Tag Archives: eric pickles

Has Eric Pickles called in lawyers to hide source of smear briefing?

4:16pm Thu May 12th

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 of the Audit Commission.

And the pressure is clearly starting to take its toll. Following a report that Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell had been forced to conduct an investigation into the smears, leading DCLG attack dog Grant Shapps was dispatched to throw mud at the Local Government Chonicle’s Allister Hayman.

Even more instructive are the tell-tale signs that a legal operation may now be in place. An article on PR Week has now been edited to remove all references to Pickles’ political aides Sheridan Westlake and Giles Kenningham.

Perhaps the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers’ section on “dissemination of inappropriate material or personal attacks” can shed some light on why:

“Any special adviser ever found to be disseminating inappropriate material will automatically be dismissed by their appointing Minister.”

It doesn’t look very good for Messrs Westlake and Kenningham.

Cover up in DCLG as special advisers not reprimanded over smear briefings

1:02pm Sat April 16th

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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 source within the department, widely thought to be one of Pickles’ SpAds Sheridan Westlake or Giles Kenningham.

But in a response to a freedom of information request from Allister Hayman the department said:

“no disciplinary matters concerning the performance of special advisers” have been reported in the department since May 2010 and “no possible contract or code of conduct breaches by special advisers has been reported”.

This does not preclude the possibility that the offending SpAd received an off-the-record dressing down at a senior level. We can have no doubt, however, that Pickles is determined to shield Kenningham and Westlake, the latter of whom had a particularly formidable reputation within CCHQ, running the Tories’ Liberal Democrat attack unit.

Well-placed sources indicate the suspected SpAds are “still walking round DCLG like they own the place”.

Government plans “leper colony” offices for redundant staff

12:39pm Wed March 30th

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Government departments are moving redundant civil servants to separate offices dubbed “leper colonies” by disillusioned staff, Scrapbook can reveal.

With the term originally coined as gallows humour by under-threat workers in the Department for Transport, the “Next Phase of Change” document issued to all DCLG staff recently shows Eric Pickles is planning something similar as part of his swingeing 40% staff cuts.

The unfortunate ~~few~~ many will be sent to the deliciously euphemistic “re-deployment pool” before they are finally handed their P45. It is thought the empty offices of the (now axed) Government Office for London at Riverside Wharf will become the new home for those deemed surplus to requirements by bloodthirsty Pickles.

Beware dishevelled-looking Grade 7′s wandering along Millbank yelling “Unclean! Unclean!”

Eric Pickles requests gardening help

9:52am Tue March 29th

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With the Department of Communities and Local Government facing possible 40% job losses over the next two years it seems Eric Pickles now wants stretched staff to help with the gardening. Word reaches Scrapbook that workers have been “encouraged” to help with the watering of now neglected office plants.

Are these the “green shoots of recovery” we were promised?

Cabinet ministers under fire over links to “Conservative madrassa”

1:22pm Fri March 18th

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How wise were Cabinet members to speak at an event for a body whose leadership wants to kill off the NHS? Described as a “Conservative madrassa”, Young Britons’ Foundation chief Donal Blaney (pictured above with notorious Republican operative Karl Rove) has made calls to “scrap the NHS” while its president Daniel Hannan described the health service as a “60-year mistake”.

Iain Duncan Smith, Eric Pickles and Theresa Villiers spoke at the rally alongside race-baiting Romford MP Andrew Rosindell. Now the Communities Secretary has been challenged to explain his involvement with the event to the House of Commons:

Hilary Benn: Will the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government come to the House to explain why he decided to attend the recent meeting of the Young Britons’ Foundation, an organisation whose president has described the NHS as a 60-year mistake and whose chief executive has called for it to be scrapped? Was the Secretary of State there to pick up tips on how to destroy local government from people who want to destroy the NHS?

This is not the first time the Conservative Party has been embarassed by YBF, whose voter-repelling right wing views and links to US neoconservatives weren’t exactly flavour of the month during last year’s general election campaign.

We guess Donal Blaney’s blog won’t be returning any time soon.

Will Hutton slaps down Pickles and Shapps on PM pay comparison

10:53am Tue March 15th

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Numerous Coalition figures, the main offenders being Eric Pickles and his DCLG sidekick Grant Shapps, can’t shut up about public sector workers they claim are “paid more than the Prime Minister”. Scrapbook is thrilled to read that Will Hutton’s government-commissioned review on public sector pay debunks this “outrageous” device used to attack public servants:

9,000 state employees earn more than Cameron’s salary of £142,500. Hutton called the comparison “profoundly flawed”, citing one estimate that the PM’s actual package including pension and accommodation is nearer £580,000.

One only has to look at the huge earning power of former prime ministers to see how ridiculous these claims are. Former tenants of Number 10 are more or less guaranteed millions of pounds from book deals, speaking fees and consultancy:

In 1992 tobacco giant Philip Morris signed up Margaret Thatcher as a consultant for £500,000 per year.
Tony Blair earned a reported £12 million in his first year after stepping down — more than six times his previous (substantial) lifetime income. His fortune has been predicted to triple to £45 million this year.
John Major raked in six figures annually as European chair of the Carlyle defence group.
Even the prudent Gordon Brown has donated the £250,000 earned from speaking fees and a book to charity.

And then there’s the £84,000 per year to run a private office — guaranteed for life.

Now Eric Pickles’ council spends £85k on new spin doctor

12:57pm Mon March 14th

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Local Government fat controller Eric Pickles keeps harping on about’ “non-jobs” and how local authorities keep spending public money on propaganda when front-line services are facing the chop. Scrapbook showed last week the hypocrisy of some roles within Pickles’ own Whitehall department. It now seems we don’t have to look past the big man’s own constituency of Brentwood and Ongar in Essex to find a taxpayer-funded PR job up for grabs.

Tory-dominated Essex County Council is looking for a permanent Head of External Communications to be paid up to £85,000 per year, some 30% more than an MP’s salary, for telling people what a great job the authority is doing:

It will be your task to enhance our image, build our profile and cement our reputation. Simply, we want to be known as the council that delivers a better deal for the people it serves.

With the coalition devolving blame for cuts downward to local government, a central responsibility of the role is to explain away Essex’s £126m assault on public services:

As you will soon see, we are not afraid to make tough choices. That is why we need someone who will make sure people outside the Council understand what we’re doing, and why our work is beneficial to their lives, environments and economy.

But whoever drew up the job advert evidently has a keen sense of humour: the communications team are described as “already cutting a high profile in the local community and beyond.”

In keeping with recent BBC edicts, shouldn’t that be “saving a high profile”?

What Eric Pickles looked like in 1987

1:51pm Fri March 11th

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Ever wondered what the Communities Secretary looked like with a full(ish) head of hair? Going through press clippings hoarded by a deceased Labour activist in Pickles’ native West Yorkshire, blogger Alex Ross has uncovered the following picture of the then Bradford councillor:

A year after this picture was taken, Pickles and the Conservative grouping seized control of Bradford Council using the Mayor’s casting vote. He then commenced a five-year plan to cut the budget by £50m, slash the workforce and privatise public services.

Some things never change.

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