The struggle to find the facts about the corrupt employment of Keir Starmer’s crony, Imogen Walker, by bent Labour Sandwell Council (currently in Government ‘Special Measures’) continues. But I have made progress, dear readers!
The story so far …
Croydon Council (driven to bankruptcy by Labour) found it necessary to spend taxpayers’ money to employ a “Head of Leader’s Office” to “advise” the political head of the Council. The position fell vacant in 2020, but collapsing Croydon still felt it necessary to waste more money and fill the post on an interim basis.
Via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and the issue of a judicial review protocol letter, I have established that Croydon approached the Local Government Association (LGA aka “Lying Greedy Arseholes”) to recommend candidates. The LGA operates as a sort of Medieval Guild ensuring that local government staff get a lifelong ticket aboard the gravy train. [Both Labour and the Conservatives back this sinister, unaccountable, outfit, and it receives huge amounts of taxpayers’ money.]
According to Croydon Council, the LGA suggested two candidates but “only one could start immediately”. How Croydon actually knows this is curious since they have publicly confirmed that they hold NO records whatsoever relating to Walker’s appointment!
But Labour immediately appointed Sir Woodenarse’s mate - on pay Grade 17 - even though Walker publicly states that she lives in, er, Lanarkshire, Scotland (four hundred plus miles away). [Being part of Stamer’s metropolitan elite, Walker does, however, also have London connections.] Apparently there was an “interview process” undertaken by (then) political Leader, Hamida Ali, and one Gavin Handford (Director of Policy and partnership) but, yet again, no-one - including this pair - thought it appropriate to make ANY record of the interview. Croydon says, in all seriousness, that no-one can even remember the date when the alleged interview even occurred. WTF?
For reasons that are not clear yet, noting that Croydon say the recommendation of Walker came through the LGA, it decided to employ her via an emploment agency, Adecco. This would have meant that they had to pay considerably more (for whatever her services are supposed to be) than her stated Band 17 salary of £58k to £62k per annum. One has to wonder if there was corruption here? Why didn’t Croydon just employ her on a normal basis and pay her via PAYE? Was the use of an agency an attempt to conceal details of Walker’s appointment? Does anyone at Croydon have a “special relationship” with Adecco? The only good news, given the eye-watering Council tax increases Croydon residents are now faced with to repair the financial ineptitude, is that the Council has stated in a legal response to the protocol process (a precursor to court action) that they did NOT pay Walker any expenses on top of her stated salary.
Despite its parlous financial situation Croydon decided to advertise the post on a “permanent” basis and so Walker left when a new person was appointed. The Rotten Borough is still forking out pay, national insurance, and pension payments for a completely unnecessary post. Lucky Croydon!
Meanwhile, in bent Labour Sandwell, Chief Executive and grovelling eunuch Jan Britton was defenestrated and disgraced. Even this corrupt Council referred some of his antics to West Midlands Police who, at the time, employed Britton’s son (and unsurprisingly (!) they decided to take no action against him.)
Britton was replaced on an interim basis by a vile greaser called David Stevens. In a rigged internal process he got the gig on a “permanent” basis. But his earlier treachery was noted by powerful enemies in the unions and on one-side of Sandwell’s (then) warring Labour factions.
In due course, corrupt Labour appointed a new political “Leader”, the inexperienced Cllr Rajbir Singh. In highly controversial circumstances (dealt with elsewhere), Singh attempted to sack the vile Stevens but botched the execution. Stevens ran to m’learned friends and, as far as the public can tell, received a colossal - and still secret pay-off - to f off.
Singh - locally known as “The Boy Blunder” - then controversially appointed Kim Bromley-Derry (KBD) as a new “Interim Chief Executive”. This is yet another murky transaction which I have described elsewhere. The pair of them decided that bent Sandwell also needed a “Head of Leader’s Office” - a position which had not hitherto existed. They conveniently also decided that no Council approval to create a brand new post was needed, as the post was claimed by KBD to be an “interim” one. A Freedom of Information request shows that there were NO official records kept whatsoever of this set-up as the pair - seemingly assisted by the HR Department - cooked the whole thing up “verbally”. KBD then claims to have used his “Delegated Authority” via Sandwell’s Constitution to create the new post, but did not bother to record this purported use of his delegated power. This is a clear breach of Sandwell’s own rules. I have raised the questions (a) whether the creation of the post was thus unlawful and/or ultra vires, and (b) whether disciplinary action would be taken against KBD for this - at best - shocking insouciance and incompetence. The current Leader of bent Sandwell has taken NO disciplinary action. The question remains whether the appointment was - and is - lawful (as Walker is still raking in our, taxpayers’, cash).
