is the labour council leader impersonating independent councillor steve harrison?

Last week Mr Monkey revealed that council leader Iain Malcolm led a delegation of South Tyneside councillors on a 5 day jolly to Epinay in France. CLICK HERE. The delegation included a number of Malcolm lackeys including councillors Rob Dix and Steve Harrison.

Mr Monkey’s revelations sentthese freeloaders into panic mode and councillor Iain Malcolm – in an attempt to justify spending thousands of pounds of public money - posted two comments on Mr Monkey’s Blog under the name J Adamson. CLICK HERE and HERE. from this e-mail address; eurocar@hotmail.com  

This comment was then left on Mr Monkey’s Blog under the same name and using the same e-mail address within hours of Mr Monkey’s second post -

You deluded idiot, I AM NOT Iain Malcolm and I AM NOT a councillor just an employee of STC, now you’ve disclosed my email address and risked my job you stupid ignorant fucking twat!
Pull your head out of your arse and start thinking of a way to defend me at the investigatory interview.

I won’t be back leaving comments here, brainless arsehole.

The tone and style of this comment was different to the other two and it was clearly written by a someone else.

This chimp has spent most of the weekend looking at all the comments left on his site and can confirm that two e-mail addresses - eurocar@hotmail.com and eurocar@hotmail.co.uk- have been regularly used to post comments, under different names since November 2008.

According to Jarra Lad, eurocar is part of Elmfiled taxis and is owned by councillor Steve Harrison. If this is true and councillor Harrison is behind these comments Mr Monkey reckons that the council leader will not be best pleased when he learns what councillor Harrison really thinks of him.

The only question is that did councillor Harrison know that Iain Malcolm was posting comments in his name? If not what was the council leader doing impersonating an councillor Harrison – Mr Monkey wonders whether it’s got anything to do with stopping former council leader Paul Waggott from making a swift return to the council?

A list of all comments left using the eurocar e-mail address will follow in the next 48 hours.

whose council leader iain malcolm impersonating?

Council leader Iain Malcolm now seems to be distancing himself from the comments he made on Mr Monkey’s Blog after the council’s week long visit to Epinay in France was exposed on this blog. CLICK HERE.

Mr Monkey also revealed that councillor Malcolm used a pseudonym in order to hide his real identity or to deliberately discredit the person whose identity he had stolen. Both comments were posted under the name J Adamson and were from this e-mail address eurocar@hotmail.com

Now Mr Monkey reckons there is a 3rd possibility - councillor Iain Malcolm wrote the comments on someone else’s behalf who then posted them on this site using his or her own identity. Whatever the circumstances this chimp is 100% certain that the comments were written by Iain Malcolm. CLICK HERE and HERE. and that this is’nt the first time Miss Piggy has posted comments on Mr Monkey’s Blog using other peoples names – more of this later. 

It seems Mr Monkey’s decision to reveal council leader Iain Malcolm was behind these comments and the decision to tell bloggers about his rouse of using eurocar@hotmail.com as his e-mail address caused panic in the South Tyneside Scroungers Club councillors delegation in Epinay and sent them scurrying for cover back under the stones they crawled out from.

Councillor Malcolm then came up with another rouse, this time he tried to bloggers that J Adamson was a council employee who now risked losing his or her job because of Mr Monkey’s revelations. Unfortunatley he couldn’t order his stooge, Papa John Szymanski at the Labour Gazetteer, aka Shields Gazette to publish the story – he can’t risk telling the public what we really gets up to at their expenses – so he decided to use the Fat Mackem Hobbit over at the Shire as his mouthpiece and the daft twat fell for it.

Within hours of Mr Monkey confirming that Iain Malcolm was the person responsible, the following comment appeared;

You deluded idiot, I AM NOT Iain Malcolm and I AM NOT a councillor just an employee of STC, now you’ve disclosed my email address and risked my job you stupid ignorant fucking twat!
Pull your head out of your arse and start thinking of a way to defend me at the investigatory interview.

