So how interested are the people of Barnet in local politics?

I just checked the blog stats and was amazed to see that over 1,000 people have so far viewed the blog today. Interestingly, the vast majority come from sites which have bookmarked the blog.Clearly there is a huge amount of interest in the Council Leadership Election. I must say I'm a bit disappointed that neither the Times or the Press have got the story on their website as of 11pm today (Sunday). I'd rather hoped that the winner and the losers would have given some sort of comment to the press today, explaining what they stood for and how they felt. If Andrew Harper, Mark Shooter or the Winner Richard Cornelius would like to submit a guest blog detailing these, then I'd be more than happy to post it without editing or comment.

I hope Richard Cornelius is enjoying a pleasant celebratory dinner and a few glasses of wine tonight (if that is his tipple). The hard work will start tomorrow. What my stats tell me is that lots of people are interested and it is a shame we can't actually read what they have to say.

Comment : The Barnet Leadership Election - Spot on !!!!

For those of you who followed the Barnet Conservative Leadership Elections closely, you may want to have another look at this blog - http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2011/06/barnets-most-expensive-tea-boy-end-of.html - in it I predicted that Richard Cornelius would win and that Andrew Harper would come third. I can let you into a little secret. A certain well known figure in Barnet circles sent me an email, following a chat with a senior Council Executive regarding what I'd said. The executive said that he was really pleased I'd written it, because the world would see that I'd been making all this stuff up and Harper would walk it. He apparently said with complete certainty that Harper was a shoo in.

Many people will wonder where all this information comes from. Do I just make it up? Well lets just say that if I'd be a rich man if I could guess this stuff. Yes it is true I did make one outrageous prediction purely as a guess and got it right. I said Barcelona would win the Champions League final 3-1. I don't discuss my sources, but as ever they are pretty spot on. People pass information to this blog for one reason. They trust what they read here. They believe that the information should be in the public domain. Many people believe that the secrecy culture in Barnet is dangerous. I think the whole issue of Metpro has proven this. What is interesting is the number of times three or four different people contact me independently and tell me the same thing. Generally, unless the source is 100% trustworthy, I don't print any rumour or scandal unless I've heard it from multiple sources. We've also had the unedifying spectacle of Barnet executives planting leaked info to try and "flush out moles". I always advise people who want to pass hard information, to take various precautions. Documents such as PDF files have electronic signatures that identify them. Some IT consultants specialise in "tagging" documents so that leakers can be identified. This can be by using patterns of double spacing etc (at a very simple level).

If I were Barnet, I'd stop wasting time and money on all this nonsense. It would be far easier to follow the example of Windsor and Maidenhead Council and let the public have open access to all but sensitive documents. One thing has struck me as a result of the Metpro inquiry. Dogged bloggers have exposed a whole raft of bad practice in the council. This will save the council a fortune. I doubt we'll get a corporate buffet in thanks, to be honest I doubt we really want one. What I do know is that someone with an ability to see outside the box, would recognise this and see the value that ordinary citizens could add.

I don't enjoy writing the blogs I spend my days writing. I don't enjoy having to say people are useless or that the council is doing a rotten job. I'm not happy about having to say people should be sacked. The problem is that all of these things are true. There are a whole host of things I've been told about the way the council operates, that I believe but can't print, because there is no proper proof. In the past I used to email councillors with this info in confidence. In every case one of three things would happen a) I'd hear nothing back at all, b) I'd get a patronising response telling me I really didn't know anything or c) I'd get a rude reply.

Strangely  enough, if I emailed them telling them they were doing a marvellous job, I'd always get a warm reply thanking me. I guess most Councillors (Tory and Labour) would prefer it if I fell under a bus. They would rather be let get on with what they do, without having to worry about uppity bloggers spelling out nasty home truths. I'd ask them to consider this. The USA is a far more successful economy than ours. They have a far more open and transparent approach to democracy. This cannot be coincidence.

