Between about May and October this year, Westco, the commercial arm of Westminster City Council, teamed-up with Leicestershire County Council to find a candidate to head-up the slimmed-down communications and press team at county hall.

The high-profile job vacancy, together with a salary of £65,000, attracted more than 40 applications. Curiously, no-one was interviewed.

Instead, at the end of October, Westco were signed-up for another six month stint. As part of the new £60,000 deal they continue to provide an interim communications chief and continue the search for that elusive candidate.

The payments are on top of the £20,000 they were paid for the initial communications review.

The £7,500-a-month interim man between May and October, Fergus Sheppard, has now moved on. New guy Paul Masterman (left) has now been in place for several weeks. Expect to read more about Sheppard’s departure in coming weeks.

Anyway, Masterman’s got an impressive CV. Councils, consultancy firms and PR companies abound. It’s one of the most detailed LinkedIn profiles I’ve seen.

But one thing is missing from his impressive career history: the reason he left Shropshire County Council after more than three years in April 2007.

According to the BBC, he was suspended during a disciplinary investigation after it was discovered that he’d attempted to influence a BBC online poll regarding a council merger. He later left the post.

The county council is currently using the internet to consult the public on where the axe should fall on its budgets. Hopefully he’ll resist the urge to meddle this time.

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