THE FISHER KING ABDICATES
Croydon council leader trousered £10,000 pay rise without making it public – council launches inquiry
CROYDON’S TORY opposition leader Cllr Mike Fisher has quit after it was revealed he had taken a £10,000 pay rise without declaring it.
Croydon North MP Steve Reed has called for a full inquiry into the scandal – which Croydon council have since announced.
In a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron (September 4th) calling on him to suspend Cllr Fisher as group leader until the full facts have been established – and before Cllr Fisher quit as opposition leader the following evening – Mr Reed wrote:
“He has done this by demanding back pay for increases in allowances that were recommended but not taken up by councillors between 2010 and 2014.
“Cllr Fisher’s behaviour appears to breach the Nolan principles for conduct underpinning public life.
“I have further concerns that the scheme of allowances agreed by Croydon council in 2010 was deliberately phrased to persuade the public that councillors were not accepting increased allowances while giving themselves leeway to subsequently take increases without declaring them.
“Even if it was not illegal it certainly appears to be an attempt to deceive the public.”
Mr Reed has accused the Conservatives of deliberately misleading the public over allowances by claiming in public they wouldn’t accept increases but setting up an arrangement that allowed them to take the money in private.
“Cllr Fisher demanded the extra money, equivalent to an 18 per cent pay rise, after hiking up council tax and restricting council employees to a one per cent pay rise claiming the council was short of funds.”
He called on Croydon council – now under Labour control – to establish an independent inquiry to investigate any potential abuse of power by the Conservatives.
He said: “At a time when workers’ pay is being held down and public services are being cut, the notion that Tory councillors can help themselves to thousands of pounds of public money in secret is abhorrent.
“We need a full investigation to expose how this happened, who else was involved, and how to stop it happening again in future.”
The questions Mr Reed says the inquiry need to answer:
- How was the former leader of the council able to claim £10,000 additional allowances without declaring it publicly at the time?
- Was political pressure put on Council officers to ensure they went along with this?
- Who else knew this payment was being made, and was there collusion to prevent the public from finding out?
- Was the phrasing used in the council’s allowances scheme deliberately intended to allow councillors to take additional allowances in secret after making public declarations implying they would not?
- Have any councillors other than Cllr Fisher benefited from similar arrangements or attempted to benefit from them, and if so who?
- Have there been any other actual or attempted claims for additional payments by councillors, either as increased allowances, back payments of allowances, or loans, and if so by whom?
- Did the council’s arrangements breach the Nolan Principles on standards in public life, in particular the requirement for openness and transparency?
- Did the council’s arrangements break the legal requirements governing the public declaration of payment to councillors?
Before Cllr Fisher quit as opposition leader – but NOT as ward member for Shirley where in the May 2014 elections 671 votes separated Fisher ( who finished in third place in the three-seat ward) from the Labour candidate placed fourth – Mr Reed called for Cllr Fisher’s resignation.
A statement from Mr Reed’s office said: “Senior Tory councillors, including those who work for Croydon Central’s Tory MP (Gavin Barwell) have not explained how Fisher was able to pocket thousands of pounds of public money without having to declare it until after polls closed.
“In public Tory councillors said they were ‘not minded’ to take a pay increase but failed to explain this did not rule out cabinet members taking the increased allowance later on.”
The statement quoted Mr Reed as saying: “This looks like a deliberate attempt by the Conservative party to deceive the voters over councillors’ allowances.
“Public money cannot simply be siphoned off into Tory councillors’ bank accounts on the quiet.”
*These principles include Selflessness:”Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of the public interest. “They should not do so in order to gain financial or other materials benefits for themselves, their family, or other friends.” and;
Openness: “Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions
and actions that they take. “They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.”
“I HOPE PEOPLE WILL FORGIVE MY LAPSE IN JUDGEMENT” – FISHER STATEMENT
In a statement Cllr Fisher said: “Last year, after several years of a reduction in real terms year on year in my allowances, I took the decision to claim some of the increase recommended by an independent body and agreed by the council, in the interests of my family.”
“Although this information was always going to come into the public domain, I did not issue a statement publicly making people aware of this and I deeply regret that error and apologise for it.