I hope Richard Cornelius uses his time as Leader to make the type of blogs I write redundant. His first big challenge will be the fallout from the Metpro scandal. He actually has the opportunity to make a difference. Lets hope he uses it.

Congratulations to Richard Cornelius - The new Leader of Barnet Council

Told you so ! Anyone who has followed this blog will know that we've been saying all along that Richard Cornelius would win. I have no special inside knowledge as to his plans, but I believe that this shows that the Barnet Conservatives have decided to go for a man who is decent and honest. I believe that Andrew Harper has paid the price for the failures of the previous regime. He is seen as too chummy with senior council officials and has not demonstrated the slightest sign of leadership potential. Ever.  I am especially pleased that Richard Cornelius has won, given the fact that he's a small businessman and I believe this sector of the economy has been sadly neglected in Barnet. People tell me that Cornelius is his own man and likely to make a few very sensible and intelligent changes to the way that the Council is run at the highest level.

I feel a bit sorry for Mark Shooter. I'd urge him not to be too disheartened. I suspect that his lack of experience at the Council ultimately counted against him, aligned with a fear of the unknown. I urge Richard Cornelius to give Shooter a senior role. He is clearly a talented guy, who is not afraid to take flak. We need people like that.

Many people, especially those on the left, should wake up to the fact that this is a good result for the people of Barnet. The policies of the old regime hit many people extremely hard. Policies such as OneBarnet have put many people's well being at risk. Someone who is a bit more sceptical and prepared to ask difficult questions can only be good. From my political perspective, I'd rather not have a Tory run Council, but we have one. For the good of everyone, this should be run as professionally and as well as possible. A man such as Richard Cornelius has experience of business and taking decisions. He is seen as independently minded.  That has to be good. A supporter and friend of Richard Cornelius told me that he intended to bring some sanity to the OneBarnet process if elected. I wasn't sure what that meant. If it meant that he agreed with me that the whole thing is insane, I'm sure that would be a good first step.

The job is a huge challenge. I am sure that the Council will have a torrid time with government cuts, etc over the next few years. I know for a fact that there are many areas which are mismanaged (see the Metpro report and the latest Audit report). If Richard Cornelius can sort these out, he will save a lot of money and hopefully start to restore the reputation of Barnet Council. I sincerely hope that his colleagues support him and do not start working to undermine him, as they have with a few previous leaders.

The shape of the new cabinet will tell us all we need to know about the direction he's taking. Expect a few interesting changes. I've been told he's not a "big gesture" person and that he doesn't want to rub peoples noses in it. He thinks the job is hard enough, without needlessly making enemies or picking fights for the sake of it.

In six months time, we'll see the true nature of the changes. I believe these will be mainly changes for the better for the people of Barnet. That is why it is a good day for us.

Hendon Times publishes article backing Mark Shooter for leadership of Barnet Council

Today on the Hendon Times website an article popped up backing Mark Shooter for Leadership.Rather interestingly it has a right old pop at "Mr Nice" - ie Richard Cornelius, msaying he had a leading role in the existing regime, without even mentioning that Andrew Harper was the Deputy Leader (and de facto Leader for most of the period).  The comments about Cornelius are most unfair, given that Harper is hardly mentioned.

Whilst I have no problem with a local paper publicly backing one candidate, it is clear that the treatment of Richard Cornelius is blatantly unfair. To quote :-

Cornelius is coloured by his leading role in the present regime and his disinterest in looking into the gross misconduct of the Council and its senior officers. I have had no contact with Andrew Harper but I fear the same applies to him.

Richard Cornelius has been the only cabinet member to publicly be sceptical at Council meetings regarding many of the bonkers policies of the Council. There is no way that Harper as Deputy Leader can be let off so lightly, when a comment such as this has been made. I am not like the Barnet Tories, who used to demand anything I wrote on the Times website was taken down, when I wrote a blog there. I say leave it up and let the world see just how the Harper team are using every trick in the book to discredit Richard Cornelius.

