Allowancegate : The Cancer at the Heart of Barnet Council that just won't go away

I sometimes wonder just how stupid the current Leaders of the Barnet Tories are. When will they realise that every time anything happens at Barnet Council, the Allowancegate Scandal, where they voted themselves huge rises, whilst telling everyone else that there would be cuts, will be rammed right back down their throats. I receive new emails every day from all sorts of people. All of the graphics I've been posting have been sent to me by various anonymous artists. The number of hits on the blog goes higher every day (and we got a fair few before this broke). So as I write this, I thought I'd have a look at the Hendon Times, for todays batch of stories

First off, we have Lib Dem Leader, Jack Cohen berating them for their cowardice, in dodging public forums, where they would see just how popular these rises are :-

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8308943.Lib_Dem_leader_accuses_Conservatives_of__cowardice__in_the_face_of_public_criticism/

Then we have a story where the Conservative Minister of State for Local Government, Eric Pickles says what happens is dreadful and the Former Tory Council Leader says they are a laughing stock

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8308726.Council_is__a_laughing_stock__councillor_told_after_meeting_with_secretary_of_state/

Then there's the news that Council workers might go on strike, because they object to redundancies and an overtime pay freeze when Council bosses have just awarded themselves a pay hike.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8307541.Strike_threat_after_council_overtime_pay_freeze_announced/?ref=mr

So you have Ex Tory Council Leaders opposing it, the Leader of the Tories Coalition partners, the Lib Dems opposing it, the people who work for the Council opposing it, even the Tory Minister for local Government opposing it. If you have such a cancer, there really is only one way to deal with it. Chop it out, before it kills you.

Here's an interesting thought for our Tory Councillors. In four years time, there will be another election. If the Coalition is deeply unpopular, the electorate will seek to punish you. Only your record will stand between you and opposition. If however the Coalition is a stunning success, many Tories will be able to register a protest vote by switching to the Lib Dems in wards such as Mill Hill and High Barnet and who knows where else. At previous elections, the Tories mobilised the large Jewish vote against the Lib Dems on the back of Jenny Tonges comments. After David Camerons recent statements, I suspect that trick won't work again (especially from what a few local Jewish friends had to say). During the course of the election, I chatted to many people on the doorsteps of Mill Hill who voted Conservative. It seems to me that every time I walk down the Broadway someone stops me and tells me they won't make the same mistake again. The articles in the local papers have had a huge effect. In the Ivory towers at North London Business Park, Lynne Hillan and Co think it will be long forgotten. The great and good of Mill Hill tell me a slightly different story. They are disgusted. They recognise the whining and the excuses for what it is. Over the last week, the one mantra that has been repeated to me time and again is this "This is not the sort of behaviour we expect from Conservative Councillors" from little old ladies in Mill Hill Broadway.

Let me tell you of one rather comical incident. There is a little old lady who lives up the road. When she got the local paper last week, she was so incensed that she marched down the road, to say she'd would have voted for me if she'd known about this (she's a lifelong Tory). Having spent ten minutes on the doorstep telling me of her upset, she marched back. Five minutes later, she was back. She'd been so upset that she'd forgotten her keys and locked herself out. Luckily for her,  being a Lib Dem, my housebreaking skills are second to none and we soon had her back in.