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News and Comment February 2011

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25 February - Bacon. A little egg on our faces

When I made vaguely supportive noises about Bexley’s refuse services and then proceeded to wonder how the responsible cabinet member could possibly be in full time paid employment and fit in three councillor-type jobs as well I was unaware that a similar question had been sent to the council by Michael Barnbrook. I met Mike at the first council meeting I attended and we have kept in touch ever since. You may not know who he is but you should; he has made something of a career of bringing down politicians. Derek Conway, former Bexley MP, Ian Clement one time Bexley council leader and convicted fraudster, the ex-MP for Leyton, Harry Cohen, the two Wintertons, the clutch of Labour MPs who ended up in the dock for expenses and mortgage fiddling and the previous Speaker of the House Michael Martin all came a cropper because of Mike Barnbrook’s complaints to the police. If you don’t believe me Google it. Not that there is much publicity and you will have to look hard because Mr. Barnbrook once stood as the BNP candidate in Welling and came within eight votes of unseating the Conservatives. The media isn’t keen on portraying a BNP member as anything but a baddie. (Be cautious if visiting obscure websites you might find, some bring up (possibly spoof) virus reports from Russian sources. Probably harmless if you ignore them but it may be wise to stick to The Daily Telegraph and Guardian sites.)

I’ve not seen Mike’s letter but I believe it suggested that Gareth Bacon has as many as six local government jobs whereas I found only three but whatever the case, the council rejected Mr. Barnbrook’s letter as not relevant to them and I suppose they had a point as much of it was about non-Bexley matters. However to Mick’s amazement he received a personally addressed letter from Gareth Bacon who had somehow been alerted to his enquiry. Mr. Barnbrook is suitably impressed by Gareth’s openness and so am I. He didn’t have to write but he chose a more reasonable course.

Councillor Bacon explains that for some of the jobs (the ones I didn’t find out about perhaps?) he is only a substitute and has never been called in so the time spent on them is zero. He also makes the valid point that the London Assembly meetings are all held during the day and Bexley’s are held in the evening, so there is no conflict between those two, only between his City Hall responsibilities and his ‘proper’ job presumably. So it would appear that councillor Bacon despite all his lucrative responsibilities in London is in practice not disadvantaged when it comes to looking after Bexley and his rubbish (recycling) brief. Maybe he is not quite the expert time manager I took him to be after all. Sorry; now I am being flippant.

There is no word on the free travel card claimed and the perverse attitude to police thuggery but this is supposed to be a conciliatory piece so they will be glossed over for today.

That Gareth Bacon took the trouble to write such a friendly letter to Mike Barnbrook is quite obviously commendable to say the very least, if only some of his fellow councillors were as forthcoming. Mike’s own ward councillor is Peter Craske and despite his responsibilities to Mick as a constituent absolutely refuses to respond to any of his letters or emails. You can be quite sure that when enough evidence has been accumulated Mr. Barnbrook will have Craske just as he did all the other ne’er do wells that have gone before.

 

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