As to the Times supporting Mark Shooter, if this is the tactics Shooter supporters are deploying, then it is all the more clear that only Richard Cornelius has the integrity to bring Barnet Council together after the Metpro fiasco. I suspect that this story on the Times shows that the Harper and Shooter Teams are collaborating to knock Cornelius out in the first round.

I have this question for the Tory Councillors voting on Sunday. Please show us you have some integrity and vote for Richard Cornelius on Sunday

The big Brian Coleman conspiracy

VickiM57 got a great scoop today - the letter Brian Coleman sent to Brian Schama in response to his private letter to Coleman. As you can see, Coleman copied the world in on his response (well the Barnet Tory world), including Schama's private comments. Here's what Coleman said, for those who haven't seen  Vicki's blog
--------------
From: Coleman, Cllr Brian Conservative
Sent: 10 September 2010 19:07
To: BSchama@aol.com
Cc: Prentice, Cllr Wendy Conservative; Hillan, Cllr Lynne Conservative; Harper, Cllr Andrew Conservative; Scannell, Cllr Joan Conservative; Rayner, Cllr Hugh Conservative; Cohen, Cllr Melvin Conservative
Subject: RE: Council Meeting September 14th. Agenda Item: 3.6

In view of the contents of this e mail , which I assume is notification that you cannot support a vote of Confidence in our Administration despite the result of the ballot at the Group I assume this means that you have resigned the Conservative Whip

As I am sure you will appreciate this is a serious matter and I ask you to reflect as of course if you intend to sit as an Independent appropriate arrangements will have to be made

Kind regards

-----
So who benefits from this being leaked? Well it sends a strong message to all of those lilley livered Tory Barnet wets who were thinking of voting against Hillan. Who could have leaked it? Why to Vicki's blog?  A conspiracy theorist might say "Well who wants to send a message via a leaked email to a blog, but hates Don't Call Me Dave, Dan Hope and Rog T and wouldn't want to give them a scoop? I can't think of such a person in Barnet.

You know us bloggers in Barnet are really quite competetive and it makes me wonder who I could have upset recently enough to send such a scoop to a "well known Trades Unionist". I clearly have been buttering up the wrong people with my offers of free pot noodles.

Reports reach me that Brian Coleman has been looking rather happy all day. Maybe he's won £10 on the lottery.

On a serious note - the main thing is we can now see exactly how Coleman operates. Schama sends a private email to him and Coleman tries to destroy him. If Coleman was really intererested in doing his job, he'd have nipped round to see Schama and explained the need for group unity at this time and told him to develop a headache on the night (a La Brian Salinger) if he really couldn't support Hillan. As it is he's guaranteed that Brian Schama has to vote against Hillan and suffer the consequences. Really quite nasty, but just about par for the course. Coleman knew this when he copied the rest of the group, he knew that it would all make it's way into the public domain.

One other thing I noticed. Whoever sent Vicki the email didn't mask Schama's private email, whereas whoever sent me Brians original email did. Any clue there?

Hugh Rayner - The voice of sanity in the Barnet Conservatives

Earlier this evening (saturday), I happened to bump into a rather upset and rather "tired and emotional" Barnet Conservative party activist. "Pray what could be troubling you my friend" I enquired. "Brian Coleman has been at it again".

To cut a long story short. A Mill Hill Conservative Councillor - unnamed - sent an email to Brian Coleman with a list of grumbles about the way that the Barnet Conservatives are being run by Lynne Hillan. It appears that this was a private email with some constructive suggestions as to the way forward (allegedly).

Anyway, from what I've been told, Brian Coleman reacted with his usual charm and pleasantry. He emailed the whole group and basically told the said councillor that he'd been sacked as a Tory.

