The Barnet Council allowance scandal has taken a new turn. Rather unbelievably, the Leading Barnet Tory trougher, Brian Coleman has taken a swing at successful businessmen. In yesterdays Telegraph Brian Coleman appears to suggest that Grant Shapps, a self made millionaire, has no right to criticise Mr Colemans troughing at the public expense.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/7896482/Tory-minister-condemns-bumper-pay-of-Conservative-councillors.html
To quote Mr Coleman, rebutting Mr Shapps criticism of the self awarded huge increase in allowances
"Is that the multi millionaire Grant Shapps? The one with the private plane? The successful businessman? I don't have to justify what I earn. Councillors are worth every penny they earn. I'm not interested in this tittle tattle."
So the Barnet Tories are against entrepreneurs? They resent people who have worked hard to build up a business and are reaping the rewards of their efforts. Mr Shapps launched a website & marketting business aged 22 and made a fortune (incidentally Barnet Council Leader Lynne Hillan did the same, except her company went bust in 2006 with huge debts to the taxman). Mr Shapps generated his wealth through hard work, vision and imagination. I have absolutely no objection to such people being rich. Mr Coleman? Well we all know how he got his latest payrise. He voted for it himself, used his position of seniority in the Conservative Party in Barnet to bully his colleagues into going along with it (even though bullying is specifically banned in the Councillors code of conduct). he has enforced the the threats under the guise of "party discipline", neglecting the fact that huge increases in his pay are not national Conservative Policy, were not in the manifesto from the election two months ago and have been derided by two of our local Tory MP's. There are rumours that the reason for the complete silence from the third local Tory MP, Theresa Villiers is that Lynne Hillan and Brian Coleman reminded her of their silence during the storm of criticism over her second home allowance. Theresa Villiers needs to speak out and let us know her position of the expenses scandal as a matter of urgency, to squash these rumours if they are untrue. She is welcome to post a guest blog here, detailing her views (without comment from me).
According to the Telegraph, Brian Coleman is the second highest paid Councillor in the country on a total of £114,322 (before the latest increases). He lives in a property with a subsidised rent, designed for low income families. He has had more gifts and hospitality than any other member of the GLA -
http://www.london.gov.uk/pls/apex/f?p=135:2:5616695545762709:fsp_sort_2_desc::RP&fsp_region_id=10248804584908268
Then theres his publicly funded taxi service to all the dos (despite having a free travelcard) (£345.83 not including travel card (over £1,000) - 2009-2010)
http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/expenses/docs0910/b-coleman.pdf
and more gifts and hospitality than any other member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority
http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/gifts_all.asp
and his free taxi service and subsidised congestion charge (total - £4,676.24 - 2009 -2010 )
http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Brian_Coleman_2009_2010.asp
No wonder Mr Coleman is so keen to suppress any debate on the issue. Now before he criticises Mr Grant Shapps too much, maybe he should consider this. Mr Shapps pays a huge sum of tax on his private wealth, money generated through hard work. Mr Coleman generates no wealth and any tax he pays, is just giving back to the taxman what he has received. I rather suspect this is why Grant Shapps gets it and Brian Coleman doesn't.
15 comments:
Is Brian Coleman actually more obnoxious now - or has he always been like this?
How does he get selected for all his posts?
you really are on a roll Rog, everytime I log into my blog, there's a new post. Keeep up the good work, keeping us informed.
Brian Coleman lives in subsidised low-income rent housing!! F*****g Hell, that man wants it everyway.
My levels of disgust at the despicable actions of our local council increase with the second. Not least of these despicable actions was the manner in which they behaved towards Kate Salinger, the only one of them apparently with a conscience. Three cheers for Kate. and to our erstwhile burghers, restore Kate Salinger to her posts forthwith. They should all be very ashamed of themselves.
Is Kate and her husband (who was absent on Tuesday, hopefully not seriously ill) the basis for a new leadership?
The trouble is that the whole Cabinet is now spoilt goods. Is there any talent (and admin. experience) in the lower levels of the ruling group? One can appreciate that the small-fry had little choice but keep their heads down last week.
How embarassing Mr Coleman has become for the people of Barnet. We really need the Tories to sort this out and remove him. He is "Old Tory" and does not fit in at all with Cameron's compassionate conservatism.
Every time he opens his mouth he makes things worse.
This is not tittle tattle and it is going to run and run. Shows how out of touch with voters this man really is.......
Baarnet,
Lots of posts indeed. A measure of my disgust
Broadway Blogger
Coleman is not “old Tory”. He isn’t any form of Tory, new or old. Real “old” Tories understood the public service ethos. He is just a greedy gobshite who has hijacked the local party in order to fill his trough to overflowing. By how own admission, if he had to get a real job, he is only qualified to stack the shelves at Tescos, and I immediately apologise for insulting hard working shelf stackers for this slur on their character.
