Public appointments - tory takeover?

Thought not though!

No probs Durhamjen I though you must have ! Yes I do live on the North East coast (I am a Geordie). Our council is Labour, always was, always will be. As I have said many times before a monkey could stand in this town as long as it were a Labour monkey!

I have informally challenged the chair of governors at the school only to be told that it is not written policy as that would not be legal however the first thing they do is to check any potential governors name against the members register. I did speak to someone at the Town Hall about this who told me it was probably common practice but could never be proven in a "Labour stronghold town" .

I take Toynbee seriously now she's supporting Labour again. Didn't at the last election when she told everyone to vote Libdem. We are all allowed to make mistakes, particularly those who vote Tory. I am hopeful that they will not do it again next year, if they value the NHS at all.

Sorry, Gillybob, mixed you up with someone else. You live in the north east on the coast. Still Labour councils, unless you live in Northumberland with no overall control, but split between labour and libdems.
I'd be very surprised if a school could insist that governors are members of any party. If that is true, and you have proof, you should report it to the local government ombudsman, who is probably a male member of the tory party.

The problem, Hon. Members, is quite simple - the widespread use of patronage. Successive governments have enormously extended the number of organisations whose senior managements are appointed directly by politicians, often with little accountability. Jobs for the boys, and sometimes even the girls. The practice must stop, before the country collapses into an even deeper morass of political chicanery from all sides.

No.

70% were Labour supporters during the Blair/Brown years so perhaps trying to redress the balance

Does anyone take Toynbee seriously?

Polly Toynbee's list reinforces my argument that all parties play this game .... most of the names are Labour supporters who took on their lucrative roles under the last government and now the tables are turned. Nothing new.

Polly Toynbee is keeping track. A growing list of female expertise being replaced

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/04/lisa-jardine-woman-tory-bonfire-quangos

....and besides, should a school be allowed to insist that that you must be a member of a particular political party (in this case the Labour Party) to be on the boards of governors?

Exactly when did I move to Hull Durhamjen?

durhamjen and Anniebach

Why would she be removed by the government?

Chairs of the Select Committees are elected by secret ballot aren't they?. If that is the case I am sure Labours Margaret Hodge is going to continue in her role.

Come on, Gillybob, you live in Hull. Anybody who isn't labour would not admit it to you, and would not stand for governor.

P.S. Still stick by my original thoughts that it was a 3 year contact so she has nothing to complain about .

To take this argument to "grass route" level my DGC's school will not and has never appointed a governor that is not a member of the Labour Party. IMHO this stinks to the heavens !

When she was appointed to this post three years ago it was early days for the con/lib government , now the Tories are coming into their own, if they had won the election I doubt she or other Labour Party members would have been considered

Jess

Genuine question.

Which quangos are systematically removing women from senior posts.?? Are there no male senior posts being removed. By removed do you mean sacked before their contract is completed or their contract is not renewed, or both.

The current government seem to be systematically removing all women from senior posts heading quangos etc. So perhaps it is a misogynist in disguise.

Tory Lords, 221.
Labour Lords,221
Liberal Lords, 90+

Why is it that Brown and Blair stuffed it to the gills?
They were just catching up, iy seems to me. Anyway, Brown and Blair are hardly Labour, they are New Labour, which means Tory to most Labour supporters.

Pogs, why did you put person in inverted commas?

Come on Pogs, you are being ridiculous.
The head of the CQC is now an ex-Tory MP who lost his seat in an election. He is now saying that unless the NHS gets privatised it is going to go bust. What a surprise.
About the only person of any importance who can hold the government to account is the chair of the public accounts committee. What's the betting she's the next one to go.

So let me get this straight.

A conservative Minister gives a 3 year contract to a Labour 'person' and he is now being accused of a 'Tory Takeover' because he does not extend her contact. .

If he was hell bent on stuffing his department with Tory's he would never have given her the job in the first place on that sort of rational thought, or irrational thought as I think the case may be.

Quite ridiculous, she should accept her contract is not being extended, as do many other's in her situation. It is perfectly normal for changes to be made, even in government you have reshuffles every now and then don't you.

On the basis of this story being so partisan it could be said let's get rid of all the Labour cronies in the Lords and Quangos Blair and Brown managed to stuff to the gills. That would just be whining for the sake of it.

What is Labour saying, there is no party permitted to run these departments, etc other than Labour?

OFSTED is not supposed to be an implementing body for the secretary of state is it. It is supposed to oversee schools that are publicly funded and assess their teaching and learning, as fairly as possible, according to an agreed standard methodology. If the sec of state aggressively promotes a new kind of school, as this one has, if there is not a relatively independent OFSTED that is allowed to get on with its work - i.e. one without any day to day interference in their judgements, then how is the public to know whether or not these new schools are

a/ better than other types of schools
b/ no better than the others
c/ worse than the others
d/ an utter disaster

This move makes Gove look worried - worried that the mad dash to free schools and greatly increased numbers of academies is not going to prove to have wrought the miracles he claimed they would.
If he was confident, surely he would have left the team to carry on without his interference.

Point taken absent! Just seems a bit odd to me to appoint people who may have diametrically opposed views to the ones you wish to implement.

Perhaps they have something else in min d for her

margaretm74 The recent stalemate, as also the ones before, happened because of elected, not appointed, representatives from different parties stubbornly refusing to compromise until the very last minute. Political appointees are quite different – usually vested interests such as oil company or mining executives in charge of the environment.