Barnet should learn to Welch

Last week, the Council debated the Scrutiny Committee’s report into the way £27.4 million of our money was recklessly invested in the failed Icelandic banks.

Needless to say, the report was watered down to detract any criticism of the Cabinet Member for Resources (Mike Freer) whose committee was required under the Constitution to set and monitor the council’s treasury investment policy.

Politicians are a pretty discredited bunch at the moment. To regain the public’s trust, perhaps Cllr Freer should consider the wise words of Jack Welch, the retired chairman of General Electric Corporation:

“As Leader, you must take the blame and accept responsibility for any failings or mistakes that your people make. Never never never publicly blame another person for a failing. Their failing is your responsibility - true leadership offers no hiding place for a true leader.”

Pot, Kettle, Black

Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, recently issued a press statement criticising Councillor Lynne Hillan’s proposal to slash the warden service for residents living in sheltered accommodation.

Barnet Council Watch is no supporter of Mr Dismore, but neither does it support the proposal to cut a service which so many elderly residents have come to rely on.

In response to Mr Dismore, Cllr Hillan issued her own statement saying: “To suggest services should not change and develop as circumstances dictate shows he remains wedded to the past. The fact is he has never been a minister, nor held political office when he was a Westminster councillor, means he has no experience of managing budgets or having to make tough decisions.”

Creditors of Lynne Hillan’s company, Ashurst Direct Marketing Ltd, which went into liquidation in September 2006 with debts of more than £121,000 (including £10,650 to the taxman) probably have reasonable grounds to question her ability to manage a budget.

Cllr Hillan has yet to make a public statement as to whether she will accept or refuse the 14% rise in her council allowances which she recently voted for herself.

Has Brian Coleman been silenced?

Barnet Council Watch detests censorship. Freedom of expression is a central tenet of a democratic and civilised society, so when the Barnet Times removed one of Rog T’s blogs from their web site, it was republished here in full.

The same fate seems to have befallen a press release issued by Brian Coleman which has mysteriously disappeared off the GLA website.

The circumstances surrounding this story can be found on the Tory Troll blog.

Rog T and Brian Coleman are poles apart politically, but they both have strongly held views which they are not afraid to express in forthright terms. Barnet Council Watch defends their right to be heard, even if we disagree with much of what they both have to say.

Therefore we are republishing Cllr Coleman’s press release unedited so that you can read it and decide for yourself whether you think he is the best politician in London or an overpaid egotist with a big mouth.

Edgware candidate selected

Another Barnet Council Watch Exclusive!

Hendon Conservatives have selected their candidate to fight the by-election in Edgware ward to be held on June 4th.

Senior Conservatives were reportedly furious when Barnet Council Watch exclusively revealed that Alison Cornelius, wife of Cllr Richard Cornelius, had been selected to fight the by-election in Totteridge before they had issued their press statement. So to give the other local newspapers a fighting chance, all we will say for now is that the candidate is a former actuary and a leading local campaigner who was instrumental in setting up a school in the Borough.

Barnet Council Watch strongly supports the selection of a candidate who understands financial matters.

The by-election has been caused by the resignation of Richard Weider who has emigrated to Israel. However, in a parting message, it seems that all is not well within the ranks of Tory councillors.

Writing on his blog, Cllr Weider says: “Being a Councillor has many benefits, including being able to make a difference for your local community. However, being a Councillor also means that I had to accept collective responsibility and so I had to limit my views made in public, whether I agreed or disagreed with a Conservative Policy.”

A Conservative party member who disagrees with Conservative policy? It seems to be becoming a common event.

Richard continues: “Now that I am relinquishing my responsibilities I will again use this blog to express my opinion on various issues and events.”

It is a rather sad state of affairs when one of our elected representatives feels unable to speak his mind, but we all look forward to reading Richard’s blog in earnest after the election.

Is there anybody out there?

At the last Hendon Residents Forum, I asked the council to provide visitor statistics for the Leader Listens website. According to the answer given, the site had a total of 98,230 page views between October 2008 and February 2009 - an average of 19,646 views per month.

That is a pretty impressive figure! It is also incorrect.

At last night’s council meeting, the leader stated that his site actually receives “in excess of 1,000 page views per month” - a mere 5% of the previously quoted figure. Not quite so impressive.

At the Residents Forum, we were told that for the five months above, the site had been visited a total of 23,664 times - an average of 4,732 times a month. Also impressive and also incorrect.

The figure given last night was just 912 visits over a six month period - an average of 150 visits per month (3.2% of the figure previously claimed).

Now I have no idea why the previous figures were so inflated, but the statistics demonstrate one point very clearly - nobody is reading the leader’s blog.

Rog T recently observed on his blog that the leader rarely posts any new articles - and now we know why. There is no point in the leader wasting his time, especially when most of his readers are councillors, council officers and comrade bloggers.

