10 February (Part 2) - Maybe I have it all wrong again. Who knows the truth?
I’ve read through the gross of emails caught up in
BT’s Infinity breakdown and as you might expect, road planning and parking
issues formed the majority subject but not far behind was what one correspondent
called ‘political dynamite’. Well it might be if it is true and can be proved,
which in this case may mean “if the police don’t cover it up”.
I don’t like publishing things that I cannot prove but if I never pushed the
boundaries that story about Bexley council
letting
a lady die in their care would never have found its way into the News
Shopper. I think I will dip my toe carefully into the water again.
Some of the information received here comes from inside the council and some from
Conservative party members who are concerned or appalled by what they see going
on. Very occasionally a councillor will spill a few beans. Sometimes they give
their names but more often they don’t.
One thing the public doesn’t like, to go by comments received here, is the
number of married couples who regard being a councillor as easy money. Another
term I have heard more than once is the unnecessarily colourful phrase, Bexley’s gay mafia.
It’s not something I would ordinarily mention as it makes no sense to gratuitously offend even a
small proportion of readers but I think it is relevant to this story. I suspect the
proportion of homosexual members on Bexley council is higher than in the general
population but the only concern I have with that is that I know of no way of checking gay relationship
as there is with married couples. It may be that we have more than six married
couple on Bexley council because those in civil partnerships won’t have come to notice.
Over the past three weeks several emails have pointed me in the same direction with various
degrees of crypticality. Is that a word? Probably not.
This is a typical (edited for brevity) comment…
Nepotism is routine practice in Bexley giving priority selection to spouses of councillors as
candidates for vacant seats. It will be interesting to note how many
'relations' appear as new candidates in the forthcoming local election. Bexley
residents deserve the best candidates selected on merit and experience/expertise
- not on the basis of who they are married to on the basis that they are 'safe
bets' who won't challenge the leadership.
The writer makes a good point, there is a whole load of spouses in Bexley
Conservatives’ candidate list, but it is not perhaps an earth shattering
observation. That is because I left part of it out, a part that links with other
emails from elsewhere. Let’s look at one of those; again edited down to size.
Explosive news about homosexual partner (and candidate) of a current councillor arrested and cautioned for theft.
Yet
another email implores me to do some detective work. That’s easier said than done.
Then another tells me to take a look at East Wickham ward and gives a clue or two. So I did.
The Tory’s candidate list for East Wickham
says the would-be
councillors are Daniel Taylor, James Hunt, and Christine Catterall. Another name
you’ve heard before. Here they are pictured alongside you know who.
So who in East Wickham is the partner of a current councillor? It cannot be James Hunt (wearing
the white shirt) because he is married with a young daughter - I think he proudly told me
when we bumped into each other in Broadway last year. He's a pleasant enough
bloke and I hope he will forgive me if he said his child was a boy. So if anyone
is being fingered it must be the fellow on the right who by a process of
elimination must be Daniel Taylor. Who of the men on Bexley council might he be
partnered with? Hard to say and Taylor is not an uncommon name which complicates matters.
But I found this.
Taylor is as I said a common name but this Chris Taylor lives at the same address as councillor Chris Taylor used
to give in his Register of Members’ Interests, maybe he still does. So
councillor Chris Taylor lives in the same house as Dan Taylor. It could of
course be his brother, but Chris has twice told council meetings that he lives
with his civil partner. So the chances are that all your assumptions are correct.
It looks as though the various informants have got at least half of their stories right. What we
don’t know is whether Dan Taylor, prospective Tory candidate for East Wickham ward, was
arrested for theft and cautioned. Informants can be wrong. On the other hand
I’ve only known that happen once. That was when someone suggesting he was a
councillor gave me ‘evidence’ that a certain named councillor was responsible for
Bexley council’s obscene blog. He was wrong, and I was very wrong to take him
seriously and if I was a betting man I’d put money on who had a vested interest
in sending me on a wild goose chase.
How do we find out if the story is true? Maybe the News Shopper can look into it
as they did the BELL case.
Perhaps the police will come over all honest and transparent. I wouldn’t bet on that either.
The present borough commander was all Teresa this and Will that at his very first meeting with
the council within days of his arrival. It’s presumably still all mates together there.
Another way might be if one of the principal parties denied the whole story as otherwise it
may blow up at just the wrong moment. Yes , that is probably the way to do it.
But it’s not impossible that a good handful of Bexley council supporters have
got together to set me up big time. Maybe time will tell.