whose the mole in the labour party?

Judging by the comments on Indy councillor Khan’s twitter page it seems the local Labour party is leaking like a sieve. Either that or councillor Khan has at least one mole in the Labour ranks or is being feed information by a disgruntled council officer who is sick of the current regime.

According to councillor Khan, yesterday’s joint monthly Labour party meeting agreed to accept the council leader’s recommendations on Special Education Needs schools. This means that the Labour party has performed a u turn on the SEN review and was worried about the prospect of having to face the wrath of an increasingly militant and determined group of parents and supporters who are fighting to save theirschools or are they more worried about losing their seats at the next election?

Apparently the Labour party has now agreed to ..

Keep Bamburgh school open
Keep Oakleigh Gardens school open and merge it with Greenfields
Close Epinay school

It seems that councillor Khan’s mole has unwittingly – or was it deliberately – scuppered councillor Iain Malcolm’s plan to spin the truth and announce the news when it best suited him.

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.

a sinking ship or wishful thinking?

Message to Graham Rigg and David Potts (I know they’re avid readers of this blog, so they’ll see this)

Over the past few days, Graham Rigg and David Potts have been having a right old time of it while Mr Monkey has been busy moving house.

Rigg, with plenty of time on his hands as an unemployed man whose been a bit of a failure in life (still in an upstairs flat in your mid 50s, Graham? There are crisis loans for things like that…) has thrown some horrific slurs his way.

But let us not forget: with more members than any of the other opposition groups, they’re still the biggest opposition group. They’re THE political success story in this borough’s history.

No political party has came anywhere near achieving their kind of success in modern times in South Tyneside.

The Tories have three councillors, as do the Lib Dems. The Tories havemade NO gains during David Potts tenure as leader, despite Labour disintegrating nationally over the past five years. Surely questions have to be asked about his competence?

The Progressives, once a dominant political force in the borough, have just five councillors and their hanging on by their finger tips. Take Jim Capstick he scrapped through by just three votes at the last elections.

So tell us, which group/party is doing things wrong…

I personally believe that Rigg and Potts hate the Independent Alliance because they don’t believe in democracy. They believe candidates should be vetted by old school parties, given the nod by party chiefs, and then step forward for election. It’s an insiders world, and they want it to stay that way.

Take councillor Ahmed Khan for instance, they don’t believe a member of the public, (A BLASTED OUTSIDER!) unsoiled by previous political roles, should stand and be duly elected. They don’t want to see the local political gentleman’s club fall apart, worse still their cosy little world being exposed for all to see.

Well Mr Monkey has news for Rigg, Potts and the ruling elite; there are more ‘councillor Khan’s’ on the way.

The Independents are still the official opposition group on the council. The Progressives also vote alongside them. They’re still close. They are a force to be reckoned with.

If you want confirmation of this go to the next council meeting on 12th May. You’re certain to see the Independent Alliance doing the job they were elected to do – oppose the ruling party. On the other hand you’ll see the Tories happily accepting a few tit-bits (PAID OF COURSE), handed out by Labour in a desperate attempt to buy their loyalty for the next 12 months.

Despite what Rigg says, since when have political groups standing in tinpot local elections had to have extensive manifestos and policies?

If so, point me in the direction of the weighty manifestos put forward by local councillors at the last election…You can’t – you’re talking bullshit. They put out double-sided A5 leaflets outlining how they’d improved their wards – they didn’t put out 20-year plans for tourism and business in the town.

At local level it’s about sound money, sound running of the council, competence, honesty and integrity. With a leader and deputy leader who’ve been big business successes themselves, I trust them to do just that.

Why aren’t they that forthcoming about what they “would” do? Probably because there’s no chance of them forming an executive to run the council for two or three years. So why live in fantasy land when they can tell the public what they’ll OPPOSE. When they’re close to seeing the opposition make it into power, they’ll tell the public what they’ll do. If the public like it, they’ll keep on voting. If they don’t, watch them lose their seats.

Just one question, Curly – do you ever get in touch with people you’re about to slur to ask for their take on your inaccurate claims?

Thought not.

Graham Rigg – sniggered at by Labour bosses, loathed by Independents, tolerated reluctantly by Tories.

'Amateur, photographer, amateur blogger, failed politician and general all round misfit desperate to be loved’

Indy councillors missing again

'Missing'

Mr Monkey has just learned that the Indy’s were again light when it came to numbers at yesterday’s Full Council meeting.

