Why Caroline Clapper didn't fit in with the Barnet Tories

*** Update ***
Please note this blog was factually incorrect in its original form. I took at face value the story in the Times, without reading it carefully. I mistakenly took the the article to say that these councillors had donated the money from their private cash, whereas it was from their community fund allocation (ie public funds) which is a different thing. Many apologies for this. I think the idea of these local funds is a good one, although this is a completely different matter. An eagle eyed Barnet Eye readers spotted the detail in the link to Carolines community fund details. This is a graphic display of why such information should be in the public domain.

Many apologies to Caroline for giving a misleading impression of her work as a Councillor. As I said below, I think the attitude of Herts CC to issues of openness puts Barnet to shame. The blog has been edited accordingly

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There is a great story on the Times website about a bunch of Tory Councillors making a cash allocation from their communities fund to the Police cadet volunteers . One name that stuck out was Caroline Clapper. She was until recently a Barnet Tory, representing Totteridge (home of infamous Mr Toad, Brian Coleman). She clearly didn't fit in with the Barnet Tories and now represents neighbouring Hertfordshire. 

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/8309293.Councillors_donate_money_towards_training_equipment_for_police_cadets/

It seems that if Barnet Tory Councillors have a decent bone in their body, they are either humiliated like Kate Salinger or feel they have to leave like Caroline Clapper? Let's face it, she just didn't fit in. Hats off to you Caroline. One thing of interest I noticed was that Caroline Clappers statement of financial interest is available to view on the council website.

http://www.hertscouncillors.org/carolineclapper/details/

Of course we don't do things like this in Barnet, do we? See the difference between Caroline's profile on the Hertsmere website and old trougher Coleman, who won't even put his address and telephone number down - does he really think anyone cares ? Heaven forbid that a mere Council Tax payer might actually want to speak to him :-

http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/councillor.asp?intsectionid=9&councillorid=6030

We get told nothing in Barnet, despite paying the likes of Coleman a kings ransom. No wonder she's much happier in Herts.

Barnet Council : Where have all the Tories gone?

At the last Council Election we elected 37 Conservative Councillors in Barnet. I'd like to think that at the time they were all enthusiastic and keen to do a four year stint serving the people of Barnet. Where did it all go wrong. Since those heady days, three of them have emigrated. Edgware Councillor Richard Weider legged it to Israel, Golders Green Councilor Chris Harris upped sticks to Australia (he didn't tell his colleagues and collected his £800 a month allowance for six months, even more worryingly they didn't notice) and now news emerges that East Barnet Councillor Terry Burton has moved to the USA. It is not clear whether any of his colleagues noticed. That is a staggering 8% of Barnets Tory Councillors who have had enough.  Now I've never felt the urge to  up sticks and emigrate, I rather like Mill Hill. My friends are here, my family are here and I love the place. I don't know what thought process makes someone leave. I suppose if Uma Thurman rolled up on my doorstep and begged me to accompany her to California, I may be tempted but other than that I can't really think of anywhere I'd rather live. Assuming these three didn't stand planning to run off at the first opportunity, why did they get so disillusioned that they had to go. Sadly Richard Weider told us that it was "because Jewish people no longer feel comfortable here". Thankfully this isn't what my Jewish friends tell me, but it is highly worrying none the same. Given the large Jewish population of the Borough, it was sad that Mr Weider didn't think he could address this as part of a Tory administration. Harris and Burton haven't really enlightened us at all. Given that for most of the last four years, the Tories nationally have been ahead in the polls, it is sad that they don't think Great Britain has a Bright future.

As well as the three who have emigrated, we've seen a pattern of Councillors resigning and moving away. Sadly the pattern is that they have been extremely capable and committed female Councillors, who clearly felt that Barnet was not a place where their talents would be recognised. Both Caroline Margo who defected to Hertfordshire and Jane Ellison who left Hale to stand as PPC for Battersea, were highly capable councillors. I know Jane extremely well from her efforts for the Mill Hill Music Festival, which she set up. Had she been a PPC in Barnet, Finchley or Hendon, I'm sure that she would have easily won, as she's hard working, intelligent and committed. She doesn't carry the baggage that accompany the selected candidates. As for Caroline Margo, I don't know her, but the Tories I know who do, tell me she would also have been a great PPC. Sadly we've lost these great talents.

