Commentary – Angus Campbell still does not get it
The desperate efforts by council leader Angus Campbell to shut down the row over the conduct of the Returning Officer are now bordering on farce.
He has fobbed off a group of concerned councillor who want to call a special meeting to rescue the reputation of a council whose Chief Executive is also the highly-paid Returning Officer who thinks it is fine to sit in on meetings three weeks before a General Election where one candidate is allowed to making political speeches while no other candidates are invited.
Maybe the leadership of the comhairle realises they are facing the worst crisis since BCCI and are like rabbits in the headlights. Or Angus Campbell is playing a blinder and supporting his officer because he knows he is doomed and the final decision will be taken by others. Could be.
Angus Campbell knows full well that civil servants are also in the doo-doo because the invitations to last week’s so-called official meetings were handed over to the local SNP branch to organise which makes the costly trip to the islands by the minister and his entourage seem to be merely an SNP political campaign jamboree.
Twenty five years ago, I was reporting on several flailing extremely-political right-on councils in south London. When they were under pressure, the leaders of these council used to issue mad statements which regularly made the whole newsdesk team collapse in fits of giggles.
Today, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar beat them all. I asked the comhairle why Malcolm Burr was at North Uist Development Company with Derek Mackay MSP – and, of course, Angus Macneil. The response, which was cleared at the highest level in the council – i.e. with Angus Campbell – shows that he is actually not as clever as some people give him credit for. He has his head so deep in the sand that if he is not careful some angry councillor could come along and boot his bottom.
Three days after the first publication of allegations about the conduct of the Returning Officer, the comhairle’s response to me today was an absolutely classic piece of contrived disingenuity in the style of Vladimir Putin’s responses about Ukraine.
The comhairle said:
“Iain – The Chief Executive was at the meeting on the same basis as the other meetings ie he was invited by the Scottish Government to discuss ferries. It is unclear as to exactly what allegations are being made and on what grounds.”
Allegations about the Returning Officer? What allegations? I haven’t heard of any. Excuse me, Malcolm. Have you heard of any allegations about yourself? No, he hasn’t heard of any either. We are completely baffled by this – and we are unanimous in that.
There you have it. Angus Campbell does not get it. He does not know about any allegations made by the deputy leader of Scottish Labour, Councillor Norman Macleod, Alasdair Morrison et al. The fuss has all bypassed him completely. He knows naaathiing.
Meanwhile, at least five councillors that I know about are not giving up just because of Campbell’s stonewalling. They are determined to get this matter thrashed out with the aim of clearing the Chief Executive of any suspicion. How sad that the right move to establishing the truth will now plainly have to be done despite the usually-adept council leader – and plainly not because of him.
Is that statement for real? or are you winding us up Iain X?
Absolutely true, John.
very few voted for me ,but l still crawled over the line.Many felt with such a low measure of confidence,l would only be given a minor role ass befitting my share of the vote.The few that did vote for me imagined l would express their views and concerns–ie representation.Oh yes,l am very strong on representation,my own views and aspiratations naturally.
The above is never said in public,but the actions do all the talking necessary
This is beyond belief. All Mr. Campbell has to do is listen to Kezia Dugdale, a senior Scottish politician, and Deputy Leader of her party, lay the charges against Mr. Burr succinctly on the line in your earlier posting.
This is disgraceful behaviour from the Leader of the council, and the compromised Returning Officer, caught red handed indulging a candidate at the forthcoming election in a campaigning stunt.
I fear for democracy in the “New Scotland” about to overwhelm us, if the polls are to be believed if the Returning Officer in the Western Isles, a lawyer to trade, fails to acknowledge that he has made a grave error of judgement.
The only way out of this crises is for Burr to stand aside, if he has a decent democratic bone in his body, and submit himself to an independent enquiry.
otherwise the stench of corruption will cling to him and the poor benighted creature who is the Leader of the council.
Is there anyone in there with a spine who can sort this out, and quickly?
Kezia Dugdale, even her own father has to reprimand her after some of her idiotic comments.
Surely if Burr and Campbell refuse to come clean following written requests, then the complaint should be taken to the next level which is the Public services ombudsman or the ethical standards one? It is very important to the public that the returning officer can be seen to be trusted and impartial when overseeing any election. This is not just for a UK wide vote but also local ballots that he is called to preside over. The council can’t be trusted to investigate themselves so let’s get this matter out in the open. Perhaps some dates, times, location and bodies involved, what the purpose of the meeting was and what it actually ended up as, can be published so that anyone can complain to the ombudsman. It might be interesting to know why Burr and Campbell have suddenly become interested in ferries, when prior to this publicly funded outing, they have kept mum about the linkspan debacle.
The CEO and Leader will likely have taken the view that ‘staying close to Edinburgh’ advantages the Western Isles in terms of money and power. (At least that is probably what they’ll tell themselves in the wee small hours – during the day, they’ll be waving ther hands dismissively, rolling their eyes and saying ‘Storm in a teacup – ignore them.’ )
The fuel baron is now cracking under the pressure big style. That insane response is exactly the type of gobbledegook we got back in BCCI times.
I would hate to be in the White House right now- there will be an inordinate level of bullying and intimidation going on, not just amongst senior staff jostling for position and looking for someone else to blame, but also amongst councillors, facing the wrath of the unholy triumvirate of Leader, Convenor, and Chief Executive.
My advice to all staff is to keep your head down, the maelstrom engulfing the White House has not reached full force yet……..
This is incredible, surely the best thing is to face up to what has happened -and do so in an open and honest way. Clear the decks and get on with life. Why do some public bodies not appreciate that denial never works it only feeds the conspirators and leads people to believe that there actually was something amiss.
CEOs are actually paid extra for being Returning Officers aren’t they? Quite a substantial amount if I recall.
I believe its a ” very ” substantial sum ….. did I hear the figure of 15K brandished about …surely not eh !!
Oh well, I suppose he can start going round the doors with the yellow leaflets when he is sacked, like the motley crew going round just now with the MSP with the unfeasible cirean and dyed hair.
I will miss the sight of his missus in her yellow frock and SNP regalia at the counts from now on like a latter day ghostly Winifred Ewing cheering on the SNP!
Even I know this is a disgrace and it must not be swept under the carpet like so much else in there.
It is not as if he actually did the work I am told- he had his little people doing that although he was paid for it.
I am definitely not going to vote for a party that cheats like this thinking we are all fools.
“I am offeecially on my holidays, and I still is”
Are correspondents to this post seriously suggesting the vote won’t be counted fairly because of this meeting? If so let’s invite some international UN observers!
I don’t think anyone has suggested that the vote count will be rigged, what has been forcefully pointed out by most correspondents is that the Returning Officer has acted inappropriately and by his actions has compromised his impartiality.
And as returning officer, how can his alleged impartially have any impact? He is encouraging people to vote SNP? He is discouraging people from voting? What is the point? Bad judgment from a civil servant? What’s new. SNP doesn’t control the council to oust him; independents and crypto Labour presumedly do. Is this the goal?