Mole hunt call rejected

The roads for votes scandal at Calamity Hall took on a slightly different dimension last week when an individual was overheard telling a compatriot that they had spent the last four hours with police.

The person involved was not a councillor but the same 'civilian' who was copied in on the chief executive's email confirming that an allegation against three senior councillors would be referred to the ombudsman.

The role of this individual and how they came to be aware of the alleged trading of votes for highways spending is a bit fuzzy. In fact, it is this mysterious connection that has prompted unnamed but high-ranking councillors within the ruling administration to demand an internal investigation into how sensitive information came to be 'shared'.

We understand that these calls have been rejected by officials on the grounds that enquiries could compromise current police and ombudsman investigations.

Are they all militants?

Government ministers continue to blow hot and cold in their stance towards strike action by public sector workers tomorrow. Having lost most of the arguments over the weekend, cabinet strategists authorised Francis Maude to be back off on possible retaliatory moves of withdrawing the current offer on pensions. This moderation has been replaced today by threats from education secretary Michael Gove of future legislative changes designed to make disputes harder to escalate.

What is making the ConDem position harder to sell is that their plans have less to do with 'unaffordable'  retirement packages than a means of tapping into funds that can support their austerity package of cuts elsewhere. Pensions for refuse workers will be cut to make up the scrapping of a 50% tax rate for the rich, say union spokespeople. It is the effective way that this message has been put over in the media that is a troublesome aspect for ministers.

Government briefings have now switched back to emphasising the disruption and inconvenience caused to the public. But attention is also beginning to focus on the unprecedented cohesion between otherwise professionally separate groups. For the first time that most can remember, head teachers, teaching staff and teaching assistants will all be striking in protest. Calling them all 'militants' is therefore probably not a good idea.

Ministers may claim that a day of action on the scale projected by organisers will be bad for the country's image. However, collective dissent by so many people at one time will be an even worse indictment from the government's perspective.

Another hole blown in the BNPs sinking ship

Ever heard of the Trafalgar Dining Club? Thought not. Neither had EU fraud investigators until whistleblowers began questioning alleged use of MEP premises to support a covert membership project headed by BNP chairman Nick Griffin.

In a recent widely circulated e-mail sent to potential but publicity shy members, Griffin added the footnote:

Some people, because of the sensitive nature of their employment or other valid reasons, cannot join a political party. So why not become a member of our exclusive dining club, the Trafalgar Club? Members get exclusive gifts and the chance to enjoy trips and fine dining with me and other like-minded people.

According to several disillusioned BNP activists, the exclusive gifts are signed photos of Griffin and the trips & “fine-dining” are allegedly organised through his MEP’s office – something which OLAF, the EU anti-fraud office, are said to be looking into.

Griffin had promised to stand down as chairman in 2013 but now says he will continue until at least 2015. His position as leader was made a bit more secure following the party’s conference in Liverpool last month. This was a result of forced resignations by several key allies and last minute changes in conference format.

Membership remains in free-fall. A number of breakaway right-wing groups say they will be opposing BNP candidates in municipal elections next year.

A self-fulfilling process

The Leveson Inquiry moves on today to the stage where the public can [hypothetically] relate to the need for more control over the media a robust code of ethics in journalism.

Christopher Jefferies, the landlord wrongly accused of Joanna Yeates' murder will relate how some papers destroyed his reputation. Singer Charlotte Church is scheduled to describe how the News of the World ran a story about her father having an affair despite knowing her mother had just attempted suicide.

A late addition to the programme is Guido Fawkes (Paul Staines) who will be summoned to explain how he obtained the text of Alastair Campbell’s evidence - due to be delivered to the inquiry later this week. Guido insists he came by the papers legally.

Such happenstance is to be expected but rumblings are aleady heard off screen that the process is in danger of becoming just the kind of spectacle that the tabloids relish.

A case of premature hypothecation

A common pursuit for lobby correspondents and parliamentary aides today (sorry, yesterday) has been to check how many times Nick Clegg admonished the previous administration for announcing policies to the media before making an obligatory statement to the House.

Whatever the count, it is the turn of the deputy PM to incur the displeasure of the Speaker for announcing his new scheme to tackle youth unemployment to the press before MPs.

