Good Advice

Such is the sage advice we receive on a daily basis we really should do a ‘ Wirral Leaks’ self  help book.

Chapter 1 would be about the ruling administration at Wirral Council taking themselves down the steps at the back of Wallasey Town Hall and throwing themselves into the River Mersey. If this is a hate crime we are proud to say we are guilty as charged.

However in the mean time we publish the recent contributions we have received that we feel the need to share in the public interest.

First off we follow up our Wirral Council Have Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two… with this pertinent advice :

Dear Sirs,

I have as well as many other businesses received a letter stating that I will be fined if I do not process my business waste via their channels.

I urge all businesses to send the letter back minus their name and address to the sender of the letter stating that in future we do not want their waste!

Regards

Next up we have some advice from down south (not a euphemism) as we know when something is kicking off when we get loads of hits on a long lost post.On this particular occasion it is our updates on the progress of infamous local government cheque collector Anna Klonowski . You know the one , she flew in to Wirral ,made a killing telling us what we already knew  that Wirral Council was a basket case and offering absolutely nothing to rectify the situation she moved on to her next lucrative gig ticking the boxes of mutual mediocrity along the way – for cold hard cash of course.

However it has been revealed that another pay-off of almost £100,000 made by Bristol City Council to its former chief executive ‘the Blessed Anna’ was not a contractual obligation, according to auditors.

Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees insisted Anna Klonowski was entitled to the cash when she left in September 2017.

But the council’s auditors said it was “inappropriate” for the authority to say the payment was contractual. Read full story here : Bristol council’s £98k payout to chief exec ‘not obligatory’

So can we advise when Wirral Council wants to pay off the likes of  Webb, Noone, Fowler, Maddox, Coleman, Wilkie,Adderley ,Burgess, Degg ( we always put these 3 together – we can’t think why!) , Fish, Hassall, Blott, Norman, Lyon  etc; etc; they need to act in the public interest and remember the words :

NOT OBLIGATORY 

However we’ll leave the last word to ‘our betters ‘ at Wirral Chamber of Commerce  and particularly their Chair, Sandra Kirkham aka ‘Our San’, who advises us lesser mortals in a Tweet from last month:

Whilst is looks as though San has also attended the ‘Sybil Fawlty School of Statin’ The Bleedin’ Obvious’, along with Anna Klonowski, it would also appear her message about skills and what we do in schools is somewhat undermined by the fact that she (or whoever writes Wirral Chamber of Commerce’s tweets) doesn’t seem to know the difference between ARE and OUR…

 

 

Summer Shorts : The Heat is On

In the absence of His Lordship we are titling this series of brief posts as ‘Summer Shorts’!

This truncated story comes courtesy of several readers who were startled to see a picture of shy and (hopefully) retiring Wirral Council CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson on the front page of this week’s print edition of Wirral Globe .

Whilst most of our readers were startled to belatedly discover the identity of our reclusive ‘Council chief’ (no laughing at the back!) especially when the mischievous Globe dug out the infamous picture that introduced the charismatic ‘Stressed Eric’ to us all when he got the top job at Wallasey Town Hall.

However one particularly perceptive blog follower reader asked us whether this ‘exclusive’ was the death knell to Stressed Eric’s ‘Reign of Error’ as having kept a profile lower than a rattlesnake’s belly he suddenly finds himself thrust into the public gaze.

Feebly pointing the finger at ‘guvmint’ for threats to the local Green Belt because Wirral Council’s failure to meet the statutory  requirement to have a ‘Local Plan’  is somehow the fault of Whitehall mandarins (huh?) , Stressed Eric appears to be dubiously entering the political arena in which local authority CEOs are required to remain resolutely neutral.

With the increasingly unpopular ruling Labour administration currently being under fire from the Wirral public over parking charges and their retention of litter Hitlers Kingdom Security, the cowardly bullies seem to be reverting to type . Historically, when the heat is on they like to throw a CEO and sundry senior officers into the furnace. From Maddox to Wilkie to Coleman to Burgess – especially Burgess who had the temerity to try and mark his territory and stand up to leader of Wirral Council Frank Field, sorry , we mean  Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies  –  there has been a scorched earth policy where highly paid public officials are burned at the stake and the politicians rise up like a phoenix from the flames.

We are left asking ourselves how long can Stressed Eric stand the heat before he’s all burnt out?……..

Living off the fat of the land : Is Eric Robinson morphing into Eric Pickles?