Then there are the Tories who aren't standing at the next election for Council. I've been told that Fiona Bulmer is not standing in Underhill. If you do a search on this blog, you will see that from day one I said that she was a credible Tory who did a good job. I've got three children at school in Barnet and they've all had an excellent education (which was her portfolio). I don't agree with Fi Fi's politics, but she is an excellent administrator and has a track record of doing the job well. She challenged Lynne Hillan for Leadership in December so it is quite clear she wasn't planning to leave. She only lost because Hillan bribed several unscrupulous councillors who knew Bulmer was the best candidate with the promise of cabinet positions (some of which never materialised, Ho Ho Ho). Bulmer knew that Hillan would be a lousy leader and she didn't wish to be associated with a culture of failure. Who can blame her. If you think I'm just saying nice things about her now to make trouble, read this blog, written in December 2008, where I graded the performance of all of the then Tory cabinet and in hindsight was remarkably fair - http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2008/11/barnet-council-cabinet-members.html

If you are a Barnet Tory, ask yourself this question. Just suppose for one second that Jane Ellison had been the PPC for Finchley and Golders Green, Caroline Margo the Candidate for Hendon and Fiona Bulmer the Council Leader. Do you think that the Tories would get more or less votes in the election in May. Do you think that the Council would be better run? Do you think you'd have shown that talent was rewarded in the Barnet Conservatives? Sadly all I see from Barnet Council and the Barnet Conservatives is that talent is stifled and driven out and failure is rewarded. Candidates which would be attractive to the electorate and have good track records are undermined, driven out and destroyed. The only people who prosper are those who kow tow to the ruling junta and don't point out the obvious flaws in the various cunning plans which Lynne Hillan and her cronies have cooked up (just see how many Court battles Barnet Council have lost recently).

It may surprise you to know that The Barnet Eye thinks it is bad for Barnet to see all our most talented Conservative Councillors leaving.It also explains why the Council is doing such a rotten jo

Picture at the top : Ex Barnet Councillor Caroline Margo (now Caroline Clapper) on left, at Jewish blind and disabled charity event.
Picture in middle : Ex Barnet Councillor Jane Ellison (left) at Battersea Park School fair

Tambourides gets touchy !!!!!!!

I heard a rather amusing little story. Don't Call Me Dave published a rather interesting blog showing a picture of Councillor Andreas Tambourides car parked illegally. Now Mr Tambourides is one of my favourate Tory Councillors. Prior to her defection to Hertsmere Council, he would always make me chuckle at Council meetings, when he'd "admire" Former Tory Councillor Caroline Margo (now known as Caroline Clapper) as she used to walk across the Council chamber (of course the Barnet Eye wishes to make clear that Caroline Margo is a very admirable person and thoroughly agrees with Councillor Tambourides in this repsect). As he looks rather like the sadly missed Sid James of  "Carry On" fame, his admiration of his fellow Councillor always reminded me of many happy days watching Carry on up at the Council.

Anyway, what you may ask is this amusing little story that I was told. Well, it seems that Tambo has taken to claiming that this picture of his car (taken from DCMD's blog) :-

has been spoofed up by Don't Call Me Dave in paintshop. It seems he's going around saying that Don't Call Me Dave is so bitter and twisted by the success of the Tambourides clan, that he will stop at nothing to discredit him. Well, as you all know, The Barnet Eye will leave no stone unturned when it comes to ensuring fair play in Barnet. I sent the photo to my good mate, Spiderpilot, who is one of the worlds leading experts in the use of Photoshop to spoof up pictures. He assures me that this picture is genuine, apart from the rather clumsy attempts to hide Tambo's number plate.

In the Barnet Eye's mission to help and educate the populace of Barnet in the wicked ways of our local politicians, Spiderpilot provided me with this picture of what a "Spoofed up photo" of Tambourides may look like -

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE UNEDITED ORIGINAL AT NOTTHEBARNETTIMES (You won't be disappointed).

Sadly, it seems that I've got old Tambo all wrong. You see, I thought he was a guy a with a sense of humour, but I found that he takes himself a tad seriously. Not so long ago he complained to OFCOM because a presenter on London Greek Radio dedicated a song to him !

Apparently the presenter played the song, entitled "Baby, Shhh" and had the audacity to say :- "Baby Shut up, I should dedicate this to Andreas Tambourides who, the day before yesterday, was telling me how much he likes it. Andreas, I dedicate this to you, with much love. Many Kisses to you".

Tambo's complaint to OFCOM said the following :-

You can read the whole story if you CLICK HERE (go to page 79).  Now of course, The Barnet Eye thinks it's terrible if our local politicians should have people ridicule them. I'd have thought that with Andreas and his wife claiming over £50,000 a year in allowances, he'd be laughing all the way to the bank. My advice to Councillor Tambourides. Lighten up, your looks and your charm are your biggest assett. Use them wisely !