As it happens, commentators are already questioning how the government is able to say how much the new youth contract will cost, but not where the money will come from.

Clegg’s aides have hinted that a squeeze on tax credits could provide part of the extra funding needed to go towards the £1bn over three years to subsidise 410,000 new work places.

But Treasury spokesmen have already clarified that there is not strict hypothecation in the tax system involved and that it would be best to see how it all balances out in the Autumn Statement.

Hmmm.

Done deal

There is still a bit of ground to cover between now and 6th December and ample scope to unpick the budget deal between Labour and Lib Dems. But Plaid will find little traction in their assertion that "it is bad for the economy" - especially as Kirsty is also pushing Carwyn into signing up to a stimulus package.

Observers had already commented that there were very few hard elements to the proposals mentioned by IWJ. The party clearly had more interest in how key figures were positioning in readiness for the forthcoming leadership contest and it showed.

It remains to be seen if this a lost opportunity that the Party of Wales comes to regret at length. An more immediate and intriguing question however is whether Iuean's successor turns out of those AMs advocating the hardball tactics that made a deal impractical.

Playing the sack race

The Guardian is clearly unimpressed with the subterfuge politics practised by Vince Cable and Nick Clegg and their intermittent support for employment reform.

In an uncompromising editorial, the paper bemoans how the Lib Dem Business Secretary is intent on sticking a finger in the air before either proceeding or retracing his steps in a effort to be seen as just a little more to the left of the tory extremists.

After insisting that he didn't want to spread fear of the sack, the business secretary nonetheless went on to float quick-fire redundancies, massively extended probationary periods and axing unfair dismissal protection for staff in small firms. Oh, and as if that were not enough, he confirmed that those lucky workers who retain rights in the future will soon have to pay a fee for the privilege of enforcing them at a tribunal

Successive polls show that voters are not taken in by the positioning and posturing that is the hallmark of Clegg’s party in coalition. No matter how much mouthpieces such as Peter Black may attest that “Lib Dems continue to restrain tory extremism” such claims are purely relative.

As the Guardian concludes:

For the Tory right and the irresponsible element of the capitalist class, the slump provides the occasion for thinking what's previously been unthinkable for very good reason. As Mr Cameron pandered to them, Mr Cable and Nick Clegg made plain on behalf of every Lib Dem that they would not sign off on Beecroft.

Now it appears that after spitting out the nastiest elements they have been required to swallow the rest. Thought procedural wheezes – such as merely "calling for evidence" rather than launching formal consultations – they may yet kill off the plans, by pushing them so close to the next election that the Conservatives are forced to back off.

But what a sorry pass to have reached – to have to pretend that the way to get Britain working is to fire the gun on a sack race.

Same old problem, same old solution

Today's Western Mail follows on from earlier ponderings by David Cornock that Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan is toast come the reshuffle. The prevailing view is that she will be unable to retain the position if she opposes government plans for high speed train links affecting her constituency. Another interesting perspective is that she has gone just a little too native for Whitehall's liking.

The supposed certainty of her exit is said to have prompted First Minister Carwyn Jones to bypass Mrs Gillan and make a direct approach to the PM over electoral wrangles about the future number of AMs.

Come her departure however Conservatives will be stuck with the same old quasi-colonial problem of having to import a new Secretary of State as there is no Welsh MP worth a tonk capable of taking up the post.

The result is that the favourite to replace Cheshire MP Gillan is minister for the disabled Maria Miller who once attended Brynteg Comprehensive School in Bridgend (apparently). And as Mr Cornock points out, there is already precedent for that particular career path.

Ah, the good old days.

The blindingly obvious

Whilst it's debatable whether Steve Coogan or Hugh Grant will feel any empathy with the Camerons about the treatment meted out to them by the Daily Telegraph over a property deal, they would undoubtedly recognise the approach involved.

The paper stresses that there no suggestion that either of the parties has done anything improper, the other party being a lobbyist in this instance, but everything else in the article suggests otherwise. If you hadn't worked out that the Conservative side of the ConDem coalition is in thrall to the forces of darkness then the article is clearly intended to put you straight.

As with the revelations of a £680,000 publicly funded makeover for the kitchen in their Downing Street flat, the added inference is that Dave & Sam have little in common with the thousands of UK families struggling to cope with falling incomes and rising prices.

