3 May - They have a common purpose
Soon after the infamous obscene blog appeared almost two years ago an anonymous tip off, which I believed to have come from a Conservative party source, suggested that at least two councillors were involved in its creation. I know of other people around the borough who were dropped similar hints and I refrain from naming them only to protect their sources.
Such
rumours persisted long after a councillor was arrested on suspicion of Misconduct in
Public Office and on 20th July 2012 a Freedom of Information Request to Bexley council
asked how many Bexley councillors had been arrested in the previous 18 months.
Unsurprisingly Bexley council refused to comment. Last October the Information Commissioner
told them they must do so within ten days. It was just a number after all.
After six months of argument Bexley council has persuaded the Information
Commissioner that revealing a number would be too embarrassing. An answer of one
would not reveal anything new, everyone knows that councillor Peter
Craske was arrested on 21st June 2012, but maybe it is now fair to assume that the
real number was two or more, just as the insiders suggested.
It is all very reminiscent of the FOI I submitted to the police after they
told me that their computer
checks had come to naught. I requested
the dates the checks were made. The police refused to say and the Information
Commissioner agreed that knowledge of those dates was not in the public
interest. Much later the police owned up that they had made no such
investigation. It seems reasonable to assume that the Information Commissioner
is just as susceptible to political interference as Bexley police are. (†)
I have several readers who have complained that Peter Craske doesn’t reply to
email to his council address. They may be interested to know that for a very
small fee, 50 pence will do, you may
send him a brief comment. It’s all in a good cause.
† The police confirmed that the obscene blog enquiry had become difficult, long drawn out and very
expensive because of “political interference” at a meeting between Elwyn Bryant and myself on 1st
December 2012. The extract from an email to Chief Executive Will Tuckley
shown yesterday merely
confirms the malign influences at work. On 1st March 2013 the outgoing borough
commander sought to retract the statement with an assurance that he is beyond
the reach of Boris Johnson or any other politician and owes allegiance only to
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.