 

Advent Farewell 9 – Out of Sight , Out of Mind

Two Deputy Lieutenants of Merseyside are of one mind.

From time to time we like to check up on the progress on some of the Wirral Council charlatans and chancers that have (dis)graced our pages over the years in our special ‘ Where Are They Now?’ feature.

Whilst we readily acknowledge that we featured former Wirral Council CEO  Steve ‘ Mad Dog’ Maddox in such a post earlier this year we feel the original post needs enhancing mainly because we believe that in many ways it is most instructive on the ways of Wirral.

If ever there was an example of how to evade accountability and manage your reputation then Maddox is the ultimate case study. He saw the writing was on the wall when so called independent investigator Anna Klonowski was brought in by the Tories to find out what whistleblower Martin Morton was blathering on about . On the very day Maddox was due to meet with Klonowski  , Maddox took the coward’s way out and suddenly announced he was going to spend more time with his long suffering family. This followed over two years of Wirral Council senior management covering his expansive arse . Of course Maddox didn’t even need to work his 3 month notice period and swiftly pissed off to the golf course with additional pension payments made up to when he would have retired – about which we can only ask – why?

The panicked leader of Wirral Council at the time Cllr Steve Foulkes provided this farewell quote :

“Steve is essentially a self effacing and modest man who probably has no idea of the very real and extensive legacy he will be leaving behind.We know, and are grateful for it. I wish him all the best for the future and hope that he will continue to be involved with the people of Wirral, for whom he has always been an eloquent and passionate advocate.” Steve 2 Steve

This translates as Maddox did as he was told and his greatest quality is that he could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on .  But oh what a legacy he left behind!  Whilst Maddox secured himself a tidy six figure bung , collected the Freedom of the Borough of Wirral to add to his OBE and was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside to stand alongside Birkenhead MP Frank Field, his swift departure meant his hapless and hopeless sidekick Jim ‘Wee Willie’ Wilkie was to reap the wild wind of what his former boss had created – a toxic,corrosive culture of bullying,incompetence and deceit which was soon to be (partly) revealed in the Independent Review in  January 2012 . Needless to say shortly after Wilkie ended up being escorted from Wallasey Town Hall premises a broken man.

What’s more when the furore over the Independent Review had died down Maddox reappeared on the local scene and within the year was appointed as a Director of  mental health organisation Wirral Mind in December 2012 .

This appointment has always intrigued us ,  primarily because it is with some irony that Wirral Mind were seemingly gifted the management of the learning disability service that was a significant feature of Morton whistleblowing case that led to the Independent Review that in turn was the impetus for  Maddox’s ‘retirement’ !

It has long been thought that Wirral Mind, with no significant track record of supporting people with learning disabilities, were rewarded  the contract for keeping a lid on the unlawful charging scandal when they were appointed as advocates on behalf of those who couldn’t speak up for themselves when the scandal blew up . Unfortunately this ‘advocacy’ service didn’t actually extend to advocating on behalf of those who had been financially abused.  An appalled Wirral Leaks reader once recalled attending a  Wirral Council meeting  where Sandra Gilbert Wirral Mind CEO , said that the tenants who had been financially abused ‘lived in the lap of luxury’ . Perhaps if  we put aside the issue of illegality and equality Ms Gilbert might appreciate that if she had £100 + a WEEK taken out of her salary over a number of years she might have fought a bit harder on behalf of disabled people instead of leaving it to Morton and others.

All the Independent Review report had to say on the matter was that there was

” a need for the Council to refresh its contractual arrangements with (Wirral Mind) in the context of EU procurement requirements.”

Funny how Frank Field wasn’t jumping up and down about this proven case of Wirral Council flouting EU procurement regulations isn’t it ? Or getting Merseyside Police and the Serious Fraud Office involved as he did with the Highways contract complainants that apparently he is still ‘gallantly’ supporting 9 years after their alleged whistleblowing exploits !

Since our report we note that in August 2017 there was a  cessation of Maddox  being ‘a person with significant control’ of Wirral Mind  August 2017.   However he still remains a Director – presumably because of the lustre and prestige that someone with his impeccable track record brings to an organisation.

 

Comings and Goings

If you want to play the Wirral Council  corporate game be prepared to get down and dirty!

Last night’s Employment and Appointments Committee officially confirmed our previous reports that Wirral Council’s Head of Law / Monitoring Officer Surjit Tour is leaving Wirral Council.