It appears that Hugh Rayner immediately sent the unnamed Mill Hill Councillor an email saying "Don't respond to Brian, come and have a chat with me first". From what I can glean, Hugh Rayner has realised that with a vote of confidence in Lynne Hillan coming up on Tuesday, Brian Coleman has rather jumped the gun in sacking said councillor. My source had spoken to said councillor about what to do, as they were rather upset by the whole issue.

Sadly I don't know the identity of the said Councillor as my friend suddenly realised he'd made rather a boo boo in telling me all of this. I guess this can be ascertained when I serve an FOI request on Brian Colemans council correspondence. I am taking a wild guess here, but the odds are as follows

John Hart  - 4/11
Brian Schama - 2/1
Sury Khatri - 14/1

There is a free pot noodle for any Conservative Councillor who sends me a copy of Brian Colemans email before the vote on Tuesday (so long as they declare it, he he he). I will of course immediately post it here.  Oh and if I've got the odds wrong, I apologise profusely to all concerned.

Anyway, I must confess I'd given up on the leadership issue as a dead duck, assuming that all of the Barnet Tories would toe the line. It appears that I couldn't have been more wrong.

Barnet Leadership Challenge : Mark Shooter and his cunning plan

A little "ill informed, idle speculation for you on a Friday night" as you lot won't leave me alone.

Ok, so you are millionaire Mark Shooter. You are a newly elected Barnet Tory Councillor and you have come to the conclusion, in three short months that the people at the top of the Barnet Tory party are a complete shower of ....... Most of them haven't got a clue who you are.

One day, whilst idly playing with your ducks in the bath you think to yourself "I know, I've got a cunning plan. I'll stand against the leader. No one knows who I am, Hillan has them all in her pocket, I'll lose and then I'll be ostracised and look stupid". You put your cunning plan to a few other Barnet newboys and they say "Hey Mark, that's a great plan, sign me up".

You then go and enact your plan and it works perfectly. You can then have all the fun of being barked at by Brian Coleman, sit on your own in the council chamber and skulk off.

Now I've never met Mark Shooter, so I've no idea whether he's a genius of this magnitude or not. What I do know is that he made a serious amount of money and has been very successful in business. Whatever he did or didn't expect, unless he's completely bonkers he did better than he could have reasonably hoped.

What does this mean? Well, this is wild speculation, but I suspect it means that his plan is far more cunning than the one I outlined above. If so, then what we've seen so far is just a preliminary skirmish. If I was Lynne Hillan, I'd put the Champagne back on ice.

Barnet leadership battle - A few interesting observations

Lynne Hillan has pronounced herself happy with her 1 vote victory over newly elected Councillor Mark Shooter. It's good that someone in the London Borough of Barnet is. There are a few points that her and her supporters might wish to ponder. When the Shooter camp launched their bid, they would have been ecstatic with 18 votes. It is widely accepted that the initial motivation for the bid was to try and smoke out disaffected councillors. Every one of the 18 who voted for Shooter had massive pressure applied. At least two who voted for Hillan had pledged support to Shooter and seem to have recanted at the last minute ( I have this on good authority).

Those within the Shooter camp had hoped that his candidacy would cause a bit of reflection in the cabinet and a few conversations with a view to reconcile the disaffected wing. What happened was quite the opposite. A completely botched campaign with councillors who had intended to stay loyal, turning to Shooter in disgust at the bullying and intimidation. At the start of the campaign, Shooter probably only had eleven definites and three possibles. Fourteen votes would be seen as a good show and a shot across the bows. As it was there were 18 votes and two who crumbled at the last.

Rather worryingly for Hillan, the challenge was just the first part of a strategy to force a change of tack of leadership. If she thinks that the disaffected mob will simply crawl back under a stone, she's lost the plot. Worryingly for Hillan, the challenge has smoked out a few people for the Shooter faction, who are keen to solve "The Barnet Problem". Lynne Hillan has tried to brand the Shooter camp disloyal. Sadly as her no 1 backer is Brian Coleman, who undermined both Victor Lyons and Brian Salinger, she has ended up looking like a bleating hypocrite.