I won’t be back leaving comments here, brainless arsehole.

.. and this is when the theory that J Adamson is a council employee falls on flat on it’s arse.

Although this latest comment comes from the same e-mail address and uses the same name, Mr Monkey is certain that Iain Malcolm did not write it - it’s not his style of writing,  which thanks to a tip off Mr Monkey now knows how to recognise.

This comment is clearly the work of a second individual on the French trip and Mr Monkey reckons he ‘s seen this style of writing on dozens of occasions since his blog first appeared.

Mr Monkey is going to spend the weekend going through all the archived comments to see if any pattern emerges and he’s also going to do some digging into who or what eurocar is and what link there is with South Tyneside Council – his findings will be posted next week.

In the meantime Mr Monkey can reveal that the eurocar e-mail address was first used by someone called Big Daddy on 1st November 2008 when he (the tone of this comment tells you he’s a man) left this comment

Get out ya dirty bastard we want to see some chicks, lasses with big tits in nurses uniforms.
No Bender Boys like Malcolm does. 

monkey clip

This week’s Monkey Clip is dedicated to the greediest bastard on South Tyneside Council.

Labour councillor Ernest Gibson, the Whiteleas sex machine known for his love of everything – as long as it’s free – managed to milk the council’s expenses system and claimed almost £5,000 for travel, hotel accommodation and meals.

Pay careful attention to the thing in the grey suit, he reminds Mr Monkey of council leader Iain Malcolm. The ’baby’ also reminds this chimp of the new mayor, councillor John Anglin.

miss piggy orders a new set of wheels – paid for by you

'Piggy's wheels'

Mr Monkey wonders how many people know that South Tyneside council recently did it’s bit to help the ailing British car industry by buying another Swedish car? A fuckwit Iain Malcolm in the town hall decided that it was time to add another black Volvo to the growing collection of council vehicles.

Apparently Iain Malcolm, aka Miss Piggy didn’t want the new deputy mayor, coun Tom Piggott travelling round the borough on his own, because he couldn’t be sure what he’d say. To avoid any embarrassing Piggott moments, coun Malcolm thought the deputy mayor should always be accompanied?

The council already has one black Volvo which comes complete with a chauffeur and it’s used mainly by the mayor, although Iain Malcolm has been known to use it when he needs a lift to the airport. Mr Monkey has now been told coun Iain Malcolm felt that one wasn’t enough so in these difficult economic times – when people are struggling financially – he  decided the time was right to buy a second one. 

He also thought he’d do his bit to help massage the unemployment figures by recruiting another chauffeur – what good is a car without a driver?

Labour councillors paid almost half a million pounds

Its Labour’s turn to face Mr Monkey’s how much do they cost the taxpayer test.

When bloggers look at the figures it’s easy to see why so many Labour stalwarts have been around for so long. No wonder they squeal like pigs on the way to the slaughter house when they face the prospect of being dragged away from the trough.

Mr Monkey also reckons that this is why their lives are decimated when the electorate kick them out and why so many of them try and grab someone else’s seat on the council. This is the only way they can get their snouts back in the trough – there’s never been any honour amongst thieves especially when it comes to money.

Here are some of the highlights from The Labour Greed List,

• Coun Iain Malcolm made the highest claim at £32,435 (£623.75 a week)

• Coun Alan Kerr claimed at £23,319 (£448.44 a week)

• Coun Ernest Gibson claimed a record £4,932.27 for travel and subsistence

• Coun Rob Dix treated himself to a new BMW when he was elected. This delivery driver receives an annual boost to his salary from the taxpayer of around £14,000.

• After replacing Paul Waggott as leader of the council, Coun Malcolm promptly put the boot in by not giving Coun Linda Waggott a place at his trough. She was the only Labour councillor not to receive a special responsibility allowance.