There were no glowing eulogies from committee members at the announcement that Wirral Council was engaging a recruitment agency to find his replacement. Furthermore Wirral Council CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson ran through further proposals for senior management personnel changes to implement his New Operating Model – or should that be Non -Operating Model?  This included the appointment of a Director of Children’s Services on an increased salary of £115,000. This was justified with the usual excuse that we have to pay top whack to get the very best. To which we can say it hasn’t worked in the past so why will it work now? What has clearly been demonstrated by previous CEO Graham Burgess’s appointment of Super Directors which has been an abject and costly failure. And let’s not get on to Stressed Eric himself!

http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=197&MId=6003&Ver=4

Of course we know that Tour was on his merry way  but curiously there was (inevitably) an exempt item on the agenda which we understand involved discussions about yet another high profile departure who has been allowed to slip the net (if you get our drift).  Suffice to say there’ll be more on that particular catch of the day at a later date.

As Surjit didn’t exit to rapturous appreciation for all he’s done for the people of Wirral we thought we’d do the decent thing and give him the eulogy he deserves.

However we’ll leave it to a clearly well placed source to provide a fitting tribute to Tour which consists of a comment from ‘ Whatever’ that is far too good to languish in our replies section. For those who may have missed it we reproduce that comment in full  below. What it demonstrates to us yet again is that Wallasey Town Hall is the absolute pits. Whilst we’ve known about the infamous ‘Sex List’ for sometime and referenced it previously it stands as the epitome of how low senior managers will go to get their man (or woman). As we commented :

So it would seem that the ‘dig the dirt’ tactic is a favourite approach of senior council officers when faced with a pesky employee who won’t play the corporate game, have served their purpose or they just want shut of. We’re wondering whether it was a trick that Norman picked it up at Wirral Council or it was part of his legacy that he left behind? We say this as we are reliably informed that two acting very senior officers at Wirral Council went digging for dirt from staff in an infamous case from 2015 .The dirt concerned allegations of sexual impropriety involving a now departed senior council officer . So far, so sordid. However, for us , what is even more sleazy is that the approach came with the  inducement that it would be beneficial to staff member’s careers if they dished the dirt. Nice work if you can get it and you can get it if you have absolutely no morals,ethics or integrity. What did we say in yesterday’s post about Wallasey Town Hall being a cesspit?

Dirty Work

We can only hope that the next victim of the ‘Curse of Leaky Towers’ is slimy Deputy CEO David Armstrong ( and we know how upset he gets being badmouthed on social media). He can boo-hoo all the way the bank as as far as we’re concerned as in his own way, he’s absolutely everything that’s wrong with Wirral Council. In another time and another place and where the get out was ‘ I was only following orders’ he’d be a very dangerous man indeed.

Meanwhile courtesy of ‘Whatever’ here’s ‘Surjit’s Eulogy’ :

I hope we can send to Mr Tour’s new employer a list of Wirral tax payers issues as the tax payers of York did with Mr Halliday.

Mr Tour’s replacement will have a long list of “things to do” which he/she should read asap –

For example perhaps, whatever happened to the letter signed by Mr Foulkes (probably written by labour policy adviser and Labour scrutiny support) sent to Mr Wilkie outlining in a way not appropriate for public office ( yet more training needs) just what Mr Foulkes et al thought about Mr Wilkies staff structure which included the promotion of none other than Ms Degg to deputy CEO ?

Indeed what happened to those 2 people (Adviser and Scrutiny) from Leeds way *  (* Hebden Bridge actually) ?- well whatever you say about Norman, he was the only one who at least tried to tackle them. Norman left and Mr Tour picks up the rotten dirty baton and title. Did Mr Tour prevent the “not in line with guidelines” payments made to one of those women – er, no and has he closed this case or as he let it drift into obscurity, a key feature of Tour is drift, drift long enough and it will be forgotten.

These 2 women were loyal supporters of Foulkes, (nothing wrong with that other than inconsequent personal opinions on bad judgement) when Mr Foulkes was told to get legal advice after his letter writing. Cllr Foulkes stood down as forever leader and up popped Mr Davies, who was told to drop the supporters or no leadership role for him. Mr Davies did as he was told for the sake of group or himself and his awaiting career of leadership.

Can’t quite remember the figure of toxic debt written off, in the high millions, these 2 women summoned the Council directors separately to go to Leeds (or wherever it is up that way) where they would “tell” the directors what their budgets were. Everyone knew it was these 2 women running WMBC for years Foulkes was the willing puppet and the Directors racking up excessive mileage claims for Wirral Tax payers to pay.

