Barnet Eye war on Spongers and parasites : Huge public interest in Barnets sponging Tory councillors

Welcome to Monday Morning at the Barnet Eye. Here in sunny Mill Hill I had a wonderful weekend. Friday night, my band the False Dots did a really good gig at The Water Rats in Kings Cross. Saturday I watched a bit of my boy playing Gaelic Football at Copthall, for St Keirnans, had a great Chinese meal at Hees, Dropped a faulty mixing desk off in Surbiton. Sunday, had a lie in till 9.45 am, took the dog for a walk, cooked a barbeque lunch, went to 6pm mass, then played football at Powereleague.

Did I forget something? Oh yes, I dealt with a deluge of emails about our sponging parasitic councillors. I've never known anything like it. I've been swamped with info about what went on (from the most unlikely of sources as well). I've had the most disturbing reports from the most diverse of sources corroborating all sorts of funny business. In short I've got enough material for a years worth of blogs on the subject. The past week has been by far the busiest on the blog. I had a huge spike of hits during the election week, but this week has far surpassed that. I am saddened that there hasn't been more coverage by our local papers, but what they have said has been dynamite. One major omission from the Hendon Times is that they've said nothing about what our Third Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers ahas to say on the matter. She's posted nothing on her blog - http://www.theresavilliers.com/ -  I urge the Times and the Press to contact her and get her views. She is not a trappist Monk, she owes it to the people who voted her in to tell us what she thinks. If she refuses to comment, then we deserve to know. Come on guys, do the job properly, this is a huge story.

The most interesting thing is that the Barnet Tories seem happy to go to war with the national party (of which Villiers is a minister). I have had one email from a very trustworthy source which reported the most extraordinary comments by a certain Barnet Councillor, well known for his shenanigans, which are well documented in many a blog. Now it is not my job to tell the Leaders of the Conserrvative Party how to run their affairs, but I'd suggest that they call him in (they can email me if they can't guess who he is) and have a chat about what his priorities as a politician are. No one is bigger than the party they belong to. He says he is keen on Party discipline. Well he has publicly insulted a minister. Surely that in itself is grounds to have a quiet chat. If David Cameron and Grant Shapps allow such people to undermine them, they will fail. Sorting this out will be good for them, good for the people of Barnet and ultimately good for British Politics. We are just starting to recover from the MP's expenses scandal. Does David Cameron really want to send out the message that the pond life in Barnet can get away with tricks which he's doing his best to squash in Westminster? Over to you Dave.

The Barnet Eye war on Barnets spongers and parasites - The Empire Strikes Back !

The Barnet Council allowance scandal has taken a new turn. Rather unbelievably, the Leading Barnet Tory trougher, Brian Coleman has taken a swing at successful businessmen. In yesterdays Telegraph Brian Coleman appears to suggest that Grant Shapps, a self made millionaire, has no right to criticise Mr Colemans troughing at the public expense.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/7896482/Tory-minister-condemns-bumper-pay-of-Conservative-councillors.html

To quote Mr Coleman, rebutting Mr Shapps criticism of the self awarded huge increase in allowances

"Is that the multi millionaire Grant Shapps? The one with the private plane? The successful businessman? I don't have to justify what I earn. Councillors are worth every penny they earn. I'm not interested in this tittle tattle." 

So the Barnet Tories are against entrepreneurs? They resent people who have worked hard to build up a business and are reaping the rewards of their efforts. Mr Shapps launched a website & marketting business aged 22 and made a fortune (incidentally Barnet Council Leader Lynne Hillan did the same, except her company went bust in 2006 with huge debts to the taxman). Mr Shapps generated his wealth through hard work, vision and imagination. I have absolutely no objection to such people being rich. Mr Coleman? Well we all know how he got his latest payrise. He voted for it himself, used his position of seniority in the Conservative Party in Barnet to bully his colleagues into going along with it (even though bullying is specifically banned in the Councillors code of conduct). he has enforced the the threats under the guise of "party discipline", neglecting the fact that huge increases in his pay are not national Conservative Policy, were not in the manifesto from the election two months ago and have been derided by two of our local Tory MP's. There are rumours that the reason for the complete silence from the third local Tory MP, Theresa Villiers is that Lynne Hillan and Brian Coleman reminded her of their silence during the storm of criticism over her second home allowance. Theresa Villiers needs to speak out and let us know her position of the expenses scandal as a matter of urgency, to squash these rumours if they are untrue. She is welcome to post a guest blog here, detailing her views (without comment from me).

According to the Telegraph, Brian Coleman is the second highest paid Councillor in the country on a total of £114,322 (before the latest increases). He lives in a property with a subsidised rent, designed for low income families. He has had more gifts and hospitality than any other member of the GLA -

http://www.london.gov.uk/pls/apex/f?p=135:2:5616695545762709:fsp_sort_2_desc::RP&fsp_region_id=10248804584908268

Then theres his publicly funded taxi service to all the dos (despite having a free travelcard) (£345.83 not including travel card (over £1,000) - 2009-2010)

http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/expenses/docs0910/b-coleman.pdf

and more gifts and hospitality than any other member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority

http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/gifts_all.asp

and his free taxi service and subsidised congestion charge (total - £4,676.24 - 2009 -2010 )

http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Brian_Coleman_2009_2010.asp

No wonder Mr Coleman is so keen to suppress any debate on the issue. Now before he criticises Mr Grant Shapps too much, maybe he should consider this. Mr Shapps pays a huge sum of tax on his private wealth, money generated through hard work. Mr Coleman generates no wealth and any tax he pays, is just giving back to the taxman what he has received. I rather suspect this is why Grant Shapps gets it and Brian Coleman doesn't.