So who are the big winners? The Barnet Labour party are over the moon at Hillans victory. There was a fear that Shooter would scrap future shape, warden cuts etc and actually run the council properly. As it is Hillan is there, with the prospect of Harper taking over shortly. Harper is closely associated with Brian Coleman, who even Boris can't stand. Coleman has made a whole new raft of enemies with his behaviour. Word on the street is that he's out for revenge. With such a close margin of victory, one would assume that he'd be trying to build a few bridges, but that isn't his style.

One of the biggest shocks was the division in the Cohen household. Dad Melvin is a Hillanite. His son Dean seems to be leaning more towards Big Uncle Jack's proposition. Shooter was heard saying that Cohen junior was probably his most surprising convert. I suspect that this years New Year shindig at the Cohens may be a rather chilly affair.

So how does the future look for the Barnet Tories and their bonkers ideology - They have a Leader who half the group can't stand. They have a cabinet stuffed with idiots like Robert Rams who thinks that if people want to use a library they should go to Starbucks. They have a project to sell off all the Councils assets to companies like Connaught PLC (a long term partner of Barnet Council who just ent bust). They have a faction lead by intelligent and wealthy men, such as Mark Shooter and Brian Schama who are prepared to stick their heads above the parapet and tell the truth about how awful the leadership really are.

I spoke to a Tory Councillor this morning, who gave me a full run down of proceedings (one you'd never guess as he voted for Hillan). He knew I'd be writing this blog and he wanted to make sure that there was "a degree of balance". The terms were strict anonymity (as ever). His verdict "Yes, it's fair to say we've not handled the whole issue very well. In hindsight, the allowances were a mistake, although I believe the policy was the correct one. We underestimated the strength of feeling and we overreacted to the Leadership challenge. I think we've learned that we can't take backbenchers for granted and we won't make that mistake again". Not an analysis I'd subscribe to - but hey ho, it gives us a little insight.

Interestingly, whilst we were chatting, Brian Coleman was plotting to haul Mark Shooter over the coals for "talking to the press". As ever in Barnet politics, you really couldn't make it up if you tried. What really amazes me is the fact that all of the Barnet Tory councillors read this blog, I suspect that for many of them, it's the only way they ever find out what is really going on.

Let me make a few predictions. Having "seen off the challenger", Lynne Hillan will resign sometime during the next couple of months. Between now and then, Councillor Andrew Harper will launch a massive charm offensive (Good Cop) whilst Brian Coleman monsters a few hapless backsliders (bad cop). Mark Shooter and Brian Schama will not be the main recipients of this as they have backbone and bullies don't like people who fight back.

Mike Freer and Matthew Offord have used up massive political capital preserving Hillan in her role. They both now have a massive problem as she is a road crash in progress. Sadly neither man is intelligent enough to know what to do next.

I expect a massive outbreak of ill health in the Tory group for the Confidence vote. Sicknotes galore. Tories are naturally a pretty tribal mob, so won't knife Hillan, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if at least ten failed to show up. I believe that it is possible that we'll get two byelections in the next few months as I know of two councillors who find the whole thing a massive embarrassment and wish they'd never stood. My advice to them is to stay and try and fight for sanity in Barnet, but they are completely sick of the sight of Coleman and Hillan.

Lastly, I have a big prediction. Boris Johnson won the mayoralty in the outer suburbs. In Barnet and Camden, the GLA representative is none other than Brian Coleman. Boris wants him deselected. I can confidently predict that Boris feels that it is time that the Camden part of the constituency had their say in chosing the candidate. Boris cannot afford the luxury of Brian Coleman scaring off any more voters.

