Election Anticipation Part 2 – Political Tricks in Pensby & Thingwall

A concerned voter from the Pensby & Thingwall ward has been in touch with us  about the sitting councillor Phill ‘Two L and Back’ Brightmore and his rather casual approach to facts .They told us :

I am a resident in the Thingwall/Pensby ward. I recently received a leaflet through my door from Councillor Phillip Brightmore which stated that a leaked document from the council showed that the Green Belt land in his ward had been recommended for rejection, and he claimed that after much campaigning “we have been listened to”.

This strongly inferred that he was responsible for saving the Green Belt in his ward.

I have been in conversation via email with him for the past week, challenging him on this issue as the Green Belt review is still in progress, and his claims were not consistent with the council’s statement on the current situation. After many emails, on 28th April I received and email from him stating that “the council has made no decision, and those who tell you it has are incorrect”. We have come a full circle!!

The rather tetchy response that our source received is as follows:

However as you can see from the original leaflet it would appear that Cllr Brightmore knows his own ‘political tricks’ best . Despite his best attempts at gaslighting  it is no wonder our source didn’t need to convince herself that he was, in his words, ‘lying’.

The impression we get from all this is that, in a ward that promises to be  close call between Brightmore and former Wirral Council employee turned Tory politician Mike Collins, that the former has had to resort to the ‘political tricks’ exposed above . We just pity the poor voters of Pensby & Thingwall having to choose between these two.

However it would be a real shame for the Labour Party if Brightmore were to lose as he seems to have similar attributes of outgoing local Labour Group ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies when it comes to honesty,integrity,openness and transparency. As our readers will appreciate , that is not meant as a compliment or a recommendation.

The Local Election Circus Comes To Wirral

The names in the frames have been announced  for the local elections to be held on Thursday May 2 2019 . So we bring you the Wirral Leaks cut out and keep guide to where we think  the keenest contests will take place and which candidates to watch.

The first match up that caught our eye was the political celebrity death match to be held in the Rock Ferry ward where  ‘Independent’ Cllr Chris Meaden goes head to head with the official Labour candidate and former local Labour Group leader Yvonne Nolan.

Credit where it’s due at least Cllr Meaden is throwing herself into the ring and is prepared to put herself to an electoral test unlike Councillors Mike Sullivan, Moira McLaughlin and Bill Davies who also fly under the flag of ‘Independent’. It will be interesting to see whether the Rock Ferry electorate vote for ‘personality’ over ‘politics’. Although with Rock Ferry regularly having the lowest voter turn out in the local elections we suspect that the winner of this particular political battle will be the one who best galvanises the local electorate from their political apathy. Good luck with that one.

Elsewhere judging by the resources that the local Labour group are throwing at the Birkenhead & Tranmere and Prenton wards, and the results last time round, it would seem they are anticipating a strong challenge from Green Party candidates Steve Hayes and Chris Cooke respectively.  The former is contesting current Wirral Council leader Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies’ ward now that the cowardly lion has bailed out of facing a public vote . The latter is up against Labour Wirral Council Cabinet member for being permanently excited, Cllr Angie Davies, who has been touted as a potential Labour Group leader (no laughing at the back) so this will be a particularly interesting ward to keep an eye on.

Another anticipated closely fought political battle involving someone else who has been spoken of as a future Labour Group leader will be taking place in the Pensby & Thingwall ward where Cllr Phill ‘Two L and Back’ Brightmore faces Conservative candidate Mike Collins , who we know is a particular favourite of ex Wirral Council control room staff. When Collins stood last time in this ward the final count was very close. So who will take the spoils this time round? The political heavyweight or the actual heavyweight? People of Pensby & Thingwall you decide!

