Part-timer on a shut-down: how the £81,000 per year Mayor announced he was taking another fortnight off
Jason Perry, the part-time £81,000 per year Mayor of Croydon, is making the most of the mourning period for the Queen to ensure as little council business is discussed or debated in public.
Straight after a summer recess in council business that lasted nearly two months, Part-time Perry wasted no time to put the hand-brake on any public business at the Town Hall for another 10 days, as he and the local Tories conspicuously immerse themselves in the official period of national fawning.
Not content with changing his personal social media profiles to replace photos of his chubby visage with images of the dead unelected Queen, Perry’s also been using council staff to pump out the kind of deeply reverential platitudes previously thought only possible following the demise of a leader in North Korea.
Since last Thursday, the day of the death of Queen Elizabeth, two planning committee meetings, a licensing meeting, a meeting of the pensions committee, two gatherings of the scrutiny committee and the audit and governance committee meeting have all been postponed, as well as tonight’s council cabinet.
The only business of the elected council that is going ahead is an appointments committee meeting tomorrow lunchtime, to decide to whom to hand the job of “director of adult social care operations” – potentially a six-figure salaried position. Clearly, nothing, not even the death of a monarch “of blessed memory”, gets in the way of the empire-building of council CEO Katherine Kerswell…
Council staff, meanwhile, not unreasonably, have been expected to continue conducting their daily work.
Part-time Perry tweeted earlier this week, above a picture of an empty council chamber, “While there is no duty to postpone committee meetings during the 10-day National Mourning period, the council is rescheduling any public meetings as a mark of respect.”
National fawning: Perry’s information-lite social media posting
Note that: “no duty to postpone committee meetings”.
So it’s the Tory Mayor’s decision to take another 10 days off from scrutiny and debate, with the council overspending its budget by £19.3million in just his first 100 days in charge.
“Updates are available on the council’s committee calendar,” Perry noted, unhelpfully, as he failed to provide any links to said calendar.
Carlton Building Plastics, the family firm where Perry remains a director, meanwhile continues to trade as normal this week, only taking Monday’s Bank Holiday off “as a mark of respect”. Of course!
Meanwhile, in the Kroydon of Kim Jong-Perry, he is urging the public to sign books of condolence or to leave flowers to rot in parks and open spaces, as the Conservative Mayor does his bit to whip up the steadily mounting mass hysteria, and thereby help to cement the place of the monarchy for the next two or three decades. It’s quite a clever bit of groupthink, really.
The Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer is little better, with memos (complete with spelling mistakes) being sent out to MPs and peers warning them off doing anything as crass as campaigning. Only tributes are allowed, as monarchism is imposed and enforced.
“When in public, continue to follow the dress code (sombre and dark colours) during the period,” the Party’s advice states.
“You should not post anything on social media, expect [sic] your own tribute or what you have been asked to share from the PLP office.”
‘Loyal’ opposition: Sir Keith’s memo to the parliamentary Labour Party
This is, we should remember, His Majesty’s loyal opposition.
Contrast this simpering obsequiousness with Sir Keith’s predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
The Islington MP struck a different, but still entirely respectful, chord on Twitter soon after the announcement of the Queen’s death. “I enjoyed discussing our families, gardens and jam-making with her,” said the Islington MP.
The Tory government under Thick Lizzy Truss, meanwhile, continues to quietly implement policies for which it has no mandate, such as removing the ban on fracking, without any questioning or scrutiny.
On Monday, the day of the royal funeral and declared a bank holiday, cancer treatment appointments are being cancelled and some food banks will be closed.
God Save The King!
Gawd help us all…
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network- By having a comment section, we provide all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Details of how this works can be read by clicking here
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
- Inside Croydon: 3.3million page views in 2021. Seen by 1.6million unique visitors in that 12-month period
It doesn’t take the death of a monarch to cancel a planning committee meeting.
Not counting the two cancelled in these arguably exceptional circumstances, in 2022, 22% – four out of 18, more than one in five – of current and previously slated meetings have been cancelled.
And it’s worse since the Conservatives took over (Labour only cancelled one).
Not counting the two cancelled in these arguably exceptional circumstances, they’ve cancelled 27% of theirs – three out of 11. If you strike the two for the Queen from the calendar completely, it’s three out of nine: 33%.
Regardless of what officers may or may not be doing, it’s hardly a wonder that the progress of applications through the borough is so glacial.
