Apparently the document titled ‘MP for Birkenhead personal statement TonyNorbury’ below was left in the Member’s Room at Wallasey Town Hall and has, inevitably, found its way to Leaky Towers.
We’ll leave you to decide if Norbury’s script for arguably the most powerful and influential political position on Wirral will land him the part as the MP for Birkenhead. Certainly Cllr Norbury makes the presumption that the current incumbent, Frank Field, is a fading star and the town needs a new leading man.
Only one comment from us (for now anyway) . If Norbury is truly committed to “‘Showing Racism The Red Card’ wherever it rears its ugly head” we’d like to ask whether this is a direct reference to Field’s electoral agent , Cllr George Davies ?
And so we finally reach the grand finale of the Leaky Awards 2017 and taking our cue from the #TimesUp contingent at the Golden Globes we’ll be wearing black. The clock may been ticking down for us but may it also do the same on the abuse of power – wherever it takes place and in whatever form.
However we’ll spare you the dreary , self-righteous speeches – it’s on with the show and our first award of the evening…….
Campaign of the Year
Winner – Defend Our NHS (Wirral)
The local branch of the DONHS have throughout the year provided us with information about future plans for the NHS and particularly about Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STP) that should concern us all , especially as Wirral Council are a key strategic player via the Clinical Commissioning Group.
Runner Up – Wirral Needs
If only for the chant ” Labour Council listen to the people”. Our advice to them after 7 years of banging our head against a brick wall is that they won’t so you’ll have to make them ! The only way they will be forced to listen is at your local constituency party meetings and in the run up to the local elections this May. After that it’ll be the same old,same old – personal interest and political ambition taking precedence over the public interest. Don’t say we didn’t tell you!
Campaign Fail of the Year
Winner – Wirral Labour ‘Keep Wirral Green’ campaign
How Wirral Labour reconciled this campaign with proposals and developments for assaults on the Green Belt at Saughall Massie, Hoylake and Thornton Hough etc; we can only hazard a guess but full marks for the sheer PR chutzpah .
Runner up – Frank Field/Wirral Globe nurses car parking charges at Arrowe Park Hospital (aka Wirral University Teaching Hospital – WUTH )
Whilst it was undoubtedly a worthy campaign we noted how WUTH CEO David Allison received the petition from Field, gave some bland assurances and then promptly disappeared in a cloud of controversy.We suspect that any incoming CEO will have their work cut-out just keeping WUTH afloat and car parking charges won’t be a priority . Meanwhile we note that Field is strangely silent about more wide reaching proposals for car parking charges across Wirral that are set to be introduced by Wirral Council. And once again we have to ask is this the only income generation scheme that Wirral Council can come up with and is it even legal?
David Allison : Yeah whatevs Frank I don’t need this right now. But love your tank top .
Comeback of the Year
Winner Esther McVey, MP for Tatton
Back from the dead
The former MP for Wirral West returns to high office as Work and Pensions Secretary in this week’s Cabinet reshuffle . Somehow this cat on a hot tin roof always manages to land on her kitten heels . And for all her talk of female empowerment we think that McVey is the quintessential beneficiary of modern day political nepotism , where ambition exceeds talent . The only contribution of note to the local political scene when she was a Wirral West MP was when she hijacked the Martin Morton whistleblowing case for personal and political advantage at Prime Minister’s Questions (apparently Morton knew nothing about it) . What happened after she raised the issue with David Cameron is a particularly worrying episode but alas we won’t be able to do it justice here. Perhaps one day the full shameful tale will be told.
Runner Up Stewart Halliday – the economic migrant/consultant from York who crossed the Pennines escaping infamy to make his fortune on Wirral with his two consultancy stints earning him circa £200K. So will Wirral Council kindly tell us whether he’s still around and what exactly we got for our money?
This man can do a powerpoint presentation and bullshit at the same time ! Therefore Wirral Council must give him as much money as they can.
Comrades of the Year – Cllr Louise Reecejones (LRJ) and Cllr Steve Foulkes (Foulkesy)
Were LRJ and Foulkesy separated at birth? Whilst they share so many characteristics none of them can be found in the Nolan Principles! See for yourself :
LRJ Standards Panel investigation report : The Panel found the evidence of Cllr Louise Reecejones to be inconsistent,vague and misleading. The Panel did not therefore find Cllr Reecejones to be credible.
Foulkesy Standards Panel investigation report : I found it difficult to get Cllr Foulkes to be precise or detailed . His responses were vague,inclined to be evasive and I found them ‘economical with the truth ‘ and unconvincing.
Yes, just the kind of low lifes we want making decisions about our lives,eh?
Accessories of the Year –
Winner – Paula Basnett ,CEO Wirral Chamber of Commerce for those shoes.