Well that's it from the Barnet Eye on this whole mucky leadership business. It will be back to business as usual tomorrow. Finally an apology to Mrs Angry. She wants me to make it clear that she in no way endorsed Mr Shooter as I had suggested, she just felt Hillan was worse - I guess I should have known from my boyhood experiences with St Michaels Girls, that when I asked her if she thought Hillan and Shooter were equally useless and she said "no" that she really meant "Yes" - He He He.

Babylon's Burining

Lynne Hillan won the Leadership vote 19-18. It seems that Babylon really is buring with anxiety

Babylons Burning - The Rut

Babylon's burning
You're burning the street
You're burning your houses
With anxiety

With anxiety
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning
With anxiety
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning

Babylon's burning
You're burning the street
You're burning the ghetto
With anxiety

With anxiety
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning
With anxiety
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning

Babylon's burning, baby
Can't you see?
Babylon's burning
With anxiety

You'll burn as your work
You'll burn at your play
smouldering
With ignorance and hate

And with anxiety
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning
With anxiety
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning

Babylon's burning, baby
Can't you see?
Babylon's burning
With anxiety

Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning
Babylon is... burning
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning
Babylon's burning

Barnet Council Leadership Contest - The intrigue deepens as the deadline looms

A passing comment last night at the Cabinet meeting from a friendly Tory Councillor gave a telling insight into the mindset of our local Tories right now. Councillor Richard Cornelius announced in his rather rambling preamble about the Local Development Framework, which was being debated (or should I say rubber stamped).

It's the best that we're going to get for Barnet

This document is highly important. Richard Cornelius stressed time and again that thousands of trees had been chopped down. He stated that the scrutiny committee comments "had been noted". He said that it had taken two years and countless consultations. At the end of it, we've got something that the cabinet member responsible can only sum up in this way.

Word reaches the Barnet Eye of frantic lobbying by both Mike Freer and Matthew Offord on behalf of incumbent leader Lynne Hillan. The body language at the meeting indicated that she needs all the help she can get. She sat next to council officials, with her Deputy sitting opposite. At the end of the meeting, the vast majority of the councillors legged it as soon as humanly possible. Councillor Tom Davey, who had clearly come along for a brown nosing session, seemed to pick up the panic and looked rather disturbed. Today, out of the blue, I got a reply from Barnet Council about my complaint re the election arrangements. It is outrageous. I have chosen not to write a blog about it, as I suspect they could only have sent such an email to try and get me to blog about that instead of the leadership.

I've received quite a few emails and calls today. A couple of other bloggers have had their say - Vicki Morris says she wants Hillan to stay, because she's useless and this is better for the Unions. Mrs Angry seems to want Shooter to win.  Whether we should listen to Mrs Angry given that her grandfather could have single handedly prevented the rise of Nazism and the Second World War I don't know.

Perhaps the most interesting caller was a Barnet Councillor who phoned me to discuss the Leadership Election. He was unaware until I told him that Brian Coleman had bunked off the Cabinet meeting. Following our conversation (this may or may not give you an insight into his identity), I can confidently predict that within four weeks Barnet Council will have a new Leader. I can even tell you who it will be - Councillor Andrew Harper. The succession plan has been worked out. The powers that be know the game is up and that Hillan is dead in the water. Mark Shooter will rock to many boats, put too many noses out of joint and open too many cupboards with skeletons in. He must be stopped at all costs. It seems that deals are being done. Sadly for you and I dear reader, all this means is more of the same. Less incompetent than Hillan, but still completely ineffective and useless. Ineffectual lackies such as Robert Rams will be retained and the status quo will be shored up.

If you were wondering why Harper was so cheerful last night, now you know. What Colemans absence tells us, we can only speculate.

There are going to be a few casualties in this battle though. Watch this space.......

