February 22: Ann ponders future as patron of bullying charity
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ANN Widdecombe is keeping her counsel over
whether to continue as a patron of the bullying charity now at the
centre of a storm in the media over Downing Street bullying
allegations.
But I wouldn’t be at all
surprised if she detached herself and stood down. There’s no hiding
her dismay at the way in which the charity volunteered
information about how staff from Downing Street had contacted the
National Bullying Helpline, which she firmly
believes breached confidentiality.
She is also aware of unrelated
allegations about potentially compromising conflict of interests at
the charity which I gather she had hoped the Charity Commission
would investigate.
Ann
weighs up patron role with charity>>>
The media storm reminds me of
how such stories often take unexpected routes and unravel in ways
few could have conceived when the original story broke.
The story began as a serious
charge about claims of bullying at Downing Street, disclosed in
Andrew Rawnsley’s latest book; that’s still
generating headlines but just as much focus is being given to the
conduct of the chief executive Christine Pratt.
I imagine a fairly sophisticated
operation to undermine Mrs Pratt is being orchestrated by Labour
party chiefs – as is already evident judging by some of the
allegations that have been levelled against the charity.
It's difficult to imagine that behind the
scenes, Lord Mandleson isn't deploying all his Machiavellian
skills. It'll be interesting to see what angles are covered by the
national newspapers tomorrow. If there aren't as many questions
being asked about the charity as there currently are being asked of
Mr Brown, I'd be surprised.
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The issue of public sector pay has been in the headlines
for various reasons recently.
(Our own story about how KCC chief executive Peter
Gilroy is to receive a one-off payment of
£200,000 sparked considerable interest, to put it
mildly).
There were some interesting developments last week when it
emerged that the Government had backed down on some aspects of its
plans for greater transparency on senior officers pay after some
fairly intensive lobbying by - guess who -local
councils.
You can read about these developments
here along with a provocative but considered comment
piece by Andrew Gilligan
here.
Monday, February 22 2010
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