No argument there, but how is this all suddenly news?

Coastguard campaigners fear the worst

Campaigners attempting to retain the coastguard service at Swansea are bracing themselves for bad news today. The indications are that Shipping Minister Mike Penning will uphold recommendations to scrap the service based at Mumbles.

If things go the way the pundits expect, then prepare for some abject hand-wringing by Conservative and Liberal Democrats over how their coalition government had dumped its cost-saving burden on south west Wales yet again. It will be particularly public snub to tory AMs Suzy Davies and Byron Davies who wangled a private meeting with Penning during a local visit. But somehow we suspect they will weather the indignity.

Swansea is the busiest maritime rescue coordination centre in Wales and the second busiest in the UK, organising on average over 1,700 inshore rescue operations a year. Government ministers earlier suggested that Swansea could afford to lose the service because of the number of other public sector jobs in the city such as the DVLA.


Update: Confirmation of the bad news.

Beeb go big on tory suspension

Cynics might see the hand of a certain PR professional at work behind the scenes but BBC Wales Online nonetheless think the suspension of a Swansea tory councillor by his own party is newsworthy.

The comment from Central Office is fairly direct:

"These are serious allegations and the Welsh Conservative Party has suspended councillor Hood-Williams from the party until such time as the ombudsman has made a ruling or come to a final decision."

By comparison, Welsh Liberal Democrats are quoted as stating that “no action” has so far been taken against council leader Chris Holley. What a surprise.

Update: Same story in the Beans onToast; although they apparently did not ask if Holley was also to be suspended by the Lib Dems. Perhaps they still think he is being picked on by nasty opposition people.

Further update (23 Nov): Welsh Lib Dems announce no suspension for Holley. They say “we are confident that he [the ombudsman] will find these complaints are without foundation." Does that mean they have conducted their own investigation or just relying on what they’ve been told?

Another name in the book

Sticky Dick Lewis joins the shabby ranks of those high-profile Swansea Administration councillors currently under the active scrutiny of the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales.

As we alluded a few weeks ago, perhaps a bit too cryptically, the Lib Dem member has been reported by the Gower Society for alleged personal misconduct. Specifically, he is supposed to have written to fellow planning committee members urging them to approve an application at the Oxwich Bay Hotel.

The problem is that he had already declared a personal interest in the matter, meaning that he was prevented from making a comment or lobbying other councillors. Being a former planning committee chairman himself, Lewis would have been fully aware of these straightforward restrictions – a point which the Gower conservation watchdogs will no doubt have emphasised themselves.

As it happens, the plans were subsequently turned down but the incident will evoke memories of a similarly two-sided approach by Lewis over circumstances surrounding another controversial scheme within the Gower AONB.

Although usually vocal on most matters, he was strangely reticent when contacted by the local press. He would only say that he was aware of the complaint.

Government ponders strike law “reform”

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude today described the case for reforming strike laws as "very pressing" – especially if public sector workers push ahead with industrial action.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show, he said legislation would be kept "under review" and signaled that mass walk-outs at a time of economic turmoil could lead to a tightening of trade union legislation. Maude claimed that the CBI had made a "powerful case" for a minimum 40% turnout on strike ballots before they are deemed legal.

More than two million workers are now set to walk out on November 30 for a day of action coordinated by the TUC. The walkout will disrupt schools, courts, government offices, job-centres, driving tests, council services and hospitals.

The government rejects statements by union leaders that pension reforms were the most important issue for members in a generation. Their response is that turnout had been "extraordinarily low".

Maude added that the current offer on pensions was "as good as it gets" and the government reserved the right to withdraw the proposal and impose a settlement in the event of sustained industrial action.

Tories do it in public

The ongoing civil war among Swansea's tory councillors spilled out onto the airwaves this morning with an exchange of diatribes to a local phone-in show.

The first came from deputy group leader Paxton Hood-Williams. His wordy self-praise and a personal account of how leader Rene Kinzett was dumped for absenteeism was in keeping with the kind of poor political judgement he has exercised to date.

It was predictable that Kinzett would come on - and time his call for the end of the show in order to deliver a spirited rebuff. This he did and finished by advising listeners that Hood-Williams has been suspended by the Welsh Conservative party whilst investigations into misconduct at Swansea Council continued.