These understated little numbers were considered suitable daywear to shortlist nominees for yet another awards ceremony and did not in anyway reinforce our perception that Ms Basnett and her organisation are all about flash presentation and very little else.
Runner up All Wirral councillors wielding ‘Show Racism the Red Card’placards as a virtue signalling accessory. But especially the local Labour group who tolerate racists in their midst. But can anyone spot Deputy Leader Cllr George Davies in the picture?
Best Picture of Unwanted Copies of Wirral View
Winner
Runner Up
Whilst appropriately enough both pictures position copies of woeful Wirral View next to their final destination – a bin – we’d like to think the winner of this category contributed to the dumping (no pun intended) of the original Liverpool -based distributor of Wirral View. Unfortunately a £750,000 3 year print deal with Trinity Mirror means we’re burdened with this lumbering white elephant for the forseeable future. Compare and contrast with Wirral Leaks which has cost council taxpayers of Wirral £0 and we would argue has been more effective in addressing the ‘information deficit’ of local people, particularly when we’ve been providing information that Wirral Council don’t want you to know about!
Wirral’s annual entry in Rotten Boroughs Awards 2017
Winner Ex- Wirral councillor Jim Crabtree
Included in Private Eye’s Rotten Boroughs 2017 ‘Quotes of the Year’ is this fine example of ‘doublespeak’ from former Wirral Councillor Jim ‘Crabby’ Crabtree. It’s a year to the day that Crabtree pleading guilty to offences under the Communications Act 2003 and it’s frightening to think that his well deserved fall from grace might never have happened if his increasingly appalling conduct hadn’t been reported on Wirral Leaks. As a quote from one of our Labour sources testifies when they raised concerns about Crabtree’s fitness to be a councillor – “The comment from George Davies was ‘better the devil you know’ while Frank (Field) thinks he’s the best thing sinceslicedbread” – the local Labour group were reluctant to rein him in . Furthermore we understand that they failed to address allegations made by a whistleblower about grant monies which Crabtree allegedly should have paid back to Wirral Council.
To mark the event at the full meeting of Wirral Council held on 16th October Cllr Tony Norbury recited a poem. Fortunately John Brace was able to capture the recital for posterity HERE . Now we can’t say it was one of the greatest orations we’ve ever heard but for those of you with strong stomachs and no gag reflexes it’s well worth enduring – if only for the closing line. Which was :
The darkness around us is very deep
No seriously, Cllr Norbury uttered those immortal words , seemingly without a trace of irony. Under the circumstances the assembled throng of elected members holding up red cards with ‘ Show Racism The Red Card’ emblazoned on them with different translations of the slogan on the reverse has to be a contender for the empty political gesture of the year (and that’s always a particularly strong category).
Needless to say when it comes to certain councillors we know already that the hardfaced don’t get redfaced but as far as we’re concerned nobody’s hands holding those cards were clean .
Of course whilst councillors wouldn’t know about ‘the Sorrento incident’ they can’t say they didn’t know about the ‘Wirralgate incident’ involving Cllr George Davies , which although now 4 years old still reverberates around the corridors of power at Wallasey Town Hall.
Although the racist slur that forms part of the ‘Wirralgate’ recording is by no means the only disturbing aspect of the telephone conversation between Cllr Davies and a disgruntled ex-employee of Wirral Council , we have to say we had our doubts when we heard that Cllr George Davies had been recorded saying that former Wirral Council CEO Graham Burgess had thought that his former head of law was a “bloody useless Chink” . Whilst we had no trouble accepting the “bloody useless” bit – the pejorative description of Surjit Tour as a “Chink” didn’t seem to make any sense in terms of ethnicity, race or heritage. However the slur has subsequently been confirmed by a disparate range of sources – so who are we to dispute it? What’s more, and on reflection, it made perfect sense as a particular kind of old school casual racism which is deeply ingrained and borne out of sheer ignorance and an appreciation of Bernard Manning.
However what we have never been able to reconcile is that after hearing the ‘Wirralgate’ tape recording himself why didn’t namesake and Wirral Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies suspend Cllr George Davies and refer the matter to Wirral Council’s Standards Panel ? Instead he facilitated the means by which a racial slur becomes sanitised and minimised as an ‘inappropriate comment’ in a report written by a certain Peter Mackay that never saw the light of day. Way to go, Pip!
Under these circumstances it seems to us that it’s a case of ” Show Racism the Red Card – unless it’s a well connected Bluenose” ……and no race awareness/race equality course or waving a red card in the air is ever going to remedy that kind of hypocrisy. We just wish councillors would spare us the self righteous, sanctimonious empty political gestures when we know that certain councillors are clearly comfortable in the company of people who make racist comments.
Wirralleaks 