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Tuesday 17 June 2014

A BISHOP SUPPORTS A KNIGHT

  1. George Bishop, presumably now retired on a fat, platinum proofed pension, ran the Personnel Department at Hornet Street.
  2. For that onerous position Derek Myers authorised his vast all inclusive near £150,000 a year salary: a salary not unadjacent to the Prime Minister.
  3. Small wonder George springs to the defence of his patron!

  4. George Bishop16 June 2014 10:31
    What a lot of small-minded, mean-spirited, jealous comments. I worked for Derek for about 10 years and thought he was a first class, inspirational Chief Executive. I don't know of any of his senior staff who thought otherwise either. During his time, the Council saved tens of millions of pounds to offset poor Government settlements and which kept important services running which would otherwise have been cut or reduced. His work with SOLACE and in local government generally points the way for Councils in the future. He well-deserves the honour. Instead of carping on, why not be pleased that the Council, through Derek, has been given the recognition it deserves.
    Incidentally, why are most of the comments on this blog anonymous - too frightened to be identified? Anonymous comments are in the same category as anonymous letters - to be ignored.
    Reply
  5. So you worked with Myers and expect us to take your character assessment of him seriously? Yours is the usual sort of flimflam we expect from this club of overpaid senior local authority officers. As for SOLACE....it's no more than a talking shop for self serving senior officers....none of whom would survive in the profit driven private sector.
    You claim Myers saved 'tens of millions of pound'. Is that not the job of a well paid Town Clerk of any competence.?
    RBK&C is the smallest, richest and easiest to manage of all UK boroughs.
    It is one of the great mysteries of our times how Myers and Cockell managed to position themselves at the top of the salary and allowance heap.
    For the Town Clerk of a small council to be paid close to £280,000 a year beggars belief. And Myers's defence of Cockell's abuse of the Bentley by suggesting it 'saved taxi fares' is just beyond priceless.
    But congratulations Mr Bishop.... a superb piece of sycophancy!
    Reply
  6. What a paean of praise for Sir Del...
    And who might Mr Bishop be.... so obsequious in his praise?
    Mr Bishop has every reason to be over Sir Del like a cheap suit. There aren't many humble personnel officers with salaries and add ons matching our Prime Minister.
    And who should he thank? None other than Derek Myers.
    Put a sock in it Bishop....you never deserved close to £150k a year. More than the personnel manager of a FTSE 250 company
    Reply
  7. Donald Cameron16 June 2014 21:11
    This little bit of indignation from Mr Bishop made me smile. Proof positive that a cabal of self indulgent and self satisfied honchos were running Hornton Street under Derek Myers. "He saved money and was a great boss". Well, Mr Bishop, on £250k plus we expect nothing less from a Town Clerk. But senior managers need to be sensitive to their environment (which is usually unique) and show that they are up to the challenges. Mr Myers' environment at K&C was a Conservative monopoly, a Leader seduced by 14 years in office and a complacent electorate of residents working hard to pay the school fees and the mortgage. Hornton Street was out of site and out of mind so long as the dustbins were collected on time. But when rate payers had occasion to lift the stones and find that the Town Clerk was authorising jollies for the Leader in North America, including expense claims for entertaining strangers, and improper use of facilities such as the Bentley, it became clear that the Town Clerk was too inclined to expediency. And so he was hammered by the Hornet. And rightly so. If you have a different opinion of these specific assertions I would be interested to see them. Please blog.
    Reply

13 comments:

  1. All very understandable. Derek gets a gong and Bishop pops his hand out for a bit of patronage. May it become well oiled

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  2. It is heartening for the Council to be recognised in this or any other way. And no doubt Mr Myers worked hard to get noticed and rewarded. But the bar in public life is high and those who pursue fame need to be extra careful of their conduct. Unlike the world of smoke and mirrors that Mr Bishop became accustomed to, society is now an open and transparent place thanks to FOI and the Internet. Myers tripped up. A pity all round.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks to the Hornet, there are certain patterns of behaviour that will not be seen again in Hornton Street.