In the meantime, I suspect what Richard Cornelius said could apply to the rise of Andrew Harper - It's the best we're going to get for Barnet

Lynne Hillan : Sad and lonely times

After the Barnet Council cabinet meeting, I spent ten minutes chatting with Alex Hayes, the reporter from the Times as the council chamber cleared. What could be so interesting, you (and a few councillors) may wonder? Well actually, I was chatting about various youth music initiatives. We never actually mentioned the Barnet leadership challenge. It seemed sort of disrespectful with Lynne Hillan standing a few feet away. What struck me about Hillan, was the fact that the only people who seemed to want to chat to her (apart from Councillor Rajput - and we all know he's one for the ladies) were the Council officers. Most of the cabinet couldn't get out of the door quick enough.

Myself and Alex found ourselves to be the last people in the chamber. We decided we'd better clear off. As we left, we found Leader Hillan standing on her own, in the rain, on the steps of Hendon Town Hall. She looked rather sad.  It summed up her leadership. Alex went up and said "Hi Lynne, can I have a quick word". I left him to it.

Just to give you a flavour of how pathetic and desperate some of her colleagues have become, read this blog by Suzette Palmer - http://susettepalmer.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/barnet-tribalism/ - it details how Councillor Robert Rams has "withdrawn" cooperation on libraries following the Lib Dems no confidence motion. To me this indicates that Rams has "no confidence" in Lynne's ability to win. If he thought Hillan had the votes to win, would he bother?

The people of Barnet elected you and pay your allowances

This blog is a direct message to the Barnet Conservative Councillors, ahead of the Leadership vote on Tuesday 7th of September.

Kate Salinger aside, every single one of you let down yourself and the people of Barnet, when you voted for the allowance rise earlier in the summer. We all make mistakes, especially when we are new to the game. In life, if we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it. You know Lynne Hillan is not up to the job. You know she isn't anywhere near the Leader the people of the London Borough of Barnet deserve. The people who are supporting her are not doing so out of a genuine belief in her talents. They are a talentless bunch who need the protection of a weak leader, who in turn needs their protection.

The people of Barnet elected you. The people of Barnet pay your allowances. The people of Barnet had faith in you to represent their interests to the best of their ability. That is where your allegiance must lie. You owe Lynne Hillan nothing, your first loyalty must be to the electorate. Remeber that when you vote.

Barnet Leadership Challenge : Open panic in the Lynne Hillan camp

If you want to get a sense of the desperation and panic in the Lynne Hillan camp in the Barnet Leadership battle, consider this. The Chipping Barnet Conservative association have organised a trip for their members to Strasbourg to see Marina Yannakoudakis MEP (see this link and look at September 5th by clicking here). The trip was part of their regular fundraising activities. The trip was meant to be lead by Councillors Richard and Alison Cornelius. They are both fluent French speakers. Many of the travellers are elderly and were looking forward to a nice time.

Sadly for these party stalwarts, Richard Cornelius has been told he's not going. Barnet Council Leader Lynne Hillan can't spare his vote, so the party faithful can get stuffed. Keeping her in a job is more important. When Mark Shooter announced his intention to stand, Hillan said that a Councillor who had only been in office since May was not a credible candidate. If she cannot spare one single paid up cabinet members vote, she is not a credible leader. If it is so tight that Richard Cornelius cannot be spared, she has lost the party. Win or lose, she's lost. It's not like the situation in December when she beat Fiona Bulmer, this is a vote of confidence in her leadership and if she is this desperate, that's it chum.

I urge her cabinet colleagues to spare her the humiliation and put her out of her misery - have a private word and tell her to bow out with dignity. Lynne Hillan has made the Barnet Conservative party a joke. Even the Brent Labour party is laughing at Barnet and saying that the Tories have no credibility left -

http://barnhill-newdawn.blogspot.com/2010/08/public-pressure-imagine-results.html#comments

Of course, I suppose it's possible that the Barnet Tory ruling elite like being a joke and a laughing stock. Let's face it, it's the only thing they seem to be good at.

