In the wake of the astounding revelation that the Department of Communities and Local Government had paid their interim financial chief £580k for 16 months work, the Local Government Chronicle reports that Eric Pickles has been trying to justify his fiscal exuberance. Pickles told a select committee that the staggering sum was due to the difficulty [...]
Eric Pickles, for whom lambasting councils for supposedly wasteful spending is a stock in trade, has paid his department’s interim finance chief nearly £600,000 for only 16 months work. The department’s permanent secretary revealed the shocking figure — more than £36,000 per month — to a committee of MPs described as “speechless” by LGC’s Alistair [...]
The unfortunately worded front page of the Tories’ official site suggests Ed Miliband may not be the only person who disagrees with Cameron on the riots: Doubtless we will shortly see Eric Pickles distributing free hoodies in deprived London boroughs.
Today is the day that the hacking and privacy invasion scandal moved inside the Conservative Party. After news broke yesterday that a justice minister faces an official investigation over “blagging”, it has now been revealed that Tory HQ paid private investigators to spy on the private lives of its own supporters. The 2010 “I’ve never [...]
Back in 2004, Eric Pickles slammed council chief executives for spending taxpayers’ money on expensive trips: “At a time when pensioners are scrimping and saving to pay their council tax it is outrageous that councillors are going on foreign freebies. They should show some solidarity with taxpayers and pay towards these trips.” But there seems [...]
In a move somewhat out of kilter with efforts to portray his department as the vanguard of openness in government, ”transparency champion” Eric Pickles has attempted to block councils releasing data on spending. In June 2010, Pickles called for councils to publish details of all spending over £500 in full and online, saying: “Getting council business [...]
DCLG has been in lock-down for months over allegations that one of Eric Pickles’ special advisers smeared a public official. In contrast with his rhetoric about the “sunlight of openness”, the cabinet minister has done everything within his power to resist enquiries about the identity of the source behind a vicious negative briefing against the former head [...]
Eric Pickles’ team are closing ranks to protect his most senior aides. Neither of his special advisers have been disciplined despite an unprecedented letter from the cabinet secretary reprimanding David Cameron for their behaviour, Local Government Chronicle revealed (£) this week. In September 2010, Electoral Commission chair Jenny Watson was smeared as “incompetent” and “milking the taxpayer” by a [...]
