Councillors of all political affiliation at Weymouth and Portland Borough Council have made some pretty stupid decisions – notably the Weymouth Peninsula fiasco – but others too.
It struck me that there must be some financial jiggery pokery going on that we the public don’t know that would have amounted to reason behind such routine unreason. The other night I openly challenged one Tory member, James Farquharson, currently representing Preston, to explain his business interests. He called my bluff and since I have time on my hands today, I set myself the task of looking at the declarations of members’ interests for all councillors at the soon to be defunct WPB Council. One of his mates trolled me saying that this would be biased – his mistake and one that would save me around two hours as thanks to the hostility from the troll, I chose only to look at Tory members.
You can too – it is at this page. If you want to find out how many members of the Labour Party are in the PLO or Nazi Party in a the current hunt for antisemites then go ahead and write something up like this!
What I found
Three of the dodgiest councillors actually represent Preston! Farquharson is the marketing manager of the well connected media consultancy Aylesworth Fleming Ltd, whose clients include the housing development company Bloor Homes. He also gives a bad name to sailing as he, unlike fellow Weymouth Sailing Club member and Preston Councillor Ian Bruce has declared his membership there. I can’t unfortunately say any more here – who knows who the man hangs out with when he markets or sails? I should know – I hang out with billion dollar cannabis companies and that doesn’t make me dodgy.
I can say that Bloor has recently built a 630 home development in Wimborne and has interests in Studland too. They seem to like Dorset and aren’t short of influence, if influence comes with money. They didn’t pay Mr F a penny and nor has he had any other formal relationship with them.
Ian Bruce used to be MP round these parts and has amassed a decent sized property portfolio over the years. Ian Bruce Associates is a landlord company so his accountant will do legal things to minimise his taxes – as mine will too. Does that make him dodgy? Note to self: ask his tenants about how good a landlord he is, as I did Dave Wells’ tenants for the Sunday Express a few years back. The addresses are listed (though not here in this article – I’m not that cruel). The short answer is I don’t know.
I have to say that I am surprised at just how benign and boring many of the Tory councillors are according to the register of members interests. Classic, grey haired people who supplement their pensions with some work for the community in their elected roles. On the surface the register doesn’t explain much – other than possible senility – behind many of the decisions that flew in the face of public opinion on a routine basis.
Really, if he was still a councillor I would have loved to see a very wealthy Lib Dem’s entry on the list. I knew him personally and found him one of the most despicable people I have ever known. There’s also a former Tory councillor out there who owns far too much of Portland…
Lobbying
I have to say I’m being a bit sloppy here and will recycle some recent journalism I have done rather than get a hot new interview for this piece. I had a nice budget for that and honestly am a bit squeezed for time just now – work beckons tomorrow!
Lobbying is about getting access to politicians. Ian Bruce would know about that in Parliament – just where I focused the source article on gambling companies lobbying MPs. I interviewed Alexandra Runswick of Unlock Democracy who told me, “Often you don’t want to put something on the public record, what you want to be doing is having a chat with your colleagues in the tearooms because lobbying works best when you can’t see it. It’s all about relationships.”
In giving days out at the races, so gambling companies got that vital private time with their target MPs who included my least favourite MP Tom Watson. Runswick said, “There is an assumption that the company will get something out of it but it is never explicit. I’m sure if you went to an MP who had been given free tickets to the races they would say there was no obligation.”
One of the sections that was always interesting was “Bodies whose principal purposes include the influence of public opinion or policy” and the final section, “Declaration of Gifts and Hospitality”. These would point to formal lobbying on the part of interests toward the councillors. Other than the South Dorset Conservative Association, there was hardly anything barring the odd pressure group that was irrelevant to this enquiry.
Corruption or senility?
As with any investigation you go in full of balls and bluster, saying you’re going to ‘do over’ whomever you target. I can’t say I succeeded here. Runswick pointed to political party donations – another article there for me – and said, “There is an influence of money on UK politics but it is very difficult to prove that it is corruption as it is difficult to prove a direct relationship between a donation to a political party for example and a policy outcome. Corruption tends to be thought of bribing a police officer if you get stopped. We don’t routinely have that kind of corruption in the UK but we have corruption in the sense that money can buy you access and influence”.
