Education minister Sarah Teather is under investigation by her own council after she erected a giant yellow sign outside her new office – without planning permission.
A local resident told the Brent & Kilburn times that Teather that Teather was riding roughshod over planning regulations which the rest of us are obligated to follow, adding: “Just down the road at 5 High Road, Barclays Bank had to apply for permission for its illuminated signs.”
Office is a historic source of trouble for the diminutive MP. Before the last general election, Political Scrapbookexposed Teather for charging her Liberal Democrat campaign office to taxpayers along with £1,700 of furniture, insurance and telephone bills.
No doubt we’re footing the bill for that sign too.
Liberal Democrat activists in Sarah Teather’s constituency are delivering anonymous attack leaflets claiming Labour have “let us down” on cuts — despite their MP’s status as a government minister who voted for Osborne’s austerity agenda.
The council by-election leaflet, blogged by Cllr Krupesh Hirani, brazenly asks “Who can you trust to stop the cuts?”, answering itself “Not Labour!”, and quotes union leaders Dave Prentice and Bob Crow. It makes no mention of Teather or the Liberal Democrats’ candidate, Alison Hopkins, and is decked out in red rather than Lib Dem yellow.
Do Brent Lib Dems suppose it is Sarah who will stop the cuts?
After painful-to-watch attempts at “comedy” from the likes of Sarah Teather and Andrew Stunnell, the Liberal Democrats will crown the awkwardness of their party conference with a Glee Club, a chorus singalong, as recently popularised by the hit US TV series.
And as the image above reveals (more lyrics), attendants are set for another cringeworthy evening, with a version of Bucks Fizz’s Eurovision-winning song Making Your Mind Up especially tailored for the occasion.
Hope of a a 5% poll boost after this event may be misplaced.
UPDATE: Apparently the children’s minister concerned was not Sarah Teather, as stated here previously, but her junior, Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families Tim Loughton. This gives us the perfect opportunity to reprint the front cover of Community Care magazine, from which Loughton pleads pathetically: “I want to be your friend”!
Though the prime minister’s Benny Hill reference has caught the imagination of the media, Scrapbook’s favourite moment from PMQs were these choice words from John Bercow to recalcitrant Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Teather Conservative MP Tim Loughton:
“The Minister for Children is not obligated to behave like a child. It isn’t necessary.”
However there is no issue with ministers in this portfolio looking like children.
With Sarah Teather hitting the headlines last Friday for controversial campaigning tactics, Scrapbook heard a most amusing tale about the Brent Central MP this weekend.
One of Teather’s ex-boyfriends is apparently fond of the following anecdote. Whenever her passive-aggressive former flatmate was annoyed with her he would go to the kitchen and move the breakfast cereal to a higher shelf – just out of reach for the diminutive Liberal Democrat.
Teased in the Members’ Lobby by a Labour MP yesterday, Sarah Teather didn’t seem to be taking jokes about an early morning ambush by a TV news crew in the spirit in which they were intended:
MP: “Watch out, Sarah, Sky News are behind you!”
Teather: “F*** off.”
With a future change of career looking more likely, one assumes Sarah would try to keep her options open.
It seems the pressure of, y’know, being in government ‘n’ stuff is getting to some Liberal Democrat MPs. With Nick Clegg having told the nation “it’s time for promises to be kept” the coalition party is now on the wrong end of a significant public backlash for the first time in living memory.
If the correspondence of some MPs is anything to go by, the pressure is clearly making its mark. An academic emailed David Ward, MP for Bradford East:
“I write to add my voice to those urging you to honour the solemn pledge you gave prior to the election not to raise the cap on tuition fees. A pledge is a pledge, and those to whom you made the pledge insist that you stick to your promise.”
With a wafer-thin majority of just 365, perhaps Ward’s one-line reply gives us an insight into his mental state? Why instruct your researcher to send off a pro-forma response when you can simply be rude!
“Nice try but I do not yield to hysterical rants. Are you really a Professor? Hard to believe.”
And it seems Ward isn’t the only one getting the jitters. It’s now a few months since Tory Bear attempted to doorstep Sarah Teather over her dodgy office expenses. Scrapbook was therefore thrilled to see Sky News succeed where Mr. Cole failed, catching the diminutive MP as she left for the Commons this morning. Having used her maiden speech to lambast tuition and top-up fees, it is perhaps understandable she told Sky News simply:
“Go away.”
Having sold out her electorate, Teather may yet find the voters of Brent Central telling her to “go away” sometime around May 2015.