Despite claims by both combatants that they were there to hold the administration to account, no-one listening would have doubted that Swansea Conservatives have got some way to go in sorting out their own problems first.

Update: We hear that relationships between Swansea West and Gower Conservative Associations have turned "toxic". Writs for defamation are to be issued tomorrow, according to one of the gang of three.

Getting it from both sides

Following suspicions aroused by Boris Johnson that David Cameron might have been holding his euro-bazooka the wrong way around, a series of salvoes are delivered against the government from two normally opposing fronts.

Eighteen Church of England bishops have signed an open letter, criticising the government's proposed welfare changes. Writing to the Observer, the bishops say the cap of £500 a week in benefits would be "profoundly unjust" to children in the poorest families.

The letter is regarded as a rebuff for the likes of tory MP Harriet Baldwin, a member of the Commons work and pensions committee, and recently wrote that unemployed families should get child tax credits for no more than four children.

At the sharp end, research by the CBI says firms are reviewing investment plans after a "sharp fall" in confidence among senior business leaders. Interviews held with 122 company bosses people found 70% were less optimistic about the future than in August. Two out of five were freezing recruitment or laying off staff.

The employers organisation stopped short of an outright call for a rethink in government policy but urged the Chancellor George Osborne to unveil a "Plan A Plus" in his autumn statement later this month.

"The chancellor needs to use his autumn statement to boost business confidence with game-changing new ideas," said a spokesman.

The rot continues

There was a real sense of anticipation in Calamity Hall today; in much the same way that a population steels itself for the aftershocks that follow the earthquake. And if the worst was yet to come then it patently couldn’t happen soon enough for some.

Council has become a basket case

The initial rumours were that certain embarrassing pics of a ‘disabled’ councillor up a ladder would finally materialise in time for the Sunday tabloids – although nothing has been seen at the time of writing.

Conversations became more animated as news leaked out about the temporary suspension of deputy tory group leader Paxo Hood-Williams by his party for conduct unbecoming. The continuing implosion of Swansea’s tories and a suggestion of the possible reinstatement of their deposed leader were both attributed to the same source.

People have started making inevitable comparisons with the position of the council's Lib Dem leader and his sidekick who are supposed to be under the same serious cloud over alleged backdoor deals.

We're told nebulous professional opinion has it that the trio could end up facing possible charges relating to misconduct in a public office if things turn out really bad. But this possibility does not seem to impede their ability to host a civic hospitality bash at tomorrow's game at Liberty stadium.

Some have asked how this can be allowed to happen. The obvious answer of course is that it would be a big career decision on the part of anyone who attempted to stop them. Such is the threadbare state of accountability in Swansea.

Bottom line is that there is not much point talking about fitness when the purpose of an administration no longer stands up to scrutiny.

Staying in focus

We understand that a cordon has been set up in Rhos where Prince Charles will today meet rescue teams who responded to the tragedy at Gleision Colliery. However it apparently has nothing to do with heightened security.

The main aim is to exclude politicians of various tenure who queued up in September to be seen and/or interviewed by the media. The restricted guest list is at the insistence of the palace but the talk among the uninvited is that the local MP wants a clear field.

Overstepping boundaries

The clash of vested interests which resulted in a cull at the Boundaries Commission was given limited exposure on Dragon’s Eye last night. Editorial qualms may be the reason why the programme only touched on the lesser extent of manoeuvrings sparked by the post-May internal regime change at Cardiff Bay. That reticence may alter in coming weeks.

Stories of how ministers have thrown proposal documents back across the table at commissioners have been a stock in trade among the apparatchiks. Similarly, it became a challenge to find a senior politico who did not spit on the ground whenever the body charged with reconfiguring the Welsh political map was mentioned.

When the crunch finally came, even those outside the bubble understood that a ministerial verdict of “not fit for purpose” following the sacking of three commissioners actually meant “not doing what we tell them”.

January will bring announcements of how 40 parliamentary seats will become 30 and if coterminous Assembly arrangements are feasible. Despite residual opposition, the sense is that a majority of the horses have already been traded; all that remains is selecting the riders. Yet it could turn out to be an interesting process if the role played by some of them in setting out the course ever comes to light in the meantime.

