When Cllr "Red" Yvonne Davies became Leader for a brief period she mouthed the usual platitudes about sorting out the fraud, cronyism, incompetence and corruption of the Cooper/Eling/Britton era. She glibly trotted out the usual guff about "greater transparency" and so on. To her credit she did fish the huge floater that was Jan Britton out off the cesspit and send him on his way (without a pay-off) although that pathetic rimmer was unable to resist a small gloat when she herself was shafted...
(It is widely believed that Red Yvonne was referring to Britton in particular in respect of at least one of the most lurid allegations in her political suicide note!)
You might think that after getting rid of this disasterous rimmer the comrades would have taken care in appointing his successor. But it was immediately said that Red Yvonne had a close working relationship with David Stevens and he was instantly appointed as "Interim Chief Executive".
Although he has shafted me good and proper in respect of a certain matter I don't have anything "bad" to say about Stevens (yet.) He has been on the periphery of a number of stories but is teflon-coated at present. The only real blot on his copybook so far has been his inexplicable and concerning refusal to say whether he was ever in a business relationship with Stuart Lackenby (posts passim.)
BUT who would become the Parkie's replacement on a permanent basis? The Wolvo Express and Star (wink) assured us on 13th July, 2019 that "the Council's political leadership [sic] [is] keen to ensure the right candidate is recruited to take the role over the long term." NOTE the date - July, 2019. And the Star is always right lol!
We have seen the difficulty Sandwell have in recruiting talent and they have even had to re-appoint retreads to make up the numbers like Surjit Tour (the most dangerous man in Sandwell Council whom Red Yvonne foolishly refused to sack) and "Dr" Alison Knight (who was heavily involved in a major Sandwell Labour disaster first-time round but was given another go!!!!) This blog has pointed out many times that surely no-one of high calibre would want to work "under" Jan Britton and risk the reputational damage that was likely to ensue? But with the grovelling greaser gone maybe someone fancied the job and the £148k pay package?
And so any normal public authority would have started a recruitment process to at least test the market and see if there was a better candidate than Stevens. And. after all, there were questions to be asked of Stevens how HE too let down the people of Sandwell by failing to notice and or call-out what was going on in the Britton era (to be absolutely fair - as I always am - he did tell me to my face that there were things he was involved with he was "not particularly proud of."
So did the dysfunctional Labour morons advertise the post nationally or employ headhunters? Er, no!
Now here's a funny thing. In the Council Chamber in Oldbury is this board:
This is an old photo and I am not able, due to Covid, to get in to take a new one. Remember that Jan the Man was flushed out in July, 2019 yet a few months afterwards I noticed that David Stevens's name had appeared even though he was allegedly still only "interim" leader. Via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request bent Labour have now confirmed that they paid to have the board changed in August, 2019 ie BEFORE Stevens got the top job! This looks very much like Red Yvonne p*ssing all over our faces eh readers?
(I should add here that I have been campaigning to have Britton's name taken off this board as it is an affront to the people of Sandwell that it should remain there.)
So how did the recruitment process go? Red Yvonne and Labour refused to look at outside contenders. The post was only advertised INTERNALLY to 4 people! And wait for it, wait for it - the FOI states the process was only open from 20th December, to 31st December, 2019 ie almost exactly contemporaneously with the Council being shut down for Christmas! How can this even be allowed to happen and when is SOMEONE going to sort these bent f*ckers out?
There was only one applicant ie the white male whose name had been painted up in the Council chamber since August. So much for unions (again) in Sandwell and equality legislation!
On 10th January, 2020 there was a meeting to confirm the appointment chaired by Red Yvonne but attended by Cllrs Ali, Crompton and Underhill. The "Interim Director of HR", Sue Stanhope, prepared the Report for the meeting. This "professional" said that expressions of interest were sought from "the four substantive Executive Directors". This joker makes no reference to any external search for candidates whatsover and the FOI confirms none was even attempted.
Incidentally, the "four heads" include the hapless Knight and also Darren Carter who has since been suspended but who we know should be sacked outright for his conduct in regard to the suspension of the secretaries - posts passim!)
Yet Red Yvonne had this massive lie minuted - and, presumably, agreed by Ali, Crompton (the new Leader) and Underhill:
"Following a competitive recruitment process that was open to all those directly impacted , one expression of interest was received and the applicant met the criteria on the person specification."
I think we need an explanation from those three Councillors don't you readers?
When are the Tory MP's going to get some action going about this shower?
And once again Sandwell - you get exactly what you deserve from Labour!
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