Once again councillor Allan Branley was otherwise engaged and it now seems that councillor Harrison has taken a leaf out of councillor Branley’s book by not bothering to turn up to meetings.

A quick look at the stats shows that councillor Harrison’s attendance record is poor, especially for someone who criticises everyone elses record.

In the past year councillor Harrison has missed 3 out of a possible 8 CAF meetings, 5 out of a possible 11 Full Council meetings and hasn’t bothered attending any Licensing or Appeal committees or sub committees.

Councillor Harrison is paid a basic allowance of £7056 this equates to £641 per meeting – put another way he gets half of the £1,200 The King Sleaze, David Potts gets for attending his meetings.

As far as councillor Branley is concerned, his attendance record is almost a record in itself. He’s attended 0 out of 8 CAF’s, 0 out of 4 Audit committees and 3 out of a possible 11 Full Council meetings.

As councillor Branley doesn’t claim any allowances this equates to £0.00 per meeting.

Mr Monkey will be posting more details of councillor’s attendance record and the cost per meeting to the taxpayer shortly.

the audit commission gives council top marks for losing £10 million

'Rewarding failure'

Council leader Iain Malcolm Miss Piggy and the borough’s Dominatrix, Irene Lucas might want to put their celebrations on hold following last week’s announcement by the Audit Commission that South Tyneside Council is rated a 4 star authority.

Mr Monkey has learned that the Audit Commission and it’s inspectors have become a laughing stock after they announced that Cambridge City Council won top marks for sound financial management and value for money – despite investing £9 million in Icelandic banks and a potential loss of £618,000 on Cambridge Folk Festival ticket sales.

The top score of four marks was awarded by the Audit Commission for the council’s use of resources and it was one of the 13 top performers in the country.

The award focused on strategic financial management, sound governance, effective financial reporting and giving taxpayers value for money.

Council leader Cllr Ian Nimmo-Smith said: “The Audit Commission is aware of the financial issues in relation to the Icelandic deposits, which affect many councils, and the Folk Festival tickets. I can’t say to what extent they have been taken into account.”

He added: “I’m very pleased the successful way which we run things in Cambridge has been recognised by the Audit Commission. This endorses the recent survey results that showed that residents in Cambridge rated the city council as providing value for- money services at a higher level than other districts in the county.”

At the recent budget setting meeting, Cllr Lewis Herbert, Labour group leader, likened the Liberal Democrats’ management of council finances to a “road crash” with Cllr Nimmo- Smith at the wheel.

He said the Icelandic investment and Folk Festival losses, after an internet ticket sales company went into liquidation, were “self-inflicted”. He said he was surprised the council still received a four-star rating.

He added: “Losing £9 million in Icelandic investments and over £1 million in interest and the Folk Festival tickets represents a shocking failure of the council’s control systems.”

For the second year running, the finance and value for money element of the inspection gave the county council the top score of four.

Cllr John Reynolds, cabinet member for corporate services, said: “I am delighted that our inspection found that the way we manage our budget and spend council taxpayers’ money is of the highest order. We continue to work within an extremely tight financial climate but this score shows we are among the best councils in the country when it comes to financial management.”

These weaknesses are now most evident. For a Council to be declared “excellent” in the same week that it cuts services and raises taxes, and in the same year that it slashes staff pay, is crazy.

The Council have released a special issue of their staff newsletter to congratulate everyone on the achievement.

At the top of the list of high performing services are the Revenues and Benefits service, who deal with Council Tax payments and the administration of benefits to the needy. They too have received a top 4 star rating and yet a mixture of bad laws, bad government and crazy local decision making has seen many of the staff in that department lose a crushingly large proportion of their salary this year.

There’s nothing about this in the congratulatory press releases issued by the Council, the Audit Commission and the government.

Mr Monkey can’t help wondering what South Tyneside is hiding?

who pressed the wrong button?

After months of waiting, the electronic voting system in the council chamber was used for the first time at last week’s full council meeting.

Things could’nt have been simpler, all the bloodsuckers councillors had to do was:

• press the the green button for yes
• press the the red button for no
• press the white button to abstain

but Mr Monkey has learned that it was all to much for one fuckwit who seems to have pressed the wrong button and voted with the Tories.