Asking questions about answers

On a day when statistics of various sorts dominate the headlines, it has to be said that the only remarkable thing about the latest YouGov-Sun opinion survey is that it contains very few surprises.

Headline voting intentions are Conservative 36%, Labour 42%, Lib Dem 7%, Others 12%.

A total of 57% respondents said they opposed the coalition agreement between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats while 33% supported the arrangement.

Given a choice of three from twelve most important issues facing the country, 80% named the economy. Tory strategists and several tabloids will be reassured that this was followed by immigration & asylum (48%) and Europe (29%).

What will confound some lobbyists on the other hand is that only 11% of those asked thought taxation was an issue – which may well further dampen moves to scrap the higher rate. An even smaller percentage (8%) considered family life and childcare as an issue. Make of that what you will.


Priorities shifted dramatically when people were asked to rate the issues on how they affected them personally along with their families. The economy stayed top but the three next highest were pensions, health and taxation.

It is popular in some policy circles to challenge the validity and even the purpose of these snapshot surveys. For others, the responses are often less illuminating than what motivates the pollsters. Whether anyone in government or opposition will feel able to ignore these particular findings however is quite another question.

What you get when ministers do drugs

Just when Teresa May thought it was safe to go back onto the concourse, stories which accuse the government of ‘sexing up’ drug detection successes start to gather pace. An account in the Independent is one such example of an emerging theme:

Home Office ministers faced a fresh crisis last night after being rebuked for manipulating drug-seizure figures in an apparent attempt to generate good publicity for the embattled Border Agency. Sir Michael Scholar, the chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, condemned the department for a "highly selective" briefing to journalists which claimed that the amount of heroin and cocaine detected at ports and airports had soared – just days before properly audited figures showed seizures had fallen.

The row comes as Theresa May, the Home Secretary, faces a public battle with the former head of the border force, Brodie Clark, who has accused her of destroying his reputation.

The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, has been asked to examine whether staff acting for Ms May briefed newspapers against Mr Clark. Sir Michael made his rare intervention after crime reporters were told that more cocaine and almost double the amount of heroin were detected between April and September of this year than in the whole of the previous 12 months. They held the briefing on 4 November for publication three days later.

But the department's official Statistical Bulletin showed the amount of heroin seized in England and Wales had actually halved in 2010-11 compared with 2009-10, while the amount of cocaine found was down by one-quarter.

Sir Michael warned that the publication of the figures broke Whitehall rules on the handling of statistics and ran counter to the ministerial code.

It is the last reference that has understandably put the press on alert. Civil servants do not make this kind of statements lightly. Editors and proprietors determined to show that they still have a pair, regardless of any attempted neutering by Lord Justice Leveson, will be closely examining the timelines of similar announcements.


Update: Boris Johnson, who has also been accused of excessive creativity by the UK Statistics Authority reckons that the chairman is a Labour stooge. As the Guardian points out, Sir Michael Scholar served as private secretary to former Tory premier Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s. 

Cable does Scrooge

Business Secretary Vince Cable got into the seasonal spirit by dampening expectations over help for motorists burdened by soaring fuel prices

Fuel duty is due to rise by 3 pence in January, raising an estimated £1.5 billion for the Treasury. Despite MPs passing a motion demanding ministers take action, Cable insisted that the government had already done “quite a lot” for drivers and did not have the money for more help.

He told the Daily Telegraph that the top priority was reducing the budget deficit, adding “the budget position isn't where we can make a lot of freebies available”.

Bah humbug and all that.

Up to the hilt

An excellent book, now sadly out of print, is the Backstabbers Guide – a sort of lighthearted version of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” which provides the reader with readily transferable skill sets in deceit, self-promotion and betrayal.

But it’s doubtful anything approaching an informed strategy was behind the decision of the tory group on Swansea Council to issue a hugely damaging statement as to why they recently dumped their leader. A more likely factor is that they’re totally and collectively out of their gourds.

While it's not entirely unheard of for bruised egos to overcome good judgement in politics, its takes a special kind of gob-smacking insanity to actually publish the text of a no-confidence motion.