Staff whistleblowers say that the intention was to employ Starmer’s pal all along. This has not been officially denied by KBD nor the Council, although KBD claims that he sought nominees for the post from West Midlands Employers (WME) and yes, you guessed it, the LGA. Sandwell claims that two candidates were put forward although, as above, insiders say the process had been rigged in Walker’s favour from the get go. One candidate was interviewed via Zoom/Teams but Walker was seen by Sue Stanhope of the HR Department who gave her the job based on a hastily drawn-up “back of a fag packet” job description. This itself directly contradicts KBD’s own version of events which is that Singh was the person who “interviewed” Walker.
Once again KBD and other staff deliberately decided to thwart the Freedom of Information Act, and his contractual/constitutional obligations to keep proper records, by ensuring that - as with Croydon - there was NO PAPER TRAIL WHATSOVER with regard to any of this. Once again, KBD claims he did everything “verbally”, and kept no records whatsoever. Incredibly, Sandwell says the HR Department kept no records either! Surely this is another clear case where disciplinary action needs to be taken?
Before moving on to the next outrage I should mention that Singh, the joke “Leader”, did what has become known locally as his “moonlight flit”. Amidst some lurid allegations he suddenly resigned the Leadership AND his Council seat. Gurinder Josan (a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee - the Party’s ruling body) knows what happened as do a number of prominent local members of the Sikh Community, but they are keeping schtum.
Also you may be wondering what “WME” is. It is a “regional employers association” formed in accordance with the Trade Union & Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. It claims to work hand in glove with the, er, LGA! KBD claims that WME is “independent” yet the address it used upon incorporation was the offices of Sandwell Council at Freeth Street, Oldbury. Independent my arse! (As it happens, KBD alleges that it was the LGA and not WME which nominated Walker.)
For reasons that are not clear - because KBD deliberately failed to keep ANY records - he decided NOT to employ Walker “on the books” like a regular employee, but to employ her as a “contractor” - almost certainly a more-tax-efficient process for Walker herself. Kerching! This was not the method used in Croydon and the highly-paid KBD can’t remember - again having kept NO records - why he did this! He then decided to try and hush up what he had done - seemingly with Walker’s connivance - since he caused and/or permitted Sandwell to openly lie in a FOIA reply. The corrupt Council claimed, incredibly, that they didn't know whether “at this stage, the pay was to be via the normal SMBC/Paye system or via IR35.” This is totally false since, at the time of the FOIA response, SMBC were actually paying Starmer’s pal via the IR35 system! Once again - thanks to corruption, cronyism or, at best, gross incompetence KBD - and seemingly others including HR - “no records were kept” and yet, as if by magic, bent Sandwell suddenly started paying Walker’s invoices!
The only fly in the ointment from this cosy scheme is that even corrupt Sandwell has to disclose payments to contractors over £500 by law. But KBD, and seemingly Walker herself, then conspired to block this information from becoming public by claiming in response to my FOIA request that Walker could lawfully conceal this information via “data protection” rules.
By now, bent Labour Sandwell had been placed into Government ‘Special Measures’ and despite his shocking conduct and non-existent record-keeping Michael Gove, the Tory Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, made KBD “Interim Managing Director” and “Lead Commissioner” whilst allowing him to also continue on his day job as a Director of a major property development/construction Company, McClarens. It seems, inevitably, that Gove consulted with the, er, LGA on this appointment
I sent another Judicial Review protocol letter to corrupt Sandwell and they conceded the point that they had to disclose independent contractor Walker’s pay pursuant to the Local Government transparency code 2015 para 6 and Annex A - itself issued pursuant to the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. In the first 12 months of her “Interim” position, Walker was paid £72,268.90 excluding expenses by dirtpoor Labour Sandwell - the fourth poorest area in the country.
