A new post advertised on the West Berkshire website should improve the performance of the Lib Dem opposition. The post carries an annual salary of £30,851- £36,313 per annum, pro rata for 15 hours per week.
"This part time post within the Policy and Communication Team offers an ideal opportunity for someone interested in local politics. The Group Executive will be required to provide a wide range of high level strategic and administrative assistance to the Leader, Chair and other Members of the Liberal Democrat Group."
"This role will give the successful applicant a unique opportunity to work closely with local elected members in providing effective opposition within the context of a local authority."
Labour Party spokesman Richard Garvie was scathing about the proposal. "All they had to do was ask and I would have done it for free on condition that the money set aside be paid towards providing the elderly and disabled with services that were so cruelly cut this year. The council continue to axe services for the vulnerable, yet the administration of the authority gets more excessive each and every year. Elected members should do their own research, it came out at the executive members meeting last week that David Rendel (opposition spokesman for finance) doesn't even attend briefings with the finance department. It is completely barmy, and there needs to be some kind of quality control put in place to ensure that if people in Mr Rendel's position cannot be bothered to attend briefings, there should be a system in place to remove him and install somebody who wants to make a difference. It's not a problem exclusive to the Liberal Democrats, there is so much waste behind the scenes simply because elected members rely on the officers to do everything for them. The question on everybodys lips will surely be 'Why do we pay elected members'???".
A new post advertised on the West Berkshire website should improve the performance of the Lib Dem opposition. The post carries an annual salary of £30,851- £36,313 per annum, pro rata for 15 hours per week.
"This part time post within the Policy and Communication Team offers an ideal opportunity for someone interested in local politics. The Group Executive will be required to provide a wide range of high level strategic and administrative assistance to the Leader, Chair and other Members of the Liberal Democrat Group."
"This role will give the successful applicant a unique opportunity to work closely with local elected members in providing effective opposition within the context of a local authority."
Labour Party spokesman Richard Garvie was scathing about the proposal. "All they had to do was ask and I would have done it for free on condition that the money set aside be paid towards providing the elderly and disabled with services that were so cruelly cut this year. The council continue to axe services for the vulnerable, yet the administration of the authority gets more excessive each and every year. Elected members should do their own research, it came out at the executive members meeting last week that David Rendel (opposition spokesman for finance) doesn't even attend briefings with the finance department. It is completely barmy, and there needs to be some kind of quality control put in place to ensure that if people in Mr Rendel's position cannot be bothered to attend briefings, there should be a system in place to remove him and install somebody who wants to make a difference. It's not a problem exclusive to the Liberal Democrats, there is so much waste behind the scenes simply because elected members rely on the officers to do everything for them. The question on everybodys lips will surely be 'Why do we pay elected members'???".
I think there might be a slight conflict of interest, the local Labour Party Community Organiser applying to be an administrator for the Liberal Democrat group. I would have though anyone with even a passing interest in politics might have realised this.
There's nothing to stop anyone applying for the post I guess then using the money to fund their own community projects and you can't blame the bloke for trying I suppose, but if this is indicative of his grasp of local politics I suspect he might not get the gig.
I think there might be a slight conflict of interest, the local Labour Party Community Organiser applying to be an administrator for the Liberal Democrat group. I would have though anyone with even a passing interest in politics might have realised this.
There's nothing to stop anyone applying for the post I guess then using the money to fund their own community projects and you can't blame the bloke for trying I suppose, but if this is indicative of his grasp of local politics I suspect he might not get the gig.
Who would want the position of working for the Lib Liars? Like applying for the job of captain of the Titanic just after it had hit the iceberg in my opinion!
I think there might be a slight conflict of etc etc.
The point that someone out there would be very happy to do this on a voluntary basis seems to have escaped the Official West Berkshire Council spokesperson on Newbury.net. But why the frickin hell is this being advertised as a paid post? Why not look for a volunteer for such an obviously political post?
From what I hear the Powers That Be are busily recruiting volunteers for front line posts. The kind of jobs which pay £15K a year.
So, why put so much effort into recruiting for such junior posts without touching the senior management/specialist jobs which generate so much of the highly expensive non-front-line overhead?
I'm sure there are plenty of people who would take on this work on a voluntary basis. There's a wealth of talent out there just itching to get involved. Think of the (literally) thousands of political science graduates leaving universities this year who'd willingly do this as interns. I agree this isn't ideal - in an ideal world we'd want all young people to have paid jobs - but we're in crisis, aren't we Mr Jones? So far you've only implemented 30% of the cuts you have to make and here you are taking on paid help. WTF?
And, more generally, the council attempting to recruit volunteers to do the policy making, advisory and other back-office/policy won/IT/web designer jobs? I think we should be told.
"This role will give the successful applicant a unique opportunity to work closely with local elected members in providing effective opposition within the context of a local authority."
Thinking about this whilst out for my morning constitutional, it occurred to me that now not only will officers tell our local politicians what to do, they will also be telling them what to think!
The point that someone out there would be very happy to do this on a voluntary basis
How does the salary paid for this position make it more of a conflict of interest?
Surely whether it pays nothing or £100,000 the Labour Party Community Organiser effectively applying to help organise the Liberal Democrats isn't right and if someone is so ready jump ship from one party to another to further their political career perhaps this brings into question their integrity.
But why put so much effort into recruiting for such junior posts without touching the senior management/specialist jobs which generate so much of the highly expensive non-front-line overhead?
As I understand it, they already have with redundancies in all areas.
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Thinking about this whilst out for my morning constitutional, it occurred to me that now not only will officers tell our local politicians what to do, they will also be telling them what to think!
Whilst I'm sure that's unlikely to be the case at the moment I'm positive that it's most likely to be Richard's motivation for wanting to do this.
How does the salary paid for this position make it more of a conflict of interest?
if someone is so ready jump ship from one party to another to further their political career perhaps this brings into question their integrity.
I don't think most people would question the integrity of Churchill, or even Mosley or Powell for that matter. Nigel Farage and George Galloway seem to have firm convictions for people who've been in other parties.
In any case, you only need 3 seats to qualify for a political assistant at WBC. So ironically, if Labour had won more seats, Garvie would be spending £30k of our taxes to hire his own Malcolm Tucker
How does the salary paid for this position make it more of a conflict of interest?
It doesn't. My point was whether they have pursued the idea of filling this post on a voluntary basis rather than shelling out £30-35K we don't have. Ditto other back office posts. My guess is that councillors, who I think even they would admit are a rather egocentric bunch, rather like to have a paid lackey to boss around and would look down their noses at a mere volunteer. Or is there some other reason? There are huge numbers of policy wonks in their 50s taking voluntary redundancy from the civil service and even from other local authorities - on very good terms - who would like nothing better than to do this sort of thing in their now entirely free time.
A general policy of offering all vacancies to volunteers first would make sense, wouldn't it? Or perhaps councillors have spotted a flaw in the idea of using volunteers extensively. Either way, I think we should be told.
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