Astonishingly we find that Cllr Steve ‘Foulkesy’ Foulkes  is actually allowed to stand in the Claughton ward. It is an appalling indictment of the state of Wirral politics and the standard of its politicians. And then again look at his ‘proposer’,  fellow Claughton councillor George Davies. Of course, Davies , as Frank Field’s electoral agent is used to doing the dirty work when it comes to such matters.  Below is a picture from the local elections last time around and what the lucky people of Claughton can look forward to suddenly appearing on the doorstep over the next few weeks – but then knowing what the people of Claughton know about Foulkesy’s antics over the years they get what they deserve

And finally… if the name of the UKIP candidate for the Wallasey ward is to be believed it would appear that Santa Claus is coming to town in time for the local elections but then it must be said we don’t believe in any of them…

 

 

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.

 

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch # 14

We’re sorry to have to do this to you folks but it’s you lot who suddenly started sending us election stuff and which included the above picture from a clearly disillusioned potential voter. Therefore this week’s dispatch will mainly be an election special . However we’ll start off first with a follow up to last week’s Wallasey Town Hall carpet story  :

BLACK IS THE NEW BLACK

A Wirral Leaks reader writes :

A shiny new black BMW Mayoral car floating about the Borough….is there no shame this local Labour council will stoop too? Had to do a double take in New Brighton tonight and yep it’s a new GERMAN BMW …..no chance of this upstanding gobshite of a council supporting struggling Vauxhall whose livelihood of about 1/4 of Wirral residents are hanging in the balance.

Am sure someone will supply pics of the car and the carpet!

POACHERS TURNED GAMEKEEPERS

Meanwhile we’ve been receiving news of former Wirral Council staff who fancy their chances when it comes to being councillors. Presumably on the grounds that they couldn’t be any worse than their former political paymasters!

One such candidate is this handsome chappy who is standing for the Conservatives in Pensby, Thingwall and Barnston :

Not sure it will go down too well with ex-Wirral Council staff who he screwed over. But it will certainly explain the hasty retreat by former and current Conservative councillors who feigned support for the ‘Control and Patrol’ staff who were shamefully made redundant.

However in the interest of political balance we’ve also been made aware of a Labour candidate who was previously an employee of the Department of Adult Social Services (DASS) . This fact alone sets alarm bells ringing for us. However we’re reliably informed that this candidate is being cruelly indulged for their loyalty to the party than for any real prospect of victory. This would seem to be the case as they are contesting the Heswall ward which as we all know is a ‘Momentum’ hotbed. However our informant tells us that in the highly unlikely event that they succeed in getting elected then we all need to order the cyanide capsules (well you lot do anyway).

DOWNWARD MOBILITY

Shocking news arrives that current Pensby , Thingwall and Barnston councillor Louise Reecejones (LRJ) could be losing her mobility vehicle! #sadface

Fear not LRJ.  Labour MP Frank Field loves to challenge this kind of injustice. Perhaps you can give him a tinkle (not a euphemism, obvs). Or perhaps not – you’re not part of the ‘Inner Ring’ are you? Have you got any compromising and incriminating recordings handy? That might help! Just sayin’!

COUNCILLOR.NET RESULT

We’ve been asked about our  Wirral Leaks Election Selection – 1 week to go story and to justify the fact that Green Party councillor Pat Cleary appears to give an actual shit. The first thing we have to say is that we don’t have to justify anything we write. We just have to evidence it. Much as Cllr Cleary appears to have done.  From what we can gather all councillors were required years ago to report problems in their own wards and submit all cases through Councillor.Net which is an internal Web portal for use only by councillors. What’s more any councillor who claims to be reporting stuff in other ways is ignoring official advice and increasing costs to the council because it is alleged that Councillor.Net is apparently very efficient – which let’s face it is a first for Wirral Council!

AND FINALLY …… WORD OF THE WEEK

Take your pick as to which Wirral councillor this quote applies to. All we will say for now is that the facinorous nature of some local election candidates (and their agents) will be revealed tomorrow in all its sordid glory on Wirral Leaks ………

 

This Gun (Ain’t) For Hire

 

Our attention has been drawn to a number of interesting Facebook posts this week. This includes one posted yesterday by Conservative councillor Chris Blakeley which read :

Earlier this evening I was at Wallasey Town Hall for a special scrutiny meeting requisitioned by the Conservatives to look into the activity of Wirral Community Patrol and try to find out why it provides free security checks to private business and individuals.

