The phone rang in my Westminster office last week. The caller was highly excited. But the quality of the line was poor.  Amid the static he gabbled two breathless questions: Had I heard about the latest Somerset hanky panky?  Did I know that Aled Jones had got it in for Paul Buchanan? This sounded completely surreal and I said so. The boy immortalised by his unbroken voice in that Christmas classic ‘The Snowman’ was taking on the leader of the rock band ‘Blue Nile’? “No, no, no!” exclaimed my informant, “ALAN Jones is taking the Deputy Leader, Paul Buchanan, to the Standards Board!”

 

 

I was speechless for a moment. When a senior public servant decides to report a key elected councillor to the body responsible for conduct and behaviour an unpalatable truth begins to dawn.

I always knew things were a political muddle and a financial mess at County Hall. But this time the stench of rotting fish is quite overpowering. The Standards Board was established to help root out dodgy doings in town halls. In their own words: “Confidence in local democracy is a cornerstone of our way of life. It can only be achieved when elected and co-opted members of local authorities are seen to live up to the high standards the public has a right to expect from them.” Complaints to the Standards Board are rarely about human incompetence, or pocketing the odd council ballpoint. It is always serious stuff.

 “ unlawfully discriminating against someone

….failing to treat people with respect

….doing something to prevent those who work for the authority from being unbiased

….revealing information given in confidence, or stopping someone getting information they are entitled to by law

….damaging the reputation of their office or authority

….using their position improperly, to their own or someone else's advantage or disadvantage

….misusing their authority's resources

….allowing their authority's resources to be misused for the activities of political party

….failing to report another member's misconduct to us

….failing to register financial or other interests

….failing to reveal a personal interest at a meeting;

….making a decision where they have an interest that is so significant that it is likely to affect their judgement

….failing to register gifts or hospitality worth over £25”

 

The man who runs Somerset County Council must have fallen out big-time with the then deputy leader of the ruling party in order to file a complaint. 

Remember that Alan Jones was appointed BY the Lib-Dems. They head-hunted him, they grilled him and they selected him.

It’s a very well remunerated job. Such figures don’t normally bite the hand that feeds them. And they certainly prefer not to do it in public, unless it is darned serious.

This is unlikely to be a personal spat, or a touch of territorial play-biting. Simple little local disagreements between top public servants and ambitious politicians get sorted out quietly, away from the glare of publicity.

So this must be war.

The rumour mill in Taunton has been grinding out all manner of salacious gossip for months. Mr Jones and his complaints about Mr Buchanan first went to Cathy Bakewell ( who later quit as leader of the council.

 just after the local elections in May 2007)She invited the Liberal Democrat group to consider the allegations. Surprise, surprise - Mr Buchanan was given a squeaky clean bill of health by his colleagues!

 At which point Jones went nuclear and called in the Standards Board. Mrs Bakewell told the Western Daily Press:

“I don't think it's any big deal. It's unusual for a chief executive to report a member but not unheard of. I very much doubt if there is a political group in the country who has not had one of its members reported to the Standards Board of Englandat some stage. It is a hazard of the job."

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats was, as usual, being selective with the facts.Last year The Standards Board handled 3176 complaints. Most were from members of the public. Council employees represent the tiniest percentage of those who submitted reports. No chief executives complained about anything. In normal circumstances I might have considered inviting Mrs Bakewell to resign. But the truth is she was considering retirement very soon and wanted to hand the leadership to Paul Buchanan. That plan is in total tatters today. And the other much publicised aspiration of Somerset County Council – its bid to become a vast new Unitary Authority – also looks fatally holed below the waterline.The leader wants to spend more time with her vegetables, the leader-in-waiting is under investigation and unavailable for duty and the Chief Executive is far too busy playing Judas.

Would you trust them with a Unitary Authority?

 

PS: Whatever happened to Paul Buchanan? Well the LIb-Dems put him back on the backbenches and the Standard Board is still considering the complaints.

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• http://www.standardsboard.co.uk/

AND YOU MUST HAVE A LOOK AT THIS ONE.....IT IS A BIZARRE WINDOW INTO THE CHARACTER OF THE MAN:

• http://thepaulbuchanan.blogspot.com/