Mr Davies had to be trained in fist clenching and smoke screens, up pops Mr Field with some tale of whistleblowers and Hespe contracts (Labour group hated with a passion anyone who was perceived to work too closely with Cllr Green .. Ms Degg and Mr Green to name 2). Did Mr Tour ever write a letter to Frank Field telling him that WMBC is not his private purse to pursue his smoke screens with payments to non whistleblowers ?

So back to Ms Degg, well we have all read and heard enough about Ms Degg and what we consider to be un sound judgement on the men in her life but that is of no concern to us unless it prevented her from carrying out her paid function, whatever that was. However when it does become our business is when 2 members of staff are paid off one via the ever helpful EVR (normally given to failed directors without spine and employee jumpers) and the other a recent settlement. These 2 members of staff were hauled in by Mr Armstrong Ms Hyams and of course the ever present in the shadows “it wasn’t me” Tour, this trio on our behalf felt compelled to get to the bottom of £48k payment made to Ms Degg by one of the too many ex chief execs as an apology again on our behalf for not becoming the deputy chief exec and for the hurt feelings caused by the school ground tactics of certain Labour councillors and senior officers (including the Trio). If only they wouldn’t but again on our behalf this highly paid Trio (with the knowledge of Cllr Phil Davies) asked, no demanded to know the ins and outs of Ms Degg’s sex life, asked for rumours anything these 2 members had on Ms Degg.
Thank the lord these 2 members of staff stuck two fingers up to the bullying trio .

“list of things to do”; clearly through actions Mr Tour thought this payment made to Ms Degg (although he must of agreed it in the first place) was unlawful in some way.

The 2 well liked members of staff wouldn’t play ball and you didn’t get your own underhand way, Tour, Hyams (who really didn’t like Degg and the feeling was mutual) and Armstrong (who once was a nice bloke I hear) even though 2 of the trio pulled out the appalling and should be left for the movies, tactic ” signing the statements would / would not help their careers”

The poor person going round asking for money for Tour’s leaving present probably stopped saying “awww he’s a nice man its a shame” pdq. I don’t think it was his match made in heaven (how many grievances !!) PA who accepted her redeployment to Tour’s PA role with “I’m not working for him” but soon shut up when she realised she was onto a good thing, the amount she read and helped shred would, like her boss keep her in a job as long as she wanted it.”

 

Where Are They Now? Part 2 – Update

Steve Maddox – out of sight and into Mind

As you will know our recent ‘Where Are They Know?’  post concerning public money magnet Anna Klonowski mentioned former Wirral Council CEO Steve Maddox.

Where Are They Now? Part 3 – Anna Klonowski

Wirral Leaks readers will appreciate that it was Maddox who personally set the tone for Wirral Council prior to the catalogue of governance and cultural failures that were later to be revealed , if not fully exposed , by Ms Klonowski in her two reports for Wirral Council which pocketed her a cool quarter of a million.

Apparently Maddox was willing to accept that being bullied by politicians was the norm and instead of resisting this, looked at his pay cheque and subjected his underlings to the same treatment and so did their subordinates and the cycle of abuse continued throughout the organisation…. with disastrous results for all of us.

Coincidentally it was Maddox who was the subject of the previous ‘Where Are They Know’ post where we asked whether anyone knew what Maddox was up to, other than playing golf , after his handsomely rewarded ‘retirement’.

https://wirralleaks.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/wirral-leaks-advent-calendar-16-where-are-they-now-part-2/

Well , prompted by our previous posts and our references to how local government failures later find themselves being beneficiaries of lucrative board appointments (see also Maddox’s successor Jim ‘ Wee Willie’ Wilkie and his Non -Executive Director post at the Countess of Chester hospital where he scrupulously and hilariously fails to mention he worked for Wirral Council) http://www.coch.nhs.uk/corporate-information/board-of-directors/non-executive-directors.aspx ) – one of our sources has contacted to tell us that Maddox has been ‘hidden in plain sight’ all along.

As after a short period of laying low after the publication of a series damning reports questioning his ‘leadership’ and , apparently without any shame , he subsequently popped up as a Director at mental health organisation Wirral Mind and remains as ‘a person of significant control’ to this day!