Hazel Blears MP has apparently praised Barnet for its use of social media. I wonder if the Rt. Hon. Secretary of State has been given the stats?

150 visitors a month is frankly pathetic and proves that the whole exercise has been a complete waste of public money.

If people really want to know what is going on in Barnet, they only need to bookmark this site, and it doesn’t cost taxpayers a penny!

Number Crunching

What a bizarre comment!

Regular readers will know that Mayor Elect Brian Coleman recently said that Twitter is for twits. Council Leader Mike Freer is an avid Twitterer.

Earlier today, Cllr Freer posted the following message:-

"Select Committee report into Icelandic Deposits - bizarre conclusions. Charities good - compensate. Councils bad - don't compensate!!"

Unlike most charities, councils employ teams of treasury experts to look after taxpayers money. They have access to all manner of financial reports which warn of problems in the markets. Barnet Council has admitted that it ignored clear warnings not to invest in Iceland.

As all Conservatives know, the government does not have any money of its own. It only has what it takes from us in taxes or, in Gordon Brown’s case, what he borrows from our children and grandchildren. It would be manifestly unjust to expect one set of taxpayers to bail out another.

Those people living in Boroughs whose councils were more financially responsible would, quite understandably, be rather annoyed if they were forced to pay more tax just to spare the blushes of a few reckless and irresponsible councils.

The Icelandic Business Minister, Gylfi Magnusson, has already said that councils are unlikely to get all of their money back - which will result in either reduced services or increased tax bills for people living in the affected Boroughs.

Rather than apologise and face the consequences at the ballot box, it seems some councils think that innocent taxpayers should have to pay for their mistakes, and let them off the hook.

How bizarre.

Spot The Difference

“The credit crisis has hit Barnet but it does not mean that we have lost any money and therefore we cannot at this time say how any services or capital projects, if any, will be affected.”
Leader Listens, 23rd October 2008

“…A lot of creditors will not be paid back in full. There simply aren’t the assets left in the collapsed banks that would be sufficient to pay all creditors.”
Gylfi Magnusson, Icelandic Business Minister, 19th February 2009

“…Residents can be assured that if the Icelandic authorities refuse to honour our deposits I will continue to press the Chancellor for a guarantee that he will provide the taxpayers of this borough with the same protection he has given to the banking sector who exposed themselves to the same institutions.
Leader Listens, 23rd October 2008

“They [Councils] have a duty to the taxpayer diligently to protect the money they are investing on their behalf. Some authorities have shown themselves to be better than others in this regard. Under these circumstances, it would seem perverse to reward those authorities who failed to protect their investment with yet more money from the taxpayer.”
All Party Treasury Select Committee, 3rd April 2009

Mr & Mrs Totteridge

As exclusively predicted last month by Barnet Council Watch, sources have disclosed that Alison Cornelius, wife of Cllr Richard Cornelius, was selected last night to fight the ultra safe Conservative seat of Totteridge at the by-election to be held on June 4th.

Cllr Lynne Hillan, who hopes to take over from Mike Freer when he steps down as leader of the council later this year, had previously feared Alison’s selection as this would have meant another vote for Richard who was planning on challenging her for the top job, despite only having been a councillor himself for five minutes three years.

But following his election two weeks ago as the new Chairman of Chipping Barnet Conservative Association, Richard clearly does not have the time to take on any further responsibilities.

Whether Cllr Hillan will be elected leader unopposed remains to be seen. Barnet Council Watch hears that Tony “Safe Hands” Finn is being sounded out by the ABH group of councillors as a possible challenger.

Barnet orders new limousines for Mayor

Another Barnet Council Watch Exclusive!

Barnet Council has decided to replace its two Mayoral limousines at a cost of £60,000 each. Although the existing cars are relatively new, the council is ready to defend the decision against the likely barrage of criticism from the usual suspects that this is yet another example of wasting taxpayers money in difficult economic times.

A spokesman for the council told Barnet Council Watch “The new Mayor will elevate the status of the Mayoralty to a level never before seen in the Borough’s history and he is entitled to carry out his important duties in a vehicle befitting his status.”

When asked how the council could reconcile spending £120,000 on two cars whilst slashing the warden service to those living in sheltered accommodation, the spokesman said: “The office of Mayor brings with it over 800 years of tradition and a direct link to the monarch through parliament. The Mayor is the first citizen of the borough and only the Queen takes precedence. What sort of message will it send out to the public if the Mayor turns up to a civic event in a 5 year old Daimler?”

“Barnet residents are very loyal to the Queen and we are sure they will support the decision to buy these new cars.”

The spokesman claimed that the final bill was likely to be less than £120,000 as the council hoped to secure sponsorship of the new vehicles.