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News and Comment September 2023

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30 September (Part 3) - A charmed life coming to an end?

BrightonIt didn't take much effort to confirm that the Green council in Brighton has led it to near disaster but it was poking about on Brighton’s website that led to the big surprise.

Will Tuckley was appointed to be their Chief Executive back in March this year and the local newspaper refers to him as being the UK’s sixth highest local authority earner while in Bexley. (£260,000.)

Not bad when you consider that Bexley Council threw out a critical petition because it claimed a reference to £208,983, taken from Bexley’s own website, was a gross exaggeration.

Brighton is now looking to replace Tuckley but he has had a long and lucky career. He came to Bexley from Croydon in April 2008 and brought the police borough commander and deputy with him but left behind an ugly rumour. That he had accidently killed a homeless man sleeping in a car park and a bit of a cover-up followed it.

Tuckley dodged the Peter Craske obscenity issue by deciding it was a police matter but showed his hand later by participating in a meeting designed to get Craske off the hook along with his two tame policemen.

A year later the tables were turned thanks to the efforts of Michael Barnbrook when he persuaded Greenwich police to look into the goings on in Bexley and they sent a file on Tuckley and others to the CPS. The timing was embarrassing because the government had chosen Tuckley to take over a failing Tower Hamlets along with his favourite police commander and deputy and Mick did his best to make them aware of Tuckley’s CPS file.

Something had to be done to halt Mick Barnbrook so they fell back on the usual racist name calling and the CPS managed to lose the file. I had a secret meeting with Greenwich police and I was told how that result was achieved.

Tuckley came to my notice again after the police friends’ successors investigated a two million pound housing bribe and there were allegations that he had known about it six months earlier - but had done nothing about them. What caused Tuckley to flee to Brighton is not yet very obvious. Maybe it has something to do with Tower Hamlets’ new broom Mayor Lutfur Rahman; but hasn’t the longest serving Council Chief Executive in London done well for himself?

 

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