June 1: The new politics...same as the old?
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THERE’S been a lot of sympathy for David
Laws in the wake of his forced resignation in yet another
expenses story.
I don’t doubt he is talented and
gifted and a brainy guy. (I wouldn’t go quite as far as the rather
over-the-top tribute from George Osborne, mind you, who spoke about
Laws being ‘put on God’s earth’ to be chief secretary. Really, get
a sense of perspective.)
But whatever sympathy I might
have on a personal level, I’m afraid he created his own hostage to
fortune over his expenses claims.
As with many of these things, it
is not what he actually did so much as the hugely damaging
perception that it creates.
Not for the first time, the
excuse appears to be that he somehow acted within the letter of the
law by virtue of some bizarre definition that he engineered to
convince himself that his partner wasn’t actually his
partner.
If he really wanted to avoid
getting in a tangle, why – and let’s not forget he is, by all
accounts, a multi-millionaire – did he claim any money at
all?
I suspect that he must have
known there was a chance his personal life would be exposed and, as
a result, his expenses claims. But he opted for the
head-in-the-sand approach. We’ve all done it but it’s a dangerous
tactic for any high-profile politician.
Particularly one charged with
asking us all to tighten our belts during a recession.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One cheer for the government. It promised greater
transparency and has now delivered – albeit in a small way by
publishing the details of the highest-paid 170
civil servants.
But one swallow does not make a
summer and it’ll be interesting to see what else the coalition
gives the public – and the media – over time. Cabinet office
minister Francis Maude says that such openness may not be
'comfortable' for the government but says it is necessary in the
interests of better government.
And as I’ve reported, KCC is
belatedly getting in on the transparency and openness act by
setting up a working party to set out how it too can be more open
by publishing
a monthly statement of expenditure.
It has been rather ambivalent
about whether it will publish the salary details of top officers
but perhaps it should take a leaf out of Northamptonshire County
Council, which has today
published the salaries and expenses claims of its most senior
officials.
The initiative was pushed
through by the council’s chief executive Katherine
Kerswell, who later this month will be joining KCC as…the
new chief executive.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To be fair to County Hall, it
has moved to be more transparent about the activities of its
various arms' lengths companies which a while ago were the subject
of some angst among private businesses.
One of the recommendations made
by the Audit Commission when it investigated - and cleared - KCC of
acting uncompetitively was that it should open its books on its
companies.
It has as you can
read here>>>
Tuesday, June 01 2010
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