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/11pyLG4lH-iPYRY0l59SdJ3JDWA/appointments

We’re left wondering whether Maddox was involved in the unlawful awarding of Wirral Mind, and their deeply ambitious CEO Sandra Gilbert , a contract to manage a learning disabilities service as a reward for keeping a lid on the overcharging scandal that rocked Wirral Council?

All we will say is that unfortunately for us having Maddox , as a former Wirral Council CEO with an OBE and a Freedom of the Borough as a Director , won’t hinder Wirral Mind’s chances of getting future lucrative contracts with Wirral Council – especially if they link up with WIRED and others muscling in on infrastructure monies. And that , once again unfortunately for us, is the compliant, non-threatening voluntary sector on Wirral boxed off nicely.

Remember – as ever – you read it here first.

Pay As You Go

Next week’s Wirral Council Employment & Appointments Committee sees the latest money haemorrhaging merry go round known as a senior management restructure.

Can we advise that Chief Executive Eric ” Feeble” Robinson just keeps his head down and do as he’s told as history tells us that having a strong view on a particular appointment contributed to the departure of two previous CEOs (Wilkie and Burgess) and led to that notorious £48,000 pay-off which eventually set in motion a further series of spectacular bungs.

We understand that the latest recipient of Wirral Council largesse is Head of Housing and Community Safety Ian Platt who is heading off into the sunset.

Of course  we’re not allowed to know how much this golden handshake costs us before the meeting is held and we suspect it’ll be the usual arm-wrestle before the council are forced to disclose it.

However we’re led to believe the package is worth £225,000!. Which should be enough to keep Platty in pies well into what we hope is a long and happy retirement.

I suppose we should be grateful at least that , as far as we know,  this package is not linked to misconduct ,malpractice or motivated by political expedience.

As for other matters being discussed  at the Committee we note that Head of Law and Monitoring Officer Surjit Tour is in line for a pay rise. No doubt ‘for services rendered’ and which might we suggest are not always in the public interest!.

 

Party Games

One of the joys of the festive season is when our butler Eldritch retrieves the treasured games from behind my portrait and the embarrassing relatives we hide in the attic.

Her Ladyship stops picking sugared almonds from her teeth ( a la Cllr Bill  ” Gurn-Merchant” Davies ) , drags herself away from the scandal sheets ( and we’re not talking the beds at Mere Brook House) , adjusts her pince-nez glasses , deigns to join the servants in the parlour and it’s fun and frolics all the way.

However we can’t help being reminded of Wirral Council when we play our party games.

First of all there’s the classic game of Monopoly – because of course there’s so much fun to be had getting out of trouble using other people’s money

Furthermore there’s nothing like mortgaging your integrity to some chancers on the make who’ve got something on you : 

Talking of chancers – how many times have Wirral Council played this particular card!?.

It’s just a shame they sell their soul using our money to the highest bidder/ lowest of the low.

And then of course there’s the pieces that the powers that be move about the board as if they were Wirral Council staff facing redundancies.

The Hat –  for pulling rabbits out of.In a spot of trouble ?,need someone to cover your corpulent,corporate backside?.Hire a consultant! – usually middle class compromisers enabling working class chancers to get off the hook.

The Thimble – for stitch ups (see above).

The Sportscar – the reward for indentured servitude.Some people sell their soul for a top of the range motor (preferably with personalised numberplates) or the chance to be driven around in a taxi at the council taxpayers expense or to be chauffeur driven in mayoral splendour.

The Boot – A funny kind of redundancy where the order of the boot comes at a high cost.

The Ship –  HMS Wirral Council has more leaks than the Titanic.They would do well to remember the World War 2 slogan: Loose lips sinks ships.

The Iron – for ironing out problems with one hand whilst wielding a Council chequebook in the other.

Which all leads to the following game :

The Merry Game of Floundering – press releases,publicity shots and puff pieces.Is anyone taken in by the Most Improved Council in Britain tag?

Meanwhile we’ve passed many a happy hour playing Identity Kit – just who will be Wirral Council’s next Chief Executive (acting or otherwise) .From Maddox to Wilkie to Coleman to Frater to Armstrong to the current incumbent  Eric “Feeble” Robinson – monumental nonentities one and all.

Then there’s always Funny Bunny (or should that be Funny Money?) – Might we suggest that “remove the carrots and watch the bunny drop” should be Wirral Council’s new executive incentive scheme . How about instead of rewarding failure by paying executives six figures worth of public money to disappear out the back door can we change the rules of the game and  hold them accountable instead ?.