      Delete
  3. All the sycophants are glad handing the new "Sir". Even Cockle has gone public with a Uriah Heap. When will Pooter just fade away and figure out that he is yesterdays person? A bad smell.

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  4. I thought officers and councillors were forbidden to read the diatribes of the Dame

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  5. Is Pooter now reduced to a £10k backbench Councillors allowance? Has the LGA come to an end? Has he returned to the status of morsel? We should rejoice

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  6. Well I should have expected the personal abuse which anyone who puts a positive comment about the Council receives but it's fairly pathetic all the same. I think you should all get a life and stop obsessing about events which happened years ago. Nice to see that two of you were honest about your names.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Get a life' what an extraordinarily boring Americanism.....
      Well, George, you seem to have got yourself an extraordinarily lucrative life!
      Interesting that you consider gross abuse of expenses to be merely an 'event'.
      Without the Hornets Nest breathing down this Council's neck goodness what other quasi corrupt practices would have persisted!

      Delete
    2. Donald Cameron17 June 2014 at 15:02

      Mr Bishop, it is no good pleading that these bad things "happened years ago". The point is that these two fellows thought that they were getting up to their tricks in secret. No one would find out. So it was worth it. But Freedom Of Information blew it all wide open. There was no apology. No contrition. Ne repayment of misused tax payer funds. Just a load of filibuster and retrospective changing of the expenses rules to "make it all OK". This is not the way for public servants to behave. Or anyone else for that matter. So the Hornet will not let it rest until Cllr Cockell and Mr Meyers admit they were wrong, say sorry to tax payers, and repay the money that was used for personal reasons. I have asked repeatedly for this.

      Delete
    3. Retired Chief Exeutive17 June 2014 at 16:17

      In my company we always drew a line between "personal gain" and "mistakes". Employees who misused shareholder funds or company assets were usually given a talking to by their line manager and that was the end of it. No publicity, no penalty. Just a heart to heart about what is right and what is wrong and what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. But personal gain was always a more serious offense. And usually resulted in dismissal. The more senior the person, the more courage required to bring the culprit to justice. For Leaders, especially those who had made a strong contribution to the company, the pattern could be resignation to "pursue personal interests". In the case of Mr Myers, Cllr Cockell and his expenses, it seems that there was considerable blurring and a failure to distinguish between right and wrong. Mr Bishop's loyalty to his friend Mr Myers is admirable. But as a professional he perhaps needs to think again

      Delete
  7. The "inspirational" Derek Myers managed not to notice that for the past 25 year years RBKC's huge waste management contracts have been structurally unlawful and even criminally so. This is not a sexy subject, but RBKC residents - rich and less so - pay twice the going rate for their rubbish. Overcharging amounts to hundreds of millions of pounds over time. The latest 16 year contract has 7 years to run.

    When residents brought this matter to the council, they were fobbed off by three successive, RBKC paid, district auditors. The last of these protectors of public funds was at the Audit Commission. Rather than address the problem, he suddenly retired. The Audit Commission gave the council yet another 5 star report for its achievements and David Cameron shut down the Audit Commission. Problem solved the RBKC way.

    Pseudonym are appropriate when residents criticise an organisation as spiteful as RBKC. I mentioned this matter last month and as usual, was shouted down. This time by a former RBKC conservative chair. Yet in the 10 years I've banged on about it, no one has ever tried to explain why I'm mistaken.

    I was also personally attacked by a former deputy leader of the council for declaring that RBKC Planning is institutionally corrupt. Applicants rather than applications are treated differently.

    As for Mr Bishop, one notes that now the potty Phelps has returned to the council fold, GB has stepped in to attack residents' right to free speech. One might conclude this is no coincidence.

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  8. Phelps has returned to the fold? In what way? I feel sick!

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  9. Wasn't he elected somewhere?

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