In comparison, for the dislikers who think I’m being mean to the Conservatives, in 2021, Labour – of whom also I am no great fan – cancelled 18% (4/22) of their planning committee meetings.
And that was in the grip of the pandemic, lockdowns etc etc when there are no such barriers before the LBC now.
I had high hopes for an elected mayor in our borough but, boy was I wrong!
What I had hoped for was someone independent, brave, innovative and energetic, a reformer, our very own Andy Burnham….. and what we have is is the opposite in every way.
We appear to have is a seemingly uncommitted shirker who takes every opportunity to be absent, to sermonise or pose heroically, who is as conventional and doctrine bound as it is possible to be and someone who does not seem to take his job seriously but does take himself very seriously indeed.
What is it about Croydon that it allows itself to be governed serially by the least luminous and least effective of leaders? Must be something in the water. There’s no other possible explanation.
Now, don’t get me on to Senior Executives…..Kerwell, Negrini and their predecessors ….just as ineffective and unimpressive. But who chooses them? The Newman and the Perrys of course. As the French would say” The More it Changes the More it is the B****y same!
Welcome back, Arno
Sadly I had the same hopes. At times one can almost envisage the hands of the Puppet Masters in the rear orifice – but perhaps that was too much second hand skunk and developers building shit wafting over from both sides!
Still I am left with the image of too many hands in one kitchen and that constipated sick smile fixed inanely in every picture and I do have a modicum of pity instead and that old adage floating in the back of the grey matter – be careful what you wish for.
But then I think SPD2 and at least he has not systematically screwed all of Croydon over – at least not yet.
This is the problem that democracy produces when electors are forced to choose between an unelectable candidate and any other. That’s how Donald Trump AND Boris Johnson got elected – they were each put up against widely hated candidates … so they won.
In this case, Labour were bound to get a drubbing because they were the hated PARTY who had through massive incompetence (or perhaps corruption) bankrupted and all but destroyed Croydon … so they lost – albeit by a much slighter majority than might have been expected.
That’s the problem you have when the electorate can’t see beyond the two major parties in our political system. That’s what happens when people proudly say “I’ve voted for XXXXXXX all my life … and my father and grandfather before me” – in other words people who vote for the party and not for the individual representing the party.
This website refers on every occasion to our “unelected” monarch. Maybe an election is not such a wonderful concept after all – it depends too heavily on an involved and inquisitive electorate.
I tend to agree but then one has to wonder is there more to this than just a legacy of misplaced loyalty?
For instance at a recent Planning meeting a development in South Croydon was discussed. 49 residents objected and 1 MP. The Council wanted to grant permission.
Any normal parson would have wanted to investigate the validity of matters and seek evidence to determine the matter as all did not seem to be as apparent.
Yet two Labour Councillors from different wards ignored all the objections of residents and actually proposed and seconded the planning departments proposal to Grant permission. It went down to the Chairs vote and was denied.
People who do not attend are only left with minutes and in this case those minutes are not helpful to those Councillors.
If Labour want to make inroads into gaining seats in marginal and other party safe seats it has to appear to and actually put those residents (voters) requirements at a higher priority. It is useful to and at least explain there rationale in those minutes also. I know 49 residents that are highly unlikely to vote Labour now irrespective of previous historical voting
I think it should be pointed out that the un-elected Queen never wanted that chalice and neither did her late Husband.
Yet both sacrificed their personal lives for this Country. In doing so they did not take a ten day holiday because someone died.
Does it look like our King is taking a holiday? Of course not and it was his mother.
Perry should be ashamed of himself. One day on Monday is reasonable and respectful.
He can do a better job of honoring our late Queen by getting his finger out and delivering what you are employed/elected to do in public service.
If you want a 2-week holiday take it as unpaid leave!
What monarch was ever elected?
United Arab Emirates, Cambodia, Malaysia -The Pope (albeit religious monarch) Samoa I think still has an elected Chieftain. More interestingly the appointed Bishop of Urgell is a co – prince of Andorra along with the elected president of France (Currently Emmanual Macron) and become Royalty on taking up elected office.
historically the provincial Kings of Eire elected one to be their Ard Ri or High King and this as practiced in many areas.
One can argue that The Commons and the civil war led to a check on Royal dictatorial power but the change to a Constitutional Monarchy and the Lords provides a check on rampant abuse of Elected Government powers and we consent to this continuance at each election by default.
Perhaps not the intentions at the time but that to a large extent has been the resulting outcome. But I am sure there are many history professors who can argue those points or clarify them.