“I do not want this mistake to damage my reputation and the reputation of the Conservative party, which I have been proud to represent for over 20 years.
“That is why I have taken the difficult decision to stand down as leader of the Conservative group. “I will continue to serve my constituents in Shirley and hope that people will forgive me for my lapse in judgement.”
The statement on Croydon Conservatives website also reveals that FOUR MORE senior Tories enquired about retrospectively claiming allowances they were eligible for.
They are:
Cllr Steve O’Connell (GLA member for Croydon and Sutton – “The councillor who claims £118,000 in allowances: I’m worth it, declares Tory whose payments outstrip GP’s salary” by Steve Doughty – Daily Mail 16 February 2011)
Cllr Vidhi Mohan – One of the ‘Gang of Four’ cabinet members whom Tory-controlled Croydon tried to force onto the library committee in 2011 (the others were Sara Bashford, Jason Perry, and Phil Thomas), Cllr Mohan has recently been selected as Tory Parliamentary candidate for Croydon North
Cllr Steve Hollands. a former chairman of the Upper Norwood library joint committee and responsible in the furore over Croydon’s treatment (mistreatment?) of the library and its staff for such utterances as: “It’s a grant made by Croydon to an outside body. “In my view, how much it costs to run Selsdon library, how much it costs to run Norbury library, doesn’t come into it.”
and: “The gallery has caused that. “The recommendation has been lost.” (See: AMAZING SCENES IN CROYDON TOWN HALL – LEGAL CHALLENGE OVER LIBRARY? 8 / 10 / 2012)
and former Cllr Simon Hoar, cabinet member for community safety and public protection,
who was one of two sitting members who lost his seat in Waddon in May’s council elections.
THE CONSERVATIVE statement in full as it appears on Croydon Conservatives website:
September 6th: Last night, Cllr Mike Fisher announced that he is standing down as the leader of the Conservative group on Croydon Council.
Mike said: “It has been a huge privilege to lead the Conservative group for the last nine years.
“I am particularly proud of the work the Conservative administration did to change Croydon for the better between 2006 and 2014, in particular:
getting the council’s finances back on an even keel;
reducing council tax bills in real terms despite reductions in the funding the council gets from central government;
transforming standards in our schools, which are now better than the national average and improving more quickly;
getting two of the country’s top retail developers, Westfield and Hammerson, to come together to invest over £1 billion transforming Croydon town centre; and
helping the town recover from the riots in 2011 and this year’s floods.
“Shortly after becoming leader of the council, I decided to devote my time to the role full-time, giving up the security of my career and pension in the Civil Service.
“Not only did this have a huge impact on the lives of my family in terms of time commitment and our right to a private life, it also meant making a financial sacrifice with a significant reduction in income.
“I chose to make this sacrifice after consultation with my wife as it allowed me to serve our town.
“Over the seven years from 2006 to 2013, the allowance that I claimed as leader fell significantly in real terms. “That was the right thing to do at a time when we were taking tough decisions on pay increases for council staff.
“Last year, after several years of a reduction in real terms year on year in my allowances, I took the decision to claim some of the increase recommended by an independent body and agreed by the council, in the interests of my family.
“Although this information was always going to come into the public domain, I did not issue a statement publicly making people aware of this and I deeply regret that error and apologise for it.
“I do not want this mistake to damage my reputation and the reputation of the Conservative Party, which I have been proud to represent for over 20 years.
“That is why I have taken the difficult decision to stand down as leader of the Conservative group. “I will continue to serve my constituents in Shirley and hope that people will forgive me for my lapse in judgement.”
Responding to Cllr Fisher’s announcement, Cllrs Dudley Mead and Tim Pollard, the deputy leaders of the Conservative group, said:
“Mike has been a great servant to the town over many years and under his leadership the prospects of our town significantly improved.
“We recognise the sacrifices he has made over the years and greatly regret that one error of judgement has made it necessary for him to stand down. In doing so, he has taken the right decision both for himself and the party. “We believe he still has a lot to offer this town.”