The debate was interesting, with former Leader of the Council, Labour’s Steve Foulkes accusing the conservatives of trying to make political gain, and referring to me as ‘A hired Gun’. I must have done something right then!

Anyway at the end of the meeting and to try to be helpful i moved a motion that read:

‘Committee resolves to set up a Task and Finish group to carry out a full review of Wirral’s Community Patrol service and on completion of the review the findings be reported back to the Environment Committee.’

Now I thought, being an innocuous and non political motion that it would get all party support. How wrong was I with the Labour Councillors and the Lib Dem voting against. Just what have they got to hide?

First of all we see that the long running Blakeley v Foulkesy feud continues. Oh how Blakeley must’ve loved being at the Standards Panel earlier this year where Foulkesy’s serial mendacity was discussed ad nauseum. However the satisfaction must’ve been purely personal as Foulkesy staggeringly continues to be a councillor and therefore able to bait Bulldog Blakeley with his old standby about Conservatives trying to make ‘political gain’ by requisitioning pointless political point scoring meetings. As for ‘political gain’ how does Foulkesy reconcile this statement with asking his badly bequiffed bestie Cllr George Davies asking for a document smearing the Conservative group leader Jeff Green in exchange for cold, hard cash?.

However let’s get back to the political pantomime that is Blakeley v Foulkesy.  The respective Rottweilers of Wirral’s leading (and constantly) feuding political parties. Shame the pair of them were neutered a long time ago and this is purely for entertainment purposes with Blakeley keeping his powder dry and Foulkesy firing blanks.

Witness as Foulkesy  refers to Blakeley as a ” A hired Gun” (sic) – so tell us Foulkesy who is Blakeley hired by?. Meanwhile Blakeley asks the question about Labour and Lib Dem councillors :“Just what have they got to hide?” . So tell us Blakeley what exactly have they got to hide?

The fact is you’ve all got something to hide. As this missive to Leaky Towers seems to testify :

Councillor Blakeley posted on Facebook today that the conservative party has lodged an investigation into Wirral community patrol to the councils scrutiny committee.

The reason believed to be community patrol officers security checks on Angela Eagle’s headquarters in Liscard is just not a big deal at all.

They should be investigating how the Wirral Community Patrol Limited came about and what was the reasons for Atlas Fire and Security owner Mr Piggott branding this council service – illegal by the way.

Also ex – Wirral Community patrol manager John Kenny and his ex -Assistant manager Mike Collins setting up Atlas Security Patrol and then plundering over 40% of Wirral Community Patrols business using insider knowledge of their pricing structure.

This is well known by the head of the Wirral Conservative Party and Mr Blakeley but inspection of Facebook sites shows they are both friends with Mike Collins who is also a Conservative Party member who only last year ran in the Bromborough ward.They always protect their friends no matter what party.

Atlas Patrol are now part of the Wirral Chamber elite with their best mate Adderley – head honcho.  Watch this space…… 

We note that the former Conservative councillor Leah Fraser , who was the most prominent champion of the Community Patrol guys, is no longer a Conservative councillor. She follows on from Simon Mountney – the Conservative councillor who championed the notorious Martin Morton whistleblowing case. Seems to us that if you speak up for those treated unfairly by Wirral Council – you have no future with the local Conservative Party.

All this does from our perspective is to reiterate our clarion call to all the talented , intelligent , ambitious young people of personal integrity on Wirral and that is to get out of this incestuous, pernicious peninsula as fast as you can………..

Oh , and finally we don’t expect Cllr Blakeley to retweet or like this blog post on Facebook because we don’t and never will be seeking his or any other Wirral councillor’s approval. We ain’t for hire. EVER.