Leicester Mercury political correspondent
Posts tagged David Parsons
County Hall PR riddle
Sep 18th
The press office situation at County Hall has bothered me for a while.
Last 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, yet no-one was ever interviewed.
At the end of October, Westco were signed-up for another six month £60,000 stint, to continue to provide an interim communications chief and continue the search for that elusive candidate.
The job was never re-advertised though, and instead the post was quietly axed altogether. Opposition councillors say the council has wasted £100,000 on the whole process at a time when the authority is making cuts to services.
Westco’s original £7,500 a month interim boss, Fergus Sheppard, was replaced by Paul Masterman late last year.
But Fergus continued to work for the county council, one day each week, until fairly recently. He was no longer based at County Hall, however, and was instead down in London.
There were whispers around County Hall that while the situation may have been entirely innocent, it looked bad. Leader David Parsons was, at the time, one of the favourites to become Local Government Association chair. A personal PR man for the leader ahead of the election? All on the rates? Surely not.
Then in December last year Private Eye came out and alleged just that. The council denied it.
In March this year it emerged that Nottingham City Council leader Jon Collins used a taxpayer-funded consultant for party political election advice. The story was uncovered as a result of a Freedom of Information request from the Nottingham Post.
I spoke to the reporter at the Post who uncovered the story. He’d simply requested email correspondence between the council leader and the consultant and the council had delivered. He supplied me with the wording of the FOI request for my own use.
I lodged the same request to the county council in June this year, asking for correspondence between Parsons and Sheppard. A recent response from Graeme Wardle, in member support, said:
“Your request for information has now been considered. However, unfortunately we do not hold the information.
I apologise that your request cannot be met but if you have any further information needs in the future then please contact me quoting the FOI Request Number 2740.”
Effectively I was being told there wasn’t any communication between the council leader and one of the authority’s most senior PR chiefs, or that there were no records at all and all emails had been deleted.
In the past, the usually talkative council chief David Parsons has declined to discuss the communications team issue in any depth with me, and a recent request to the council’s press office on the issue was returned half-answered.
Last week I lodged a new Freedom of Information request, asking for all correspondence relating to 2740. It should shed more light on how my original request was dealt with internally.
In the words of Alistair Campbell, I’ll keep banging on about this one.
Parsons goes?
Mar 11th
There are rumblings, echoed to me by three different sources now, that time may be running out for county council leader David Parsons.
With one eye on potentially securing the chairmanship of the Local Government Association, there are manoueverings closer to home.
Rumours are swirling that he could face a leadership challenge at the local Conservative AGM in a few weeks’ time.
Two years since the last local elections, and two years until the next local elections means it would be a timely moment politically.
And who’s seen as one of the frontrunners to replace him? Step forward council chairman Peter Osborne.
From chains of office to the power of office.
An arrogant response to a fair question
Dec 22nd
Private Eye claimed this week that Fergus Sheppard is acting as Leicestershire County Council leader David Parsons’ personal PR man one day a week, paid for by taxpayers.
Yesterday the press office denied that this was the case, saying he had a more general role overseeing the council’s reputation.
I followed this up with a simple query today, to clarify the situation. My message read:
Private Eye stated that Fergus was working as David Parsons’ personal PR man. At a time of cuts that’s a statement likely to damage the reputation of David Parsons and the council itself. As one of the communications department’s roles is to promote the authority as a “well-respected authority” on the national stage, one would expect the council to have requested a full correction of this alleged error. Could you confirm this is the case? Could you also confirm when we can expect to see the apology and correction in print?
A simple question. If the council has been lied about, surely it will be demanding a correction and apology. After all, we’ve got two top communications “gurus” in charge whose job it is to defend the council’s reputation on the national stage. This would be a no-brainer for most PR chiefs.
Sadly, I’ve just received a response which began: “Nothing to add on Private Eye, David. You have our answers to all your questions on the facts.”
Why not? If the council isn’t demanding an apology then one must ask why it is hesitant to press the issue. As they’re unwilling to respond fully, feel free to draw your own conclusions.
What breathtaking arrogance from a public body.
+++BLOCKED BY PAUL MASTERMAN+++
Dec 21st
It would appear that county communications chief Paul Masterman has now blocked me from following him on Twitter.
Of course, a block merely means I can’t officially follow him. I can still see his Tweets, and so can you, here. Pretty pointless move by him, really.
For a communications professional it seems awfully unprofessional to block the local newspaper’s political correspondent on Twitter for pointing out a few facts, which leads me onto my next point.
I forgot to mention yesterday that an attempt to get him to comment on the poll story was ignored a couple of weeks ago. Seems he’s got form in this department.
The communications director doesn’t seem to be communicating. Over to you, David Parsons.
Where’s Parsons’ peerage?
Nov 22nd
Most of us expected it, but it never came.
David Parsons, the county leader with the ear of Tory frontbenchers, was not on the list of new peers.
While Richmond-upon-Thames leader Nick True and former Liverpool City Council leader Mike Storey were made life peers, David was left out. Political opponents ran straight to their laptops to gloat.
One cabinet colleague told me: “He’s fast becoming the Bruce Forsyth of Leicestershire politics. People expect him to get the big prize every year but it never seems to happen.”
He’s back
Aug 16th
Jet-setting county council leader David Parsons is back at his desk today after a few weeks Down Under.
Part holiday, part local goverment circuit, he arrived back last week – just in time to suspend cabinet member Tony Kershaw over an assault allegation.
Rumours that Parsons now wants an extended Local Enterprise Partnership with Perth, Australia, are unconfirmed.
Why I’m on a collision course with the county council
Jun 9th
When I started work at the Mercury back in January, I was struck by how frank Leicestershire County Council leader David Parsons could be.
He spoke, in my opinion, the way all council leaders should do: honestly, without jargon, and with an eye for a colourful quote.
You could call him about anything and get an on-the-spot opinion, and if he didn’t know anything about the issue, he’d tell you. It was a welcome contrast to the often guarded style of then city leader Ross Willmott. How times have changed.
Put in a call, or fire off an email to Mr Parsons these days and you’ll wait a few hours before getting a comment sent directly from someone in the communications team on his behalf. “This will be happening more often,” I’ve been told.
This all started with the arrival of Fergus Sheppard. I’ve no doubt that this anti-democratic move has been chalked up as a way of making the council’s PR machine more streamlined. But quite simply, it cuts off the relationship the press should have with a senior politician.
David never seemed to be the type who’d go in for all the spin and image management rubbish, but I can only assume he’s been persuaded to give it a whirl.
And to be honest, because I haven’t needed comments on anything particularly groundbreaking from him in the past few weeks, I’ve let the whole thing slide.
But all councils have to make big decisions over the next year or so about spending decisions, reform and cutbacks.
These are serious issues, which is why I don’t think I should accept any statements released on his behalf through the press office without making quite clear in the story that he’s issued a statement rather than deal with the Mercury directly.
I grudgingly accept why statements are issued on behalf of officers through the press office, but elected members should deal directly with me. If they won’t then surely readers need to be told.
For as long as I can pick up the phone to Veejay Patel, the leader of Leicester City Council, to get a response from him at a moment’s notice, I expect to be able to do the same for the leader of the county council.
10am update: Fair play to David Parsons, he’s called me from the continent. “Let’s sort this out,” he says. I’ll keep readers posted.