Mr Monkey was staggered to learn that almost half a million pounds of taxpayers money was paid to just 31 Labour councillors and for what? Most of them can’t string a sentence together and couldn’t care less about the people they represent, that is until it’s time for their re-election.

The cost of each Labour councillor to the taxpayer in 2008 – 09 was a staggering £15,029.83.

Name	Allowance	Travel	Subsistence	Total	Weekly Cost
Anglin, J	11,760	-	-	11,760	226.15
Bell, J	16,464	-	-	16,464	316.61
Boyack, P	13,833	691.25	152.33	14,676	282.23
Brady, W  E	16,464	-	-	16,464	316.61
Clare, M H	16,464	-	-	16,464	316.61
Dix, R	14,112	-	-	14,112	271.38
Dixon, T	15,352	1,566.80	315.62	17,234	331.43
Donaldson, A	8,168	-	129.63	8,297	159.55
Foreman, J	16,464	800.15	214.01	17,478	336.11
Gibson, E	16,186	3,431.90	1,500.37	21,118	406.12
Hanson, T	16,464	-	-	16,464	316.61
Kerr, A	22,408	733.47	177.63	23,319	448.44
Leask, E	14,112	-	-	14,112	271.38
Lewell, E L	11,760	-	-	11,760	226.15
Malcolm, E	16,464	1,253.10	605.91	18,323	352.36
Malcolm, I	31,817	239.00	379.82	32,435	623.75
Maxwell, N E	16,464	228.50	72.94	16,765	322.40
McAtominey, E	12,962	638.40	53.12	13,653	262.56
McCabe, J G	14,112	-	-	14,112	271.38
McMillan, A	11,481	-	-	11,481	220.78
Meeks, J	14,112	334.60	160.61	14,607	280.90
Perry, J	16,464	-	-	16,464	316.61
Piggot, T	11,760	-	-	11,760	226.15
Punchion, O	11,760	102.40	-	11,862	228.11
Scorer, B	14,112	211.20	111.75	14,434	277.57
Sewell, J	16,464	658.75	734.78	17,857	343.40
Spraggon, S	11,203	151.20	-	11,354	218.34
Stewart, A M	13,833	114.90	88.47	14,036	269.92
Strike, A	11,760	56.00	-	11,816	227.23
Waggott, L I	7,056	-	-	7,056	135.69
Walsh, A	8,486	372.00	15.42	8,873	170.63
TOTALS:	450,321*	10,892.37	4,712.41	465,925*	8,973.16

*These figures do not include pence

how much does councillor defty cost the taxpayer?

In the past year Mr Miserable, councillor Tom Defty the former Labour councillor who became an Independent claimed £7056 in allowances and £293 for travel and subsistence.

This brought the total cost to the taxpayer for the year 2008 – 09 to £7,349 or £141.32 a week.

how much does a real independent councillor cost the taxpayer?

Today it’ the turn of the 2 Real Independent councillors to face Mr Monkey’s how much do they cost the taxpayer test. 

This group of 2 – lead by councillor ‘Red Rum’ Elsom have a reputation for changing their political allegiances depending on who pays them the most which way the wind blows so don’t be surprised to see a substantial increase next year the run up to the 2010 elections – Miss piggy will need allies and what better way than to buy them he can count on.

Name	Allowances	Travel	Subsistence	Total	Weekly Cost
G. Elsom	£11.203	£517	£33	£11,753	£226.01
T. Haram	£7,056	-	-	£7,056	£135.69
TOTALS	£18,259	£517	£33	£18,809	£361.71

The cost of each Real Indepenedent councillor to the taxpayer in 2008 -09 was £9,404.

how much does a LibDem councillor cost the taxpayer?

In the interest of fairness Mr Monkey thought he’d publish the cost of a Liberal Democrat councillor.

The LibDems attendance record is much better than the Conservative group yet the cost to the taxpayer is significantly lower. 

