Wednesday, 14 July 2010

The Barnet Council Tory Protection racket

I always thought that demanding money with menaces is illegal. It seems that it is fine if you are a member of the elite bunch, known as the Capone Gang Lynne Hillans Barnet Council. Last night, in spite of a Conservative minister advising restraint, the Barnet Cabinet steamrollered through massive rises in allowances. I couldn't really understand how the backbench Tories were brought into line. My phone has been ringing all day. Now I know. We all know. The only Tory to show any backbone was Kate Salinger. She abstained as a matter of principle. What happened. She was ritually humiliated. She was stripped of all posts on committees in a public display of which Joseph Stalin would be proud. Councillor has been a Tory Councillor for many years, yet this counted as nothing as she was stripped of post after post and new lackeys nominated.

Now you may think "so what if she isn't on a few committees". Well the point is that Councillors get big allowances for being committee members. By taking this stand, Salinger has not only been humiliated, she's been financiallly penalised. Brian Coleman stated that this shows that the Barnet Tories have "good discipline". I disagree, I think it shows that they have indulged in extortion. We must ask ourselves about the Councillors who greedily grubbed to replace Salinger. They knew she'd taken  a principled stand. They saw it as an opportunity to earn big bucks.

Was the policy in the manifesto? Nope. Was it the policy of the new coalition government? Nope, the minister even criticised Barnet. It is just a despicable attempt by Leader Lynne Hillan and trougher in chief Brian Coleman to get their hands on our money.

As a result, there has been massive press interest and the coalition Government of David Cameron has been made to look stupid - Read these stories

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10635391


You see the Barnet Tories don't care about the Barnet Taxpayer, we are cash cows with ripe udders. They don't care about their colleagues principles and they don't care about the Conservative Party. All they care about is lining their pockets. David Cameron must take a stand on this or lose all credibility

7 comments:

  1. Jaybird14 July 2010 at 20:04

    I agree Rog. It is all very well for Grant Shapps to distance himself from this decision, but this is a matter of party discipline.

    What happened last night was shameful, absolutely inexcusable. And since they are members of the Conservative party, chosen by that party to represent the party line and ensure that party policy is put in place, the whole Tory party deserves to share their shame.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jaybird14 July 2010 at 20:04

    I agree Rog. It is all very well for Grant Shapps to distance himself from this decision, but this is a matter of party discipline.

    What happened last night was shameful, absolutely inexcusable. And since they are members of the Conservative party, chosen by that party to represent the party line and ensure that party policy is put in place, the whole Tory party deserves to share their shame.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Citizen Barnet14 July 2010 at 22:43

    See Barnet Tories' own website this evening: http://www.barnetcouncilconservatives.com/ tonight. The second item on the feed from Conservative.com is Shapps telling councillors no pay rises!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mrs Angry14 July 2010 at 23:18

    The story was on the BBC local news and is in the Telegraph too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jaybird14 July 2010 at 23:37

    There are some fairly robust views being voiced on the Conservative Home blog...

    http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2010/07/grant-shapps-hits-out-at-councillors-in-torycontrolled-barnet-and-labourrun-newham-for-giving-themse.html#comments

    ReplyDelete
  6. Barnet55plus15 July 2010 at 00:35

    I cannot agree more, also Mrs Angry's description of the Council meeting last night on her blog is spot on - not only was was the vote for their pay rise discreditable their attitude throughout the evening was thoroughly disreputable. It was raucous disgraceful behaviour which made one embarrassed to have them as councillors in the borough. Mrs Salinger is to be applauded to sticking to her beliefs. If this is allowed to stand the coalition government will lose all credibility.

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  7. Barnet55plus15 July 2010 at 00:38

    Barnet55+comment above is the view of a member, Carolyn, and not the the 55+ forum as a whole, somehow the log in got mixed up.

    ReplyDelete

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