Sorry Rog - I meant "how does Brian Coleman get selected by his party for his posts?"
Half of Brian's GLA constituency is in Camden - so have they never thought of a better candidate? Might they do so in two years time??
Now, regarding YOUR posts, Roger: they are brilliant - you are indeed riding a wave. How do you find time for the music as well?
Lynne Hillan and Co. must have been living in a political bubble, not to realize the publicity that your blog and other would give to AllowanceGate. (I think the Barnet Bugle was key to this.)
Historical note: AllowanceGate is a bit like the USSR leadership trying to unseat Gorbachev, without realizing about photocopiers, faxes and foreign radio news, twenty years ago!
What a fool. A classic example fo someone in a hole who cannot stop digging. His remarks about the minister's wealth are ludicrous and will only further antagonise the party leadership. Why can he not understand the difference between money earned by enterprise and application and the money screwed out of hard working tax payers for what: reading a few agendas and attending a few committee meetings? Pathetic. At last, he has totally misjudged the result of his political manouevring and will live to rue the day he and his shameless mates pushed through this allowance hike.
Typo alert...I should have said "By his own admission"...
To barrnett, you are probably familiar with the expression: “Those who fail to learn the lessons that history teaches, are doomed to repeat them.”
It seems that Coleman and Hillan have forgotten how much damage Derek Hatton did to the Labour cause in Merseyside and the steps Labour ultimately took to rid itself of the loony left. I do not believe that David Cameron will allow Coleman to undermine a thoroughly respectable Minister like Grant Shapps and get away with it.
I am drawn to a piece in today's Observer (a break from the Telegraph).
Nick Cohen writes about repression in Belarus, and is well worth reading.
Without wishing to undermine the seriousness of that situation (Europe's last dictatorship, which murders its political opponents), some sentences can be lifted...
"Dictatorships are not stable regimes. They are always on the move, heading for greater repression or collapse."
So then! What a interesting week of political developments we hopefully have ahead of us in Barnet...
"He lives in a property with a subsidised rent, designed for low income families."
"Is that Cancil Housing or Hausin Association?" If it's Council He better be careful because Lynn Hillan's plan is to get rid of it and their Housing Management quango or here’s a link to a Conservative blog that will worry him http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2010/02/turn-council-estates-into-residents-coops.html#more
baarnet,
If you are wondering if Brian Salinger would make a comeback as a leader, then I think you should know that while it may be 20 years ago since that Ombudsman's report found him guilty of maladministration against Barnet Council in 1990 for pressurising a council official to get planning permission for a building he owned. The Local Government Ombudsman said: "His position as a senior member of the council and chairman of a planning sub-committee put him in a position of considerable power in relation to the officers. He should not have become involved in the way he did in direct negotiations about his own private interests."
Freer, Offord, Coleman Hillan knowing all that and so do Labour. people have long memories of politicians integrity and many of the Tories who did not support their leader are still there starting with the Mayor.
I seem to remember one post (somewhere in this Great Barnet Soap Opera) that said the 'Deputy Whip' almost resigned, but was persuaded to stay on.
(That's a bit like Clare Short over Iraq.)
So does that put HIM in the running as a new Leader?
It still all seems a bit like Labour ex-cabinet members now disowning Gordon Brown.
Brian Coleman appears to lead a charmed life, somehow he can do what ever he wants without any ramification from party leaders. He demands and votes himself and other Tory Councillors huge allowance increases, at the same time as calling for pay freezes and pay cuts from the same people who contribute to the public purse in which Coleman helps himself. He has been the subject of several complaints to the LFEPA standards committee but little or no action is taken against this cowardly, ignorant bully who knows no limits when it comes to offending people. Coleman demands that the London Fire Brigade gives the public value for money, well if he thinks they don't already then he should either resign or his party leaders should act now and remove him from office as he is clearly an embarrasment to a goverment who stood on the platform of cleaning up politics, well David and Nick take out the rubbish in LFEPA and Barnet and put Coleman where he belongs in the trash.
To Moaneybat
Coleman’s and Hillan’s empire is crumbling at their feet so what a good idea, let’s drag up an old story about Brian Salinger. The whole world and his wife knows about the Ombudsman’s report. It’s not news. Brian Salinger has been re-elected 5 times since then which means that either the public have forgiven him or they simply don’t care. Councillors do far worse things these days and get away with it.
People who commit murder get out after 12 years, so I think it is time people changed the record after 20 years.
I do not believe that Brian Salinger would want to be Leader again. As leader you want to know that you have a good army behind you. Who would want to lead this rabble of reprobates?
Well, *I* didn't know it - but I suppose there is a "Rehabilitation of Offenders Act", so to speak.
So, ok, Mr Salinger would not want to be Leader again.
But who then?
Unfortunately, we are where we are, and the pool of talent is a little thin.
(Dream: What about restaging the May election, with new Conservative Party candidates??)
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