If claiming that RK was always headed of the exit is an attempt at vindication then it sucks. If the idea was to somehow re-position the Conservative group then all the conspirators have succeeded in doing is to place their party in the ‘at risk of possible self-harm’ category. Every opposing candidate seeking to unseat tories in Mayals - and elsewhere - has had their election material virtually written for them.

Nice going, guys.

Phone numbers

Courtesy of the Guardian, naturally.

- almost as good as Tom Watson's 'apology' for not attending the Society of Editors conference.

When the bad news buries you

It must have been one of those Sundays where your average government whip read the papers, popped out into the garden, screamed a bit and then came back in for lunch. Just the Sunday Telegraph alone would have done it.

First there was the former minister who has been telling a leftie scandal sheet how “Cameron is the worst politician in British history since William Gladstone”. What didn't help was his use of expletives for appropriate emphasis.

Then comes further despair over how the damned Liam Fox business won’t go away simply because Adam Werrity is facing further questions over a missing £60,000 or thereabouts. The money was given to him to cover the debts of the former defence secretary's controversial charity.

And to cap it all is the news that some aide to Oliver Letwin has got himself arrested for fraud by false representation. The aide, a former MP, got himself put in pokey after allegedly claiming that he was acting on behalf of the head of government policy on Home Office issues.

The only available solace is that Labour finally got themselves dragged into the passport fiasco. Then you wonder if anyone noticed.

Lots of struggle, but not much class

Tories in Swansea should take some small consolation in knowing that they don’t have a total monopoly on political fragmentation. We hear that the local Labour hierarchy also has its hands full in sorting out internal wranglings that could threaten part of next year’s election plans.

Indeed, it seems that among the first jobs for their recently appointed elections whizz-kid is to somehow re-instate a candidate ‘illegally’ deselected by a Swansea East branch the other week. This unenviable task will reportedly involve scaling a small pile of dead bodies, according to a garbled e-mail sent to us that refers to “party members determined to root out Trotskyite insurgents”. Duw, there’s dramatic.

Last we heard, an attempt by incomers to re-ignite the class struggle resulted in the party machine lurching a bit too far to the left and falling on them. But with this kind of distraction happening at the fringes, Labour has someway to go before they can successfully portray themselves as an alternative to the current shower running Calamity Hall.

Ombudsman refers Swansea misconduct to police

The bizarre 'roads for votes' scandal at Swansea Council went toxic last night as it emerged that the ombudsman had called in the police to look at the possibility of a criminal investigation.

Today’s Evening Post confirms the serious turn of events with a spokesman for South Wales police stating that inquiries would be conducted by the force's economic crime unit.

The action is likely to see a repeat of previous calls from Swansea AMs that the three councillors involved should be suspended while investigations continue.

There is similar opinion growing elsewhere and we hear that Welsh Liberal Democrats are under pressure internally to act. This may be what provoked battered council leader Chris Holley into finally making a public statement of innocence.

Meanwhile, Rockin’ Rene Kinzett got his own special Crimestopper’s award last night, courtesy of his tory group, who dumped him on a no confidence rap for grassing up a colleague. Technically, Rene quit first – and has already commented on the calibre of a local Conservative party that seems to countenance alleged misconduct and penalises those who report it.

His removal will no doubt be challenged by Swansea West Association who recently gave Kinzett their unanimous backing as next year’s council candidate for Mayals.


Update: A recent comment queried Peter Black's stance on the above events. The following Twitter exchange this morning between the Lib Dem AM and Rene Kinzett is illuminating.
------------------------------------

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett is it the moral course to jump before you are pushed then whilst flinging mud around on your way out?

ReneKinzett René Kinzett

@peterblackwales we'll wait to see what the police have to say first, Peter. As ever you're wide of the mark and quick to react

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett it would help if you waited for the police before jumping to conclusions Rene.

@ReneKinzett René Kinzett

@peterblackwales errr...in your blog the other week you leapt to quite a few conclusions and retracted falsehoods too!

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett which blog was that Rene?

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett I take your failure to respond with details of your claim as an apology for again making groundless accusations

ReneKinzett René Kinzett

@peterblackwales good grief u really make me laugh! I was having brunch, get a life, mate! Yr blog re CEO 'not' referring to O

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett that blog is accurate and I have withdrawn none of it.

@ReneKinzett René Kinzett

@peterblackwales yawn!

