The Mike Freer Effect

Since Mike Freer took over at Barnet Council, the Borough's finances have, shall we say, not exactly been carefully husbanded. Borrowing has increased at an exponential rate, much of it to partake in highly dubious investments in Icelandic banks, which went bust, leaving a huge hole in the council finances. Major projects such as Aerodrome Road have also gone wrong, lumbering the hard pressed taxpayer with an extra, unforeseen bill of £11 Million.

I thought I'd see how Freerite economics have affected the Finchley and Golders Green Conservative Party. Mike Freer has had his hands on the tillers of power there for a couple of years. Has the party of financial prudence prospered financially under his regime in Finchley?

Well here is what it says in their accounts. See what happened to spending and expenses as Mike's feet got under the desk. Click on this for a full size, readable illustration. This is taken from The Finchley and Golders Green Conservatives accounts.

What would worry me if I was a Tory is that in a non council/ general election year, when the party should be building up it's resources, they've turned a £24,575 surplus into a £28,484 loss. The money raised by appeals fell from £41,575 to £2,090. Salaries have risen by approx 30%, but printing, stationary and photocopying have remained almost identical. This would indicate to me that they are paying 30% more money to do the same amount of work, although this is purely supposition. It also seems rather odd that it costs £9,478 instead of £2,859 to send the same amount of stationary and photocopying out?

I'm sure that there are perfectly good explanations for all of these facts, but at the end of the day, any organisation which runs it's finances on a deficit amounting to over 25% of it's income is in trouble. I'm not a Tory so it doesn't really bother me that they can't keep their house in good order. What does bother me is that they are proposing that a guy with a track record of financial ineptitude is being put forward as a candidate. I suspect that if they had selected someone who had a modicum of financial acumen and a track record of keeping tight control of the finances, then the income wouldn't have fallen by over 25%.

I guess that Mike Freer isn't too worried, because as his seat is a top target, his association will get bailed out by Central office. It all goes to show that far from being a Thatcherite as he claims, he's actually far closer to Gordon Brown with his view of what prudent finances are.

I suppose that if anyone asks him about the finances of the Finchley and Golders Green Conservatives, he'll say "I'm only the candidate, it's not my job to keep an eye on them". Well Mike, the sad truth is that you are the Captain of the ship. Just how many Iceburgs do you think you can hit, before you get found out?

Just a quick question. Are there actually any Tories in the Finchley and Golders Green Conservative Party, because these accounts do not appear the least bit "Conservative" to an ignorant pleb like me?