Michael Gove has announced that commissioners are going to run Birmingham City Council after “elected members and officers have come and gone” all while failing to comply with their ‘Duty of Best Value’. There will also be a local inquiry. Gove wants to bring in local government veteran Max Caller to sort things out. In goes the squad…
Angela Rayner is defending the council’s leadership facing “difficult and complex” issues since May this year when it came in, while Jess Phillips suggests that the people of Birmingham should elect those running the council. Guido seems to remember that duly-elected council leader John Cotton was gallivanting in New York when the Section 114 notice was issued…
The council leadership has five working days to respond to proposals or suggest other commissioners. The decade-long fiasco is no closer to finishing…
It appears that Birmingham City Council’s “effective bankruptcy” came at an unfortunate time for the Council’s Labour leader John Cotton. According to reports, Cotton was in the Big Apple celebrating his 50th birthday at the time the Council admitted it had ran out of money. Just as the local authority issued a section 114 notice…
Cotton was not able to make the Cabinet Office meeting on Tuesday, though he did manage to make a Zoom call with BBC West Midlands later on. His background – for some reason – was completely blurred out. Look at the (Empire) state of this…
Obviously John didn’t expect anyone to Cotton on…
The Labour-led Birmingham City Council has declared itself “effectively insolvent” after being hit with a £760 million bill to settle equal pay claims. These are the same people who splashed thousands renaming their streets to be more ‘inclusive’. “I’m afraid there is no money… although at least we still have Diversity Grove”…
The local authority apologised for the “failure to get this situation under control” and warned residents that there “will be significantly fewer resources available in the future compared to previous years and we will need to reprioritise where we spend taxpayers’ money“. The Council is Europe’s largest local authority, and the insolvency means all services other than statutory services will stop immediately. At least the Council found time to name ‘Equality Road’, ‘Respect Way’, and ‘Humanity Close’…
UPDATE: Local sources tell Guido there’s lots of blame being put at door of Richard Brooks, an ex-Ed Balls SpAd who’s now Birmingham’s Director of Strategy, Equalities and Partnerships. The rumour is he promised he could manage the equal pay claim issue, and instead has allowed it to blow up after spending “all his time and more money on an open data observatory gimmick“. Guido’s mole says “he was appointed to one of most senior officer positions on the council on six figure salary despite no track record in management or local government.” The blame game begins…
UPDATE II: The £760m equal pay bill does not stem from the 2012 court case previously stated in this story. This was resolved at the time – though is still being paid off). The £760m figure (which may be higher, given new claims have now been submitted) is in addition to this, and comes from decisions made by the Council to settle the industrial dispute in the waste service in 2017/18, and then during and after COVID to reintroduce ‘task and finish’ arrangements for crews which has been seen as given waste crews preferential treatment over other (female-dominated) roles.
Labour councillor Ansar Ali Khan has called for a public apology from Birmingham Erdington MP Jack Dromey, who himself insisted Khan apologise for appearing to call their constituency “shit” in leaked footage revealed last week. Following Dromey’s statement – in which he demanded that Khan “apologise to the people of Erdington” – Khan immediately pushed back with demands of his own:
“In actual fact, what I was saying in the video is: ‘is constituency vich/ich’ […] I am shocked and disappointed to see a statement by Member of Parliament Jack Dromey on this issue, demanding me to apologise for something I definitely did not say or do…
“Despite not naming me in the statement, it is clear that Jack Dromey MP was referring to me and I am very disappointed that he chose to address the allegation in this manner without verifying what I actually said in the video
I demand a public apology from Jack Dromey MP.”
Dromey is yet to respond…
Following our exclusive video of Labour councillor Ansar Ali Khan appearing to call his Erdington constituency “sh*t“, whilst leafletting on behalf of Labour MP Jack Dromey, the MP has issued a statement:
“Like many Erdington residents, I find these comments outrageous and deeply offensive. I have made my views clear to the volunteer and expressed my disgust at what was said. I strongly disassociate myself from these remarks. I am proud to have served as the Member of Parliament for Erdington since 2010 and these comments in no way reflect my views of the fantastic and vibrant community we have here. I have been informed the matter is being referred to the West Midlands Labour Party for them to investigate and take action. I have also demanded the volunteer apologise to the people of Erdington.”
So far Ansar Ali Khan has not apologised.
Labour-run Birmingham City Council is promoting a raft of new ‘inclusive‘ (read: patronising) street names for a new development. These include the distinctly David Brent-esque:
- Equality Road
- Diversity Grove
- Destiny Road
- Inspire Avenue
- Respect Way
- Humanity Close
No doubt these new names in Birmingham will serve as inspiration for other Labour councils, which are busy compiling lists of offending bits of history in their areas – Lambeth Council recently published a document detailing offending “Street Names, statues and memorials”. These included:
- Tradescant Road – “John Tradescant the Elder and the Younger, Lambeth gardeners who made occasional use of slave trade vessels travelling to N America and Africa for the transport of botanical and anthropological specimens.”
- Tomb of Capt. William Bligh – “Transported breadfruit from the Pacific to the Caribbean, which became a staple food for those labouring on slave plantations. Subsequently admiral and governor of New South Wales.”
- St. Thomas’ Hospital Statue – “Commemorates Charles Murchison, medic to the East India Company.”
- Juxon Street – “Archbishop of Canterbury whose family was involved in the sugar trade in Jamaica and whose family coat of arms has four African heads.”
- Lilford Road – Lilford’s father was “compensated after the abolition of slavery for their slaves and plantations in Jamaica.”
- Tulse Hill and Tulse Hill ward – “Named after the Tulse family who held local manors in the early 17th century. Sir Henry Tulse was a later 17th century descendant and a Lord Mayor of London whose wealth came from profits from the slave trade.”
- Henry Tate Libraries – “Tate gifted three libraries in the borough. His wealth derived from his family’s sugar business which post-dated the abolition of slavery.”
Ahead of the game, Lambeth Council renamed Tate Gardens as Windrush Square in 2010. Perhaps the residents of Lambeth will soon too be seeing their own Equality Streets and Diversity Groves. The revolution marches on…
