Leicester Mercury political correspondent
Archive for February, 2012
More Mercury…
Feb 27th
Part of my Saturday political column was chopped to make way for an advert, so I’ve published the rest below:
“The tables were turned this week when someone lodged a Freedom of Information request about me.
I send out scores of them every year to public bodies across the land, but it’s the first time I’ve ever been the subject of one.
It relates to the leaked standards watchdog report about Lord Mayor Rob Wann’s cancelled parking tickets, which was on the front page of the Mercury last month.
The request reads: “Leicester City Council leaks like a sieve! Obviously your standards committee members leaked the Rob Wann report. This is outrageous! Please let me see copies of any emails, letters or any correspondence between the Rob Wann investigation standards committee councillors and David MacLean of the Leicester Mercury. We need to know who leaked the report.”
The exchanges will eventually be published on the council website. But unlike many politicians who fear openness and transparency, I’m quite relaxed about my email dealings with any of the councillors being made public.
You’ll see the time I cursed my luck when one councillor told me about a juicy row that went on at a meeting I’d chosen not to attend.
You’ll see a few invites to the pub which I’d issued to local politicians for a catch-up and a chat about local issues.
And you’ll probably see several frantic emails which I often have to send to unreachable councillors as deadline approaches, pleading: “Call me ASAP.”
Sadly for the curious member of the public who submitted this request, the source of the leak won’t be revealed even if they request copies of my dealings with every public official in our city.
And that’s because the biggest scoops are always leaked in person.”
A Political Obituary Written – Then Shelved
Feb 11th
Ignore the spin – David Parsons was on the ropes yesterday.
Cabinet members were ready to resign if he didn’t. Backbenchers were twitchy about a drawn-out expenses probe in the run-up to an election. The finishing touches we’re being put to his political obituary.
Following the Mercury’s 10am news conference we cleared the front page and two pages inside, poised for a resignation statement. I combed the archive as I prepared a colour piece on his political career. A photographer was on standby to get a snap of him leaving County Hall.
A cabinet meeting took place behind closed doors in the morning. Then, at 3pm he faced his group.
Usually a fairly short affair, this one lasted for an hour and a half. “He’s gone,” one opposition politico said as he looked at his watch. A mischievous Lib Dem had printed out a message on A4 paper which read: Position Vacant, Apply Within. He planned to pin it to Parsons’ office door.
The meeting was later painted as an unthreatening affair – a chance for Tory councillors to throw their weight behind a trusted leader. But the atmosphere afterwards didn’t suggest that.
As members emerged many kept their heads bowed, avoiding eye-contact with the press. Parsons remained inside the room. Some members hugged him.
As he left he said he was heading to his office for ten minutes. He looked shaken and exhausted.
Eventually he emerged with deputy Nick Rushton in tow, plus a handful of other loyal troops. He said he would be cooperating with the investigation, planned stay on and clear his name, and had his party’s full support.
The cabinet members who’d been ready to resign just hours earlier had been squared, at least temporarily.