When it was time to vote on the King of Sleaze’s, Tory Boy Potts amendment, 43 voted against the motion and 3 voted for it – yet there were only 2 Tories in the chamber.

This chimp is trying to find out who the fuckwit was and will let bloggers know as soon as he hears anything.

The return of the monkey

After spending a couple of days with his family Mr Monkey’s feeling relaxed, refreshed and raring to go.  

It seems this chimp has missed all the fun and games, especially at Thursday’s full council meeting.

Apparently the King of Sleaze, Tory Boy Potts made a right twat of himself with his ill thought out budget proposal. One of Mr Monkey’s sources reckons Pudgy Face’s pathetic performance might have been alcohol related – apparently he was stinking of drink, but more of this later.

Don’t worry bloggers it wont take long to catch up with what’s been happening, especially with so many loose lipped politicians ready to tell Mr Monkey anything after he’s bought them a pint or two.

REVIEW OF 2008: Time To Go Potts

This post appeared the day after The King of Sleaze, Tory Boy councillor David Potts decided not to support a joint unified opposition move to stop former Labour council leader Paul Waggott being awarded Freedom of the Borough after he lost his seat at May’s local elections.

Councillor Potts and his two Tory colleagues actions were solely responsible for this disgraceful show of cronyism.

 TIME TO GO POTTS ..

After the dust has settled on yesterday’s disgraceful Tory antics which resulted in the local Conservatives being solely responsible for former defeated Labour Leader Paul Waggott gaining Freedom of the Borough, The Monkey wonders whether how cheaply easily Tory Boy Potts was bought persuaded by Iain Malcolm’s sweet talking tongue?

Based on Councillor Potts previous track record it would seem that his principles don’t cost much. An odd first class rail ticket, a freebie conference or a menial paid position will usually be enough to buy Tory Boy’s unflinching loyalty.

The Monkey wonders what the other two Tory Councillors, Milburn and Wood, are feeling like this morning. The Monkey suspects that they are downbeat, ashamed and angry to learn that they were conned by their so called leader David Potts in supporting Labour against their will.

The Monkey reckons that Councillors Milburn and Wood are basically decent honourable and principled individuals, unfortunately the same cannot be said of their so called leader. The Monkey suspects that yesterday’s shameful act of Labour arse licking will prove the end of Pottsies national political ambitions.

The Monkey predicts that even at a local level Tory Boy’s days in the limelight are numbered. Perhaps it’s time for a Leadership challenge and The Monkey cannot think of a better candidate than Councillor Milburn who was obviously distressed and embarrassed by yesterday’s antics, at least he is a man of honour, integrity, decency and principle.

'Pottsie political career is in deep shit'

REVIEW 2008: The Fat Controller Claims £2251 To Ride The Train

This post appeared back in July and revealed that the King of Sleaze, Tory Boy David Potts set an all time record for his expense claims. The money grabbing bastard screwed more than £2250 out of the council tax payer for first class rail travel in a single year!

 

Home from Home!

In a week when MPs expense claims came under scrutiny The Monkey thought it would be an apt time to remind bloggers that South Tyneside’s own Tory Boy, Councillor David Potts still holds the record for a single year’s travel expense claim.

His record breaking claim of £2251.90 for the period April 2005 to March 2006, was largely due to the fact that he screwed the system was claiming first class rail travel to and from Cambridge University where he was partying studying.

Councillor Potts even had the cheek to try and justify his blatant abuse of the public purse. He said, “People who’ve been in touch with me care more about the policies I stand for than the way in which I travel.”

Wrong Councillor Potts people think you screwed the system for personal gain!

Heaven help the poor taxpayer if by some quirk of fate he manages to beat Alistair Darling in the forthcoming General Election. Imagine BA flights from Edinburgh to London, taxis, accommodation costs, secetarial support, office expenses, communication and second home allowances, subsistence and of course the infamous ‘John Lewis’ list.

The Monkey reckons Tory Boy Potts is expecting the tax payer to handover at least half a million pounds in expenses for his five year stint!

Monkey Clip

This week’s Monkey Clip is dedicated to the mayor of South Tyneside; councillor Alex Donaldson.

After his poor showing at the last council meeting where he failed to control his temper, threatened a councillor and tried to stifle debate, Mr Monkey reckons this clip CLICK HERE might remind him what a twat he made of himself.  

It might help Alex if you stay off the whisky till after the meeting!