And finally we come to our favourite game at Leaky Towers :

Thankfully there are an increasing number of  people wanting to play this game when it comes to challenging Wirral Council and this has led to some embarrassing recent climbdowns.

We all know the dice may be loaded but there are encouraging signs that Wirral Council’s luck may soon run out.

Here’s to fun and games in 2016!.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Degg denies ever wearing proper Ugg boots – but denies nothing else

Fleece is the word.

Emma Degg  – the gift that keeps on giving  (and receiving cheques)!.

As this week’s revelations prove we’ll miss you sooooo much here at Leaky Towers.We’d like to thank you from taking time out from your busy schedule  (oh…. perhaps not) to respond to our story about your recent departure from Wirral Council.

For those who haven’t had the chance to read the heartfelt plea for “humanity” here it is:

Dear Wirral Leaks,
This is the first and only time I will post on this site. I do so for two reasons, firstly because having left the employ of the council I have a voice should I choose to use it. 2nd because despite the inevitable unpleasant backlash I will get I have something to say that others cannot. As I said to you in the conversation your referred to Paul – if you want to criticise Council Officers work then absolutely you should do so. I simply gave you my card and said if you wanted to do so then to come and see me and I would have a conversation with you anytime. If you were not satisfied then by all means say whatever you want about my or the councils work. That is all absolutely fair game. What is asked was when making personal comments for you to remember that regardless of how much pain you think I deserved that I have children who have done nothing wrong and who get upset. As I remember you shook my hand and said you had children yourself. And that is the point – if you create an environment when the only senior officers who can cope with the job are those who do not care what is written about them then you will end up with public services run by people who don’t care about anything other than the job title and pay. You are creating an environment where Officers are so frightened of being the next ‘uggly’ that they avoid difficult decisions and doing anything to upset anyone at all. Create pantomime villains and we will all be entertained – but try not to completely forget your humanity. For me I am done – hospitalisation over Christmas does that to you. Next time any of you post about another human being perhaps consider wether you would look them in the eyes and say it? Ps ironically I have never owned a pair of ugg boots they were a rather smart pair of Rocket Dogs – funny how a misconception can become a truth

We also posted some supportive comments admiring your ,erm,”balls” for replying to us.Which, to be fair ,compared to the likes of snivelling senior council officer David Armstrong who resorts to making snide remarks at Council meetings to John Brace about charging us royalties for use of pictures from his blog your response can be seen as being either very brave or very foolish.

You’d think that someone who is supposed to be so media savvy would understand how things work in the blogosphere. You must have heard of Marshall McLuhan surely ?.The medium is the message and all that .We will always have the last word on here and it’s something you and your erstwhile colleagues never had and never will have any POWER or CONTROL over and that’s what really upsets you people.

And so of course this is what your response is really about –  trying to regain some control by playing the “poor me” card and bringing your children into it. What your children (who are hardly babes in arms) may or may not read is not our responsibility.The person who needs to take responsibility for their actions is you.

It’s also a bit rich (pun intended) to be claiming victimhood when a rough calculation indicates you have outstripped everyone (including former CX’s) when it comes to your pay-off(s).

Now time to put a couple of other “misconceptions” to bed :

Anonymity – we were accused in one of the replies of hiding behind anonymity to have a pop at Little Bo Peep .This seems a tad hypocritical coming from someone with the self-righteous nom de plume as Pastor Niemoller – actually that’s one of two aliases they use – so we’ll take no lectures from them both on the use and abuse of anonymity.

Let’s break it down and get back to what we stated before about power and control. The way this site operates means we do not face the same constraints as the local mainstream press – who despite some valiant campaigns can be compromised by threats to advertising revenue, a risk averse legal department or just lack of future co-operation from some some of the most important sources of news and some of the most powerful people in the area.

Plus it is not the job of the local media to hold local officials to account – it is local politicians and they have failed miserably and shamefully to do so.So how else do we ever hope to get stories like this which are very much in the PUBLIC INTEREST out there?.After all it’s the poor punters who pay their council tax who should have the right to know where the hell their money is going.

However vulgar and disrespectful it may seem to self righteous prigs like the Pastor Wirral Leaks is a place were the disenfranchised,the bullied ,the cowed,the downtrodden and the powerless have a voice and sometimes it’s an angry voice – an anger borne of frustration and injustice.And lets make no mistake what is written on here is exactly how ,behind closed doors, the so called respectable and powerful speak about other people and each other.

