Admin is clearly beneath Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell and his very well-staffed office (whose salaries are paid for by you, the tax-payer).
Cheers: Tory councillor Mario Creatura manages to enjoy a day at the races despite holding down two publicly funded jobs
Well over a year since Mario Creatura, Barwell’s Westminster bag carrier, got himself a second publicly funded income as a Tory councilor, and he is yet to declare that position, as he is required by the strict rules of the House of Commons.
The latest update of the Register of Interests of Members’ Secretaries and Research Assistants was published last month.
Town centre resident Creatura, who was handed a cushy safe Tory council seat in Coulsdon West in May 2014, is not listed as having benefited by this great good fortune.
As a back-bench Conservative councillor in Croydon, Creatura receives around £12,000 in allowances each year, in addition to the estimated £26,000 salary he is paid for working as one of Barwell’s six-strong staff – of whom four all double-up as councillors in the borough.
Something missing? According to official Parliament records, Mario Creatura is not a Croydon councillor
Creatura’s colleague in Barwell’s Westminster office, Labour-supporting Jason Cummings, has at least managed to do his paperwork, and properly declares his position as a councillor, while also revealing that he is so energetic that he is able to do a third job, that of office assistant at Croydon Tories’ Purley office. Where does he find the time?
Barwell has several times been reproached by the Parliamentary authorities for breaches of protocol and abuses of his position, most recently last month when he was found to have broken the rules over the use of his MP’s email address. Barwell escaped official sanction because he claimed the abuse was “an honest mistake”.
It will be interesting to discover what feeble excuse Creatura offers for his failure to provide a proper declaration of his positions.
- The same register reveals that it is a case of “jobs for the gals” in the office of the new Croydon South MP Chris Philp, where young Maddie Hale has a tidy little number working alongside her own mother, senior Croydon Conservative councillor Lynne Hale. There is, of course, not the slightest suggestion of any nepotism involved in this mother-and-daughter appointment, and Maddie Hale was undoubtedly the outstanding candidate for the job.
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Shock news – “Inside Croydon” can exclusively reveal, after months of expensive research, that MP’s staff are paid for by taxpayers ! Such insight ! What will be the next “Inside Croydon” exclusive insight ? How about – “Inside Croydon” can exclusively reveal that – “No Labour MP has EVER employed a member of their own family” ?
Hey, John… go an take a lie down in a darkened room.
When you’re feeling a little calmer, get someone to read the article to you and explain what it is actually about.
Declarations of other interests and income are necessary by parliamentary staff to ensure that they are acting properly in the public interest when on the public payroll.
Barwell, and his staff, are repeat offenders over the abuse of their parliamentary office. You can try to defend that all you like – it won’t make it right.