Name	Allowances	Travel Expenses	Subsistence	Total	Weekly Cost
J McKie	£7,056	£461	-	£7,517	£144.55
J. Abbot	£9,130	-	-	£9,130	£175.57
J Atkinson	£7,056	-	-	£7,056	£135.69
TOTALS	£23,242	£461	-	£23,703	£455.81

The cost of each LibDem councillor in 2008 -09 was just £7,901 – that’s what Mr Monkey calls value for money.

tory councillor David Potts £12,000 expense claims

After yesterday’s pronouncements by the Conservative leader David Cameron concerning the dodgy expense claims of some of his colleagues i.e pay back the money or risk being booted out of the party, Mr Monkey can’t help wondering when councillor David Potts, the local Conservative group leader will join the newly formed  alliance of spineless progressives and the outcasts, who apparently want to be known as The Progressive Party and The Association on non Aligned Independent Councillors?

Regular readers of this blog will remember this post CLICK HERE

"After claiming nearly £12,000 in expenses he still can't afford a pair of sunglasses"

about councillor Potts record expense claim in 2005 when he claimed more than £2,251 – most of it was spent on First Class rail travel which just happened to be around the same time he claimed he was studying at Cambridge.

Mr Monkey can now reveal that councillor Potts has gone that extra mile in the last 12 months (2008 – 09) and has set another record by claiming a whooping  £3,393 in travel expenses and subsistence.

Interestingly this claim also coincides with the period that councillor Potts had been selected as the Conservative candidate to challenge Alistair Darling in Edinburgh – that is until Mr Monkey put paid to his political ambitions by revealing the sleazy alcohol fuelled antics of councillor Potts.

This chimp reckons that the people of South Tyneside unwittingly paid for his campaign jollies and will be stunned to learn that the council allowed him to get away with it.

Mr Monkey can also reveal that councillor Potts, who is allegedly in opposition has one of the worst attendance records on South Tyneside council,  but he’s still managed to claim nearly £12,000 in travel and subsistence since his election in late 2004.

This chimp reckons it’s time David Cameron turned his attention to some of his colleagues in local government, especially those who are blatantly ripping off the taxpayer with their exaggerated and probably fraudulent expense claims.

.. and Mr Monkey certainly intends to bring councillor Potts dubious expense claims to his attention.

ticking boxes gets council 4 stars

Last week the Audit Commission, the people who monitor councils, announced the results of the latest Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) of Local Authorities and awarded South Tyneside Council 4-stars council, which means that the council has been judged “Excellent.”

But, alas, CPA is not the panacea which Miss Piggy and the Dominatrix are claiming. In fact, CPA is being abolished at the end of this month, to be replaced by something better. Being graded “Excellent” in a flawed process is better than being graded “Poor.” But the process is flawed, and the the Labour council shouldn’t get carried away.

As the title suggests, Comprehensive Performance Assessment is a comprehensive way of assessing services. But the way that it does so is very much to do with performance statistics, which can mean the targeting of resources to meet targets and tick boxes rather than to respond to what resdients on the street actually want. It’s a flaw which has long been evident yet never been properly corrected.

This is evident in South Tyneside where, for instance, Neighbourhood Services score very highly. The department’s staff do their job well and do indeed hit their targets. But whilst the Audit Commission might judge that there’s success, Mr Monkey wonders if they’d have the same view if they actually lived in the borough and had to deal with litter un-swept, graffiti un-cleaned, and roads un-repaired? Mr Monkey doubt’s it.

These problems aren’t to do with bad staff, there to do with mis-directed money and the result of local people being ignored - CPA doesn’t have anything to say about that.

CPA has always lacked enough emphasis on service user satisfaction, relaying on tightly-worded tri-annual surveys rather than mystery shopping or the experience of councillors. The process has also been far too heavily weighted to national priorities at the expense of local ones, and has put adherence to government wish lists ahead of proper local scrutiny.