Private and personal – Our self appointed morality guardian Pastor “First they came for the hypocrites” Niemoller along with Degg also refers to “personal comments”.

This site is about public accountability and not personal attacks. Personal impropriety in the course of public duties will inevitably lead to comments about nepotism,conflict of interest and the appropriate use of public money and we make no apologies for that.

Although it goes against our ethos to edit,censor or redact replies we have refrained from publishing replies that we think are gratuitously insulting or appear to us to emanate purely from personal enmity (and believe us there were plenty of those).

However if indeed we are “creating an environment where Officers are so frightened of being the next ‘uggly’  ” we’d say that was a good thing.

Finally we’d like to give the last words (because that’s how it works round here) to one of our most valued contributors who somehow puts Degg’s plea into proper perspective :

” The difference is we ended up in hospital trying to make a corrupt system better, she , by trying to defend it…” 

The Bung,The Bad & The Uggly : Silence is a Golden Handshake

Two terse sentences brought to an end 13 long years in the chaotic world of Brighton Street on Monday:
“We can confirm that Emma Degg left the Council on Friday 17 July following her request for voluntary severance and an agreement being reached with her.
We wish her well for the future.”

Precisely who the “we” is wishing the now departed head of tourism and community engagement “well for the future” would be interesting to know, however.
Because there isn’t exactly a queue of people lining up to donate towards her leaving present.
Emma “Uggs” Degg is of course long known to regular readers of Wirral Leaks. She’s been directly and euphemistically referred to in virtually all of our reports.
Such was her influence right across Wirral Council, there seemed little that could be done without her first giving it the nod.
And that includes her control over and interference in replies to Freedom of Information requests…

During her tenure she held enormous sway over three chief executives – and got a fourth, the incumbent  Eric “Feeble” Robinson, to sign off her generous leaving package – which we’ll come to shortly.
Degg was in effect the de facto deputy chief executive to previous CX Graham Burgess and Jim Wilkie before him, again, more of which later.

There are anecdotes galore about her antics. About her manipulations, her tantrums, her politicking, back-biting, hair pulling out, floor-rolling hysterics, wild accusations and constant poison-dripping.

There are those colourful relationships with certain senior council officers, too.
For a long time – too long a time – none of it seemed to matter.
Such was her vice-like grip on the balls of weak men in powerful positions – and let’s make no bones about it, we’re looking at every single individual, elected or employed, who failed to act against her histrionics – Degg remained untouchable for over a decade as she rose from mere spin doctor to taking up residence in the office next to the boss.

To the abject horror of many inside and outside our rotten borough, she appeared to be unstoppable – right up until the wheels began to fall off in October 2013.
That was when a letter was sent out to the local press detailing how Degg – who earned £84,000 a year of your council tax – had been paid a further, tax-free, hush-hush one-off payment of £48,000 out of the public purse.

The 2013 letter, since obtained by Wirral Leaks, said: “It was paid through the payroll and was tax-free, being classed as compensation – apparently in relation to her being bullied and ill-treated at work.
“The payment was authorised by Graham Burgess, the [then] Chief Executive and Chris Hyams, the head of human resources and organisational development.
“It is unclear as to whether elected members were involved in the decision to make this payment, or indeed, are even aware of it.
“External legal advice was sought as to making the payment, so that will add to the bill for the residents of Wirral.”

Though Degg was never identified as the recipient at the time, the reaction throughout the council was instant: Utter consternation.
But still she clung on.
Burgess of course skipped out of Brighton Street on New Year’s Eve, under circumstances that appear related to secretive and possibly romantic goings on between himself and Degg – and that of Degg and the director of regeneration, Kevin Adderley.
The heat was very definitely on, so Burgess scuttled out of the kitchen.

Since then Degg has largely been absent from the town hall, supposedly through illness.
Yet as one Leaker informed us yesterday: “Just had a call from… who were told this morning that she had decided to leave after being off ill for some time. What a joke.
“They have played the whole ‘she’s been off ill for some time’ card with the staff. One of the things that took so long was agreeing how she would go.
“She has even been putting the feelers out for who might like to go for leaving drinks with her (presumably to celebrate her massive cheque)…. Er, that will be no one, thanks.”