My next piece will be to look at party funding locally. I know some major parties locally would sell their grandmothers for a decent donation while others are fantastically funded. Did I get even a whiff of a gnat’s fart of corruption here in South Dorset from the register of members interests? Sadly no. In that case the decisions the council made are probably down to senility!
Register of Conservative Councillors interests
As promised, here’s my copy of Conservative Party WPBC councillors interests. While a lot more is in the public domain I didn’t list the addresses of where they own property – a safety measure for them there. Read on!
James Farquharson, Con, Preston
Marketing Manager, Aylesworth Fleming Ltd, and Proprietor of Jurassic Spring Ltd. Partner is a private and NHS physiotherapist.
Owns own property
Member of Weymouth Sailing Club and Weymouth Rowing Club
Tony Ferrari, Con, Wey Valley
Owns own house.
Not otherwise employed
Member of Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan Committee and Nottington Neighbourhood Plan Committee.
Member of 2 charities: Sutton Poyntz Society and Friends of Lodmoor.
John Ellis, Con, Upwey & Broadwey
Owns own house
Not otherwise employed
Reserve Member, Dorset Waste Partnership Joint Committee
Trustee of One Voice Weymouth Choir
Management Committee, Big 4 Littlemoor
Member of Conservative Councillors Association
Member of South Dorset Conservative Association
Treasurer of Broadwey Division of South Dorset Conservative Association
Francis Drake, Con, Melcombe Regis
Owner of Antonios Cafe on St Mary’s Street along with spouse.
Owns the building
Director of Weymouth BID
Jeff Cant, Con, Wyke Regis
He and spouse are freelance public sector consultants
Owns 2 properties
Member of Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
Mike Byatt, Con, Westham East
Not otherwise employed
Owns one house
Exercises public functions at Weymouth College
Member of the GMB
Ian Bruce, Con, Preston
He and spouse are private landlords and company directors
Received expenses from South Dorset Conservative Association as did wife
Has a contract from Ian Bruce Associates Ltd as does wife.
Jointly owns 9 properties with wife
Member of Sutton Poyntz Society
Member of Preston Branch, South Dorset Conservative Association
Member of National Landlords Association and Weymouth Residential Landlords Association
Hazel Bruce, Con, Preston
Spouse of Ian Bruce.
With Ian, private landlords and company directors
Justice of the Peace
Member of Girl Guiding UK (Trefoil Guild)
Member of Dorset Keep Fit Association
9 properties
Member of Preston Branch, South Dorset Conservative Association
Member of National Landlords Association and Weymouth Residential Landlords Association
Magistrates Association
Kevin Brookes, Con, Upwey and Broadwey
Not otherwise employed. Spouse is an editor
Owns own home
Member of Dorset Waste Partnership
Member of South West Strategic Planning Forum
Trustee of the JRE and Gladys Banks housing charity
Member of Unite the Union
Katharine Garcia, Con, Tophill East
Partner of Waurfield And Associates Ltd with spouse, who’s a trainer at BUPA
Owns one property
Company Secretary of Portland Community Land Trust
Richard Kosior, Con, Weymouth West
Instructor and sole director of Alacrity Aviation Ltd
Owns own home
Pamela Nixon, Con, Wey Valley
Not otherwise employed
Owns own home
Member of William Gould Charity
Member of Sanderson Wells Confidential Assistance Fund
On the Good Citizens Panel
Trustee of Weymouth & Portland CAB
Member of Conservative Councillors Association
Unison member
Richard Nickinson, Con, Weymouth West
Not otherwise employed. Spouse is a Marriage Registrar
Received expenses from South Dorset Conservative Association
Jointly owns 2 properties with spouse
Cites South Dorset Conservative Association as one that influences public opinion or policy
Jason Osborne, Con, Melcombe Regis
Company Director of the Leam Hotel and Duke of Cornwall jointly with spouse
Owns no property
Member Joint Advisory and Accounts Committee
WPBC Audit Committee
WPBC Scrutiny and Performance Committee
Cathy Page-Nash, Con, Radipole
Employed as a casual teacher for EFL at Europartner
Owns own home
Member of South Dorset Conservative Association
Deputy Mayor Alison Reed, Con, Weymouth East
NHS worker and spouse, Manager of BID
Doesn’t own own home
Member, Conservative Councillors Association
Trustee of the JRE and Gladys Banks housing charity
Unison Member
Rich Shrubb