Gavin Barwell, MP for Croydon Central, said: “I am glad that Mike has acknowledged that he made a mistake in not being transparent about taking a pay increase. “He has done the right thing in resigning as leader of the Conservative group.
“I hope this will go some way to restoring his reputation, because this mistake aside he has done a lot of good for our town.”
There has been speculation in the media that other senior councillors also secretly awarded themselves pay increases. The figures published by the council show that this is not the case.
Four other councillors enquired about retrospectively claiming allowances they were eligible for. Having looked into the matter, Cllrs Steve O’Connell, Vidhi Mohan, Steve Hollands and former Cllr Simon Hoar made it clear that they would not proceed with these claims. Steve, Steve, Vidhi and Simon said:
“When we considered this carefully, and after dialogue with the council, we became convinced that retrospectively increasing what we were paid for our work over the last four years would be completely inappropriate”.
GAVIN BARWELL MP
IN A SEPARATE STATEMENT on his own website Gavin Barwell said: “It appears from information that the council has released today, reported in The Croydon Advertiser, that at some point during 2013/14 – before the local elections on 22nd May – the then leader of the council Cllr Mike Fisher privately told Council officers that he would like to be paid more of the allowance he was eligible for, increasing his income by £10,000.
“I am angry about – and feel very let down by – this news.
“First, I believe it is wrong for the leader of the council to get a 17 per cent pay rise at a time when the people who work for the council, many of them on quite low salaries, were getting just one per cent.
“Second, I believe it was doubly wrong to keep this decision private until after the local elections were out of the way. “Openness is one of the seven core principles of public life.
“If Mike felt he deserved a higher salary, he should have told people what he was doing. “He didn’t tell anyone, not even his fellow Conservative councillors I understand let alone the people of Croydon whose council tax payments fund his allowances.
“The hardest thing in politics is when someone who isn’t just a party colleague but a friend does something wrong. I have known Mike for nearly 20 years.
“He has been a great support to me as a Parliamentary candidate and then an MP. “Some in my party will be angry with me for issuing this statement.
“But residents rightly expect politicians to put what is right before party loyalty. “If we don’t make it clear that what Mike has done is wrong, the actions of one individual will tarnish the reputation of the whole party.”
UPDATE:
“I met with Cllr Fisher on Friday evening to discuss these issues with him. He subsequently issued a statement acknowledging that he should have told people what he was doing and announcing that he is resigning as leader of the Conservative group on Croydon council.
“He has done the right thing in resigning and I hope this will go some way to restoring his reputation.”
(Mr Barwell also responded publicly to questions from the Inside Croydon blog. These included:
6. Should Cllr Fisher repay the cash?
“Cllr Fisher was eligible to receive this money. “He hasn’t broken any laws. “His mistake – and it was a serious one that has cost him his position as group leader – was not being open about claiming it.”
7. Should he resign as a councillor?
“Cllr Fisher has paid the price for his mistake in losing the group leadership. “People deserve a second chance in life.”
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY LAUNCHED
The new leader of Croydon council is launching an independent inquiry into how the former leader, Cllr Mike Fisher, was able to take an extra allowance of £10,000 in 2013/14 and, it has recently come to light, that he took a further £1,000 in May 2014.
The chair of the inquiry is former teacher Anne Smith. Mrs Smith, who was principal of John Ruskin college until 1999, is an experienced school governor and chair of a local youth charity.
Mrs Smith has held various volunteer roles with Croydon council including being an Independent Person on the council’s ethics committee and independent chair of the standards committee.
Due to begin this month, the inquiry will be expected to present its recommendations to the council by November 2014.
Leader Cllr Tony Newman said: “This inquiry is not about members’ allowances per se. “It is about asking the fundamental question ‘how was the former leader of the council able to take £11,000 of public money without informing the public?’
“We have a duty to the public – the people who pay our wages – to ask these very legitimate questions.
“As a new administration we have already made significant and much needed changes to the constitution.
“This includes changing the members allowance scheme at the first business meeting of the full council in July 2014.
“In short, we are a council that takes openness and transparency extremely seriously, and, I’m pleased to say, that after consulting with colleagues members allowances will now be published monthly.” (Source: Full statement from Croydon council to News From Crystal Palace)