But KBD has pulled another flanker. Although he supposedly can’t recall the terms of her employment because of the set-up he himself authorised, he also arranged for Walker to receive expenses on top of her pay. Curiously, and perhaps deliberately, he also arranged that these would be invoiced and paid separately from her actual pay. Expenses may be substantial noting that Walker herself claims to live in Scotland. But KBD and bent Sandwell are now saying that as Walker’s individual expense claims do not exceed £500 they do not have to be shown on the monthly list of payments over £500.
Given the rigged and irregular process adopted by KBD for Walker’s appointment including the very deliberate concealment of information, there is considerable interest in the amount Labour are paying Starmer’s friend at a time when Sandwell is dramatically increasing Council tax, rents and charges. Further there is local public interest in determining how someone claiming to live in Scotland got a job in the West Midlands, and how much she is claiming in expenses to actually do the job. Sandwell has confirmed in the protocol process that the Interim appointment has “no time limit” and will continue for the foreseeable future at more expense to us taxpayers. Thus the rules concerning high-level appointments, the Equality Act and other legislation have simply been by-passed by KBD and Labour, and are utterly meaningless.
I am seeking legal advice regarding the legality of concealment of the expenses payments generally. Clearly a bent Council like Sandwell could easily rig contracts to pay expenses to cronies of £499 a month and so conceal the details of those payments. And here, KBD and Walker deliverately rigged the contract to pay her via IR35 and to pay her expenses separately.
It should be said that SOME English Councils operate disclosure on a cumulative basis so that when smaller payments eventually exceed £500 they are publicly listed, but KBD denies that this is a legal requirement applicable to bent Sandwell so as to keep Walker's extra loot secret.
I am not sure whether Walker is getting legal advice to conceal her payments from an experienced lawyer like, say, Sir Keir Starmer KC, but KBD has prevented me from communicating with her and she, herself, is seemingly determined to keep the expenses payments secret. Sandwell lawyers say they have no authority from Walker to state her expenses and so intend to keep them secret from the people of Sandwell and further afield.
Pending further legal advice on the question of the public disclosure of payments over £500 I have continued my appeal to the Information Commissioner (IC). I had originally appealed in respect of the failure to disclose (a) the pay and (b) the expenses but, as above, the pay is now being disclosed. The issue is now solely in respect of the expenses but, at the time of writing, the IC is upholding KBD and Walker’s contention that the secretly arranged expenses payment to an independent contractor are not disclosable. It looks like this may be heading for yet another Sandwell Information Tribunal case due, chiefly. to Walker’s own intransigence.
Bizarrely, the IC is claiming that Walker would have had “no expectation” when taking the job that details of her expenses would become public knowledge. This is quite incredible as WALKER DELIBERATELY AND WILLINGLY CONTRACTED WITH SMBC AS AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR and, as an experienced former local authority officer, will have been very well aware of the legal duties in respect of the disclosure of contractors’ payments. It seems that Starmer’s crony is seeking to reap the tax benefits of being an independent contractor whilst seeking to avoid the legal rules that apply to councils' payments to contractors. I cannot believe that the IC is seriously arguing that the legal provisions for disclosure of payments to contractors - set out above and which have, hitherto, been completely uncontroversial - can be simply by-passed in this manner.
KBD and Walker are now knowingly putting the taxpayer to much further expense in contesting this, but at least if they want to take the matter to a public Tribunal hearing they will have to publicly account for their shocking and deliberately secret deal.
And finally ...
Bent Labour Sandwell has appointed a new Chief Executive and so KBD steps down from that role but remains the highly-paid Lead Government Commissioner. Labour have been sucking-up to KBD but, in the worst thing I have seen at a Council meeting for many a long year, the Tories have ignored appalling matters like the above and joined the great man's fan club. In a truly sickening moment, Tory Leader Cllr David Fisher (metaphorically) dropped to his knees and publicly fellated a smiling KBD. This does not augur well for the future of the sh*thole Borough!
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