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett yes you really are becoming quite tedious Rene

ReneKinzett René Kinzett

@peterblackwales errr yr still going on? Black calling the Kinzett the kettle?

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett if you are going to make unfounded accusations Rene you cannot escape the fact that you will be found out

ReneKinzett René Kinzett

@peterblackwales so unfounded the Ombudsman (not one of my biggest fans) is suspending his investigation whilst the Police make inquiries?!

peterblackwales Peter Black

@ReneKinzett innocent before proven guilty! The fact of an investigation does not establish guilt or make an accusation any more credible.
------------------------------------
Oh dear. If this is the abysmal standard that politics in Swansea has reached then perhaps the idea of an elected mayor is not such a terrible proposition after all.


Update: Some Late News from the Beeb

Giving investors the shine

It’s not too often that you see the CBI and Friends of the Earth on the same page but both have slammed the ConDem government’s plan to halve the subsidies for household solar electricity by next month.

The scheme enables properties in the UK with solar panels to earn income from electricity they generate. However the fast growing installation industry is now under threat as ministers attempt to halve "feed-in tariffs". The move will force companies to cancel planned work destroying projects and jobs say critics.

Government officials claim the changes in payment levels would make the scheme more sustainable and able to thrive in future.

FoE describe the move as “misguided” and “a further backward step for the coalition’s faltering green agenda”.

CBI director general, Jonathan Cridland was equally forthright:

"Moving the goal posts doesn't just destroy projects and jobs, it creates a mood of uncertainty that puts off investors and they wonder what's coming next.

"Some companies have invested heavily in solar photovoltaic systems and in the supply chains needed to install them.

"That commitment has been undermined by the feed-in tariff decision - and so industry trust and confidence in the government has evaporated. This bodes poorly for investment in future initiatives."

Wonder what Ms Parrott has to say about this one.

je regrette rien

Forget budget deadlock and other miseries, the big Assembly story of the day is that Edwina Hart offered to mix it, dialectally speaking, with Plaid over economic policy – or rather the apparent lack of anything resembling one.

Her somewhat left-field riposte (see what we did there?) about regretting capitalism gave the press and the Lib Dems an acute attack of the vapours.

Just as well she didn’t add the Lenin quotation that “the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them”. Did someone say eurozone?

And some fell on stony ground

It appears the local paper's rebuke to politicians in Calamity Hall for holding the Welsh LA record for ratting on each other didn’t just fall on stony ground but also got stamped on for good measure. Our assessment comes from a small batch of recently received e-mails that dish the dirt with pre-election relish.

One lengthy essay calls on us to endorse plans by independents to censure a Labour councillor for showing undue zeal in favour of a planning application. Pass. A couple of near identical notes claim opposition backbenchers intend naming a cabinet member who is supposed to have an undeclared interest in a recent procurement deal. There are also those persistent rumours of photographic evidence showing that someone has been very naughty over his mobility claims.

No-one even bothers to pretend any more that this rabid culture of mutual denunciation has anything to do with desire to raise standards. Why should they? Like it or not, allegations of bad judgement, bad behaviour or just plain skulduggery are standard tools in politics. They tend to be over-used and with varying success in Swansea but they are an indelible part of the package that shifts the moral high-ground back and forth ad litem.

The current local blood feud can be traced back to cynical Lib Dem use of the local government watchdog to deter whistle-blowing about a deal handed to the former leisure boss for an early retirement & pension in exchange for going quietly. Political payback was inevitable. The reciprocal stuff gained a new momentum when Rene Kinzett took his tory group out of the ruling cabal and started throwing his own rocks with mixed results.

Having said that, there is also a grudging admiration for the effort and creativity that the tory group leader is prepared to devote to formulating his complaints – especially his perceived cornering of the chief executive to validate an allegation of ‘votes for sale’. Given the council’s existing record, it is a safe assumption that demand for Swansea’s head of paid service to act as an unwilling arbiter in tricky governance issues is set to grow.

We suspect that one such conundrum headed his way is a query as to whether council funds were used to foot the bill for a recent Lord Mayor’s tea at the Mansion House organised at the request of two Lib Dem councillors - and whether all members will be afforded a similar opportunity to provide sweeteners recognition events for constituents before next May’s elections.