Barnet Council Metpro Scandal - Barnets Credibility Burns

Roman Emperor Nero famously played his fiddle whilst Rome burned to the ground. It is THE classical example of arrogance and incompetence for a leader. A fire has been lit under the credibility of Barnet Council with the publication of the Metpro report. I did wonder what our Tory councillors would do. What I've seen so far beggars belief.

First out of the traps is Barnet Tory Daniel Thomas.
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9072092.Council_needs_to____tighten_up____contract_management_admits_councillor/

I'll let you make up your mind whether he's playing the violin as the flames rise. His response to the Metpro Audit report "Our waste collection and street cleaning are now also generally excellent." - Dan, if you want a new violin, we sell them. It's clear that you've completely missed the point.  Has there been a more idiotic response to a serious matter such as this?

For once I was rather impressed with the response from Labour Group Leader Alison Moore

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9072942.Labour_councillor_says_MetPro_scandal_is_not_an_isolated_incident/

Compare and contrast her comments with those of Dan Thomas, She says :-

“MetPro is not an isolated incident – serious procurement and finance regulation failures have also been identified in the past – who can forget the £27.4m that was lost in Icelandic Banks after proper procedures weren’t followed, or the £12m overspend in the Aerodrome Road bridge replacement project caused by poor procurement of contracts. The Tories in Barnet have presided over a catalogue of disaster, which does not give any confidence in their ability to procure and monitor large scale contracts proposed in the easyCouncil privatisation programme. The plug should be pulled on any outsourcing plans as this Conservative Council just do not seem to know what they are doing.” 

 I've not always been the biggest fan of Alison, but she is bang on the money here. This is not an isolated incident, this is part of systemic failure. There is one person who hasn't commented. The current stand in Leader of the Council, Andrew  Harper. Although Lynne Hillan formally quit on the 16th May,  Harper has in reality been in day to day charge for at least six months, perhaps a year. Everything you want to know about Harper and his leadership skills, you could learn from how he has handled the Metpro scandal.

I have one observation, which the Barnet Conservative Councillors would be well advised to ponder. Andrew Harper insisted that the Leadership election was this Sunday. He knew that the Metpro report was being reviewed on the 16th. (Have you read it) Although a far from perfect report, with many glaring omissions, it is the most damning indictment of the Council I've ever seen. There is simply no hiding the fact that the corporate purchasing system at Barnet is a fail. Whilst Harper knew this was coming and knew it needed managing, he deliberately timed the leadership election to distract all of his councillors from the bomb that was blowing up under them.  Harper knows that the report may destroy his credibiltiy, so he has cynically manipulated process to ensure that councillors are looking the other way. I was shocked by his indecent haste to throw his hat into the ring. 

The sad truth is that no matter how bad the Metpro Scandal seems, it is not being effectively managed, because Andrew Harper wants to sow up the Leadership. Is this the action of a man who cares about the Barnet Taxpayer.