Barnet Council Leadership : We can't bury our heads in the sand any longer

Barnet Council has huge debts of over £200 Million (long term borrowing and liabilities). This has risen from about £38 million when the Tories took charge. Due to a serious of massive blunders, the reserves have been depleted and huge unexpected charges in the form of spending overruns, legal cases and lost investments have left the council in a position where every Council tax payer in Barnet owes £1,000. Sadly the current leader of Barnet Council doesn't even begin to comprehend that this is a problem. The executives at Barnet Council have two answers (which anyone with an ounce of financial acument will recognise as completely insane). The first is to borrow even more money to cover the debt (think of the adverts "Why not roll all your debts into a brand new one and then go on holiday"). The second is to have a firesale of council assets, namely properties, which will then be leased back. Whilst this will plug the immediate hole in the finances, it will build in huge structural costs into the council budget for ever. Just suppose the Council sell £100 million of assets to cover the debt.  A commercial landlord will then charge the council a rent on these. All of a sudden there is an annual bill of £10-15 million for rent, which wasn't on the account sheet before. At some point there will be rent reviews and the bill will get even bigger.

As ever, when you really want to see what sort of shape an organisation is in, start with their latest accounts. I've spent the last few days going through these, which is why I've started asking these questions. The situation looks grim to me.


What other "black holes" are there in the council accounts? I've also been digging in the council papers, chatting with my friends in the trades unions. One of them sent me this link :-


http://www.epolitix.com/members/member-press/member-press-details/newsarticle/audit-commission-report-confirms-shortfall-in-the-local-government-pension-scheme-is-caused-by-last///sites/gmb/

This details shortfalls in the Local Government Pension scheme, to which Barnet subscribes. I'm not an expert on such matters, but as I understand it the problem is this. Barnet has a legal obligation to it's workforce, there is a shortfall (and these are huge sums) and someone is going to have to pay for it (guess who).

Just to give you a flavour of this, have a look at the council accounts for 2008/2009 (the last full year) - http://www.barnet.gov.uk/statement-of-accounts-2008-09.pdf - go to page 102. What is the biggest red figure - at £228,024,000 - the pension fund reserve. How on earth can you have a negative reserve? Even more worrying is the fact that this rose by over £26 million in one year.

Even worse is the fact that the total liabilities of the council are £560,635,000 on the face of it, the accounts show that the position is rosy, £1,962,959,000, but the vast majority of this is the council housing stock - £1,220,000. When you then take the other property assets - £489,893,000 you soon see that most of this is sown up. Assuming that these liabilities have to be financed, lets say at 3% above base rate, this is costing us approx £20 million a year, even at a low base rate of 0.5%. If interest rates were to go up to 6.5% (not a particularly high rate historically), the Barnet taxpayer would be paying £60 million a year.

Of course, all of these interest rates are notional. Barnet has it's cash on a whole range of interest rates, some fixed and some variable. The point is that the more debt we have, the more assets we sell, the less control the town hall has over what the council tax levels will actually be. Under the combined leadership of Mike Freer and Lynne Hillan, we are approaching a cliff and the current leadership have put their foot on the accelerator, not the brakes. I have no idea whether the leadership challenger, Mark Shooter has any answers to this,but he has told the press that he isn't a fan of the future shape scheme, which at least acknowledges that he realises that selling the family silver is bonkers.

It seems to me that there is a political consensus in Barnet. This is one of completely burying our heads in the sand. I believe there is a stark choice which cannot be put off any longer. Lynne Hillan is part of the problem, she has caused the problem. She is the one who froze the council tax, by raiding the reserves, purely to win an election. She was the one who then tried to vote herself a huge payrise with our cash. She is a totally discredited failure. She has no answers. If she isn't sacked now, then come the next election, there won't be a Barnet Council left. I have one question for all of our Tory Councillors. Have you actually read the Council accounts? If you have, how could you possibly vote for Lynne Hillan - the only answer to this is that you are too thick to understand a balance sheet or too greedy to care.