Ah yes – the massive cheque.
Another letter obtained by Wirral Leaks from what appears to be the same well-informed source behind the 2013 revelation about the £48,000 payment – a payment that to this day has never been explained to council taxpayers – offers up some details.
If you have recently left the council’s employ with a meagre pay off – or if you have left because you couldn’t work with or alongside Degg or her ever shrinking number of acolytes – then you may want to look away now……

She leaves with three month’s pay in lieu of notice, £35,000 in redundancy, and a £15,000 compromise agreement to keep her mouth shut.
The letter writer adds: “What makes it even worse is she insisted on receiving £50,000 cash to go – so the council has paid the income tax and national insurance on her behalf – so the taxable element of her payment has cost the council £27,000.
“It all means that Emma Degg’s take home pay for July is £97,000.”
(Interesting how Wirral Council always – always – has money to pay off senior staff members, but cries penury whenever we want some actual services, isn’t it?).

The writer also says the first £48,000 payment was not for “bullying” after all.
It was “hush money as she had threatened to divulge certain information publicly”.
What that information was we can still only speculate. But it presumably wasn’t her poisonous briefing in 2008 that adult social services whistleblower Martin Morton was “a bit bonkers”.
Another Leaker, themselves in a different job after years working near Degg, contacted Leaky Towers yesterday, to say: “I don’t think I realised what an abnormal environment I was working in while working with her.
“[The new job has been] a massive eye opener… to make me realise how much [working in proximity to Degg] had really affected me. My default position with her was self-defence mode!
“[Now there is] No getting a million people to sign anything off, no worrying about whether I was allowed to share, and no being scared that I may have said too much.
“No drama and no one barking orders or screaming at people for doing things wrong. I am glad she has gone but so disappointed and let down she has been paid off.”

It’s interesting that part of the severance package included £35,000 “redundancy” – does that mean the role of head of tourism has now been deleted?
Surely the long-suffering council taxpayers of Wirral should be told?
As for the £15,000 to keep schtum – something Jim Wilkie, Graham Burgess and Kevin Adderley (at least) will be desperately hoping she sticks to – it seems pretty unlikely to be a watertight agreement.
Emma Degg knows where all the bodies are buried at Wirral Council. Not least because she helped bury many of them.
The question now is: Will the gatekeeper turn poacher in revenge?

The Female Touch

Where Wirral Leaks lead the local moribund politicos and commentators are sure to follow ( evidenced by Frankenfield recently making the fatal mistake of giving us public acknowledgment when frankly(!) we never sought it and especially from a clapped -out desperado like him. )

The latest manifestation of “The Wirral Leaks Effect” are the pleas for a homegrown Chief Executive to replace another clapped out desperado – Comrade Burgesski

SEE HERE

The need to have someone in a position of power who actually gives a shit (and we don’t mean dog shit ) about Wirral rather than using their appointment as a means to fund their executive lifestyle far from the dereliction, decay and despair of some parts of the peninsula is something we’ve commented on frequently.

And yes we’re talking about former social services director John ” Curly Watts” Webb and former Chief Executive Steve ” Mad Dog” Maddox here – both of whom were not averse to disparaging the people of Wirral but were quite happy to take their hard earned money off them before sodding off to leafy Cheshire.

However we’d like to take this even further and daringly suggest (deep breath)……How about a Chief Executive of the female persuasion?
I know !  Rad- Fem or what?

We suggest this – not in an equal opportunities tickbox kind of way (although Lord knows it’s the only explanation for some of Wirral Council’s most senior appointments) but as a means of challenging Wirral Council’s macho culture.

From what we know of the Wirral Council Chief Officers meeting it’s like the cast list of “The Expendables” – testosterone -fuelled phonies in pursuit of a big pay cheque.
The irony being is that these all talk and no-action heroes think everyone who works for Wirral Council is expendable except for them ! ( including the formerly favoured one who seems to have more gardening leave than Alan Titchmarsh on a sabbatical in Ness Gardens).

Wirral Council’s record of appointing women to high office is absolutely woeful and we think goes some way to explaining the gung ho bullying culture which has plagued the council for many years. There has never been a female chief executive and women directors you can count on the one hand ( “Yeah Abu Hamza’s …” drawled Her Ladyship)…… Under the circumstances we’re not surprised that the current most senior female officer has even been wavering about going lately – and no we don’t mean that one ….she just thinks she’s the most senior ranking female officer…..

What’s more we think that an added bonus for the people of Wirral is that a female Chief Executive might be more inclined to keep her mind on serving the people of Wirral and not be distracted from the job in hand by the nearby fluttering of eyelashes………