice’!

Talking of which – here’s an interesting factoid :

Just sayin’

SMEAR CAMPAIGN 

We’re a broad church here at Wirral Leaks and we’re always happy to redress the political balance if people approach us with tales of political hypocrisy . Here’s one we received this week from Kipper Central titled  Local UKIP Candidate in Smear Campaign

Here we find ‘Labour Rose’  Cllr Christine Spriggs apparently involved in a smear campaign :

Paula Walters, the UKIP candidate for the New Brighton ward on Wirral council, is being targeted in a politically motivated smear campaign. The Liverpool Echo, owned by the overtly left-wing Trinity Mirror group which owns the Mirror stable of newspapers amoung (sic) others, has teamed up with local Labour councillor Christine Spriggs to try and force Ms Walters to stand down.

A smear campaign with racist allegations?  Perhaps Cllr Spriggs needs to check the conduct of her Labour colleagues Cllr George Davies and Cllr Steve Foulkes before she starts throwing stones in glass houses!

Just sayin’

ASTERISK OF HOPE 

Talking of which many of our readers have been in touch asking permission to use Wirral Leaks content in their election campaigning only to find the object of their objections wasn’t standing . Most prominently – and once again for all the wrong reasons  – was Cllr Steve Foulkes aka ‘Foulkesy’ . Someone had done some research and sent us this picture of the 2015 election result and claiming that the asterisk meant ‘retiring councillor’ . We don’t want to dash their hopes but we think Foulkesy is here to stay . How else is this piece of poliical detritus meant to feel important? And what’s more the good folk of Claughton seem to enjoy the spectacle of fisticuffs with the missus!

Just sayin’

Frank Field – The Biter Bit

” Things just ain’t the same, any time the hunter gets captured by the game….”

I’m sure we can recall the feigned outrage that accompanied Frankenfield’s recent fall from grace at a public meeting in Rock Ferry.

SEE HERE

To the dismay of local Green Party members acres of newsprint were wasted reporting the sheer brutality meted out to our revered local MP as – SHOCK HORROR PROBE! – local people exercised their democratic right trying to make public servants accountable.

Seemingly unable to cope with such an unprecedented challenge Frankenfield was soon carted off sniffing into a scented hanky and then proceeded to moan like Mavis Riley having a hissy fit to any old rag who’d listen to him including the Mail on Sunday where Frankenfield was perfectly at home amid the prissy curtain-twitchers from the home counties.

He also wrote to Green Party leader Natalie Bennett demanding that local nasty Green party members be publicly flogged for being perfectly frightful to him
But whaddayaknow? , the mung bean munching brigade bit back as an investigation carried out by the Green Party found that allegations made by Mr Field and Labour councillors present at the meeting were “clear attempts to smear both Green Party members and some local residents” and therefore in that time-honoured local tradition it was found there was ” no case to answer”!

SEE HERE

Freda David and Mike Shone, the Green Party members who conducted the investigation have now called on the Labour Party leader Ed Militant to investigate Frankenfield’s smears! As well as those Labour councillors present at the meeting, for making “ unfounded allegations” and have asked for a public apology.

Can we suggest to Freda and Mike that breath-holding would be ill-advised when it comes to getting an apology from that lot!

Frankenfield did his usual pursed lipped response saying: “I am grateful that this inquiry was conducted. But I’m equally astounded that the Green Party has produced such a whitewash…..”

My how we laughed here at Leaky Towers to hear Frankenfield complain about a “whitewash” when in the words of Kafka ( who else):

“His weariness is that of the gladiator after the combat; his work was the whitewashing of a corner in a state official’s office”

Might we remind him of his role in a series of cover-ups involving Wirral Council – like the time he wrote to a constituent :” I am a bit miffed with you ” because the person who had whistleblown about the unlawful 4 week delay dared complain to him that Wirral Council were still (and are still) covering up that shameful episode.

And although he obviously hopes we will – we mustn’t forget his starring role in the ongoing and utterly corrupt Wirralgate whitewash…..

Let’s be frank about Frank – we think it’s time to exit stage left – or in his case stage right!……..