It’s been revealed that Michael Jebson, Conservative councillor for Anchorsholme, has received £7234 of taxpayers money despite only attending two meetings since last September and having never been to a full council meeting.
To be honest Jebson has left himself in a bit of a shit position here. He holds his hands up and admits that he never goes to meetings but then starts waffling about how hard it is being self employed and bringing up kids, etcetera. All true, but why become a councillor if you can’t fulfil the role?
Unsurprisingly, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are shouting from the rooftops that this man must be removed. If it were just as easy to shout out Gordon Marsden for never being in the town and showing zero commitment then I’m sure we would have done that long ago.
Instead of this lynch mob mentality, though, would it not be a better idea to either apply a minimum meetings requirement for all councillors, pay per meeting or if Jebson has no intention of ever going to a meeting then would it not make sense for him to receive no money at all provided it can be shown that he’s representing his ward in other ways?
On the other hand, Jebson admits that he is never in the town, takes no part in day to day council activities and isn’t party to any committees. Sounds just like Gordon Marsden. What exactly is Michael Jebson doing?
Blackpool bouncer-in-chief Peter Callow has thrown his support behind Jebson, stating that because Jebson does a “vital” job, that means it’s fine for him to claim £7234 in expenses for essentially doing nothing. He says he’s doing the best he can. That just does not wash with me. He’s doing the best he can to fuel his space rocket and surely it follows that if Jebson can justifiably claim £7234 in allowances then other councillors that actually do take part in local discussions and actively participate in local issues must be able to recoup far more.
But what if Jebson actually is value for money and does personally represent his ward like Peter Callow suggests? Well, if this is the case then it lines up just about every other councillor as being utterly useless and more interested in themselves than anything else…
UPDATE: Michael Jebson has announced he will not stand at the next local election and from this point on will claim no expenses, or as Peter Callow puts it, he will “work for free”. Work? Is that what being a councillor is? It’s a responsibility, not a fucking job.
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Excellent article Phil. I was actually going to say Marsden is no different spends no time here and shows no committment to Blackpool yet claims colossal amounts of expenses way more than Cllr Jebson. If Marsden was a proper local MP he would be holding surgeries at least 3 ot 4 times a month especially in his 82 day recess, Marsden can barely manage 1 a month. He would actually campaign on local issues that mean something not opportunistic political pointscoring like St Georges Baths and his faux pas Save the Moss campaign. He would actually spend time in Blackpool (NOT Brighton) when he isn’t in Parliament and work for the people that pay his massive salary. But he doesn’t. Cllr Jebson is in the wrong but Marsden is much worse. MARSDEN OUT 2010, LABOUR OUT 2010
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Yes excellent post Phil, in addition remove Callow, his stance on the issue is perverse and hes done fuck all for Blackpool,again he puts party politics before public interest.Get all these wankers out!
Callow
Marsden
Jebson
Cavill
Weaver
Garrett
Humble
Mitchell
and any other labour councillor!
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Exactly right, what Callow has done beggars belief. He’s basically said that as long as a councillor attends 2 meetings then they can pocket the £7234 and totally deserve it in his opinion, especially if they have a public sector job or public sector contract that means they are unable to fulfil any councillor duties.
To be honest I don’t believe there should be any financial incentive to becoming a councillor. Sure, pay all expenses, but I think people should want to do this because they seek the betterment of their town.
Career councillors like the Callows make a mockery of the whole system, particularly when they jump to back a councillor who is documented to be doing absolutely nothing and getting over 7 grand for it.
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It is out of order but I think MPs are taking the piss on a much greater scale. Marsden is a proper career politician. He gets a massive £64k to start with, then he can pay for everything from food bils to staff on his expenses. He claims a massive amount to rent a flat in Blackpool he virtually never even resides in. So we are paying for him to have property just so he can claim he lives in Blackpool. Despite all that MPs have the gall to claim they are hard done to. My heart bleeds for them having to suffer on 3 times a nurse’s salary for working little hours and getting very long holidays, not. I get a third of their salary for working more hours than they do and NO expenses or perks.
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Yeah, there’s very little we can do about Marsden though. Councillors are far easier to remove…
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Unfortunately yes, I just wish there was an easier way to remove useless self-serving MPs. I just hope the rest of Blackpool South has the sense to vote against him, another 4-5 years of Marsden the toff doesn’t bare thinking about.
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Fallow rarely- if ever – puts party politics before public interest. The man isn’t even a Conservative. He’s a self-interested shyster who will skewer and smear his colleagues to save his own bacon – Shelagh Parkinson would be in a position to confirm that, given that it was Callow who spun the Jean Kenrick story for his benefit.
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don’t be forgetting the fowlers! they went to the conservative conference in birmingham last year and blackpool taxpayers picked up the bill!!!!! first class as well if you don’t mind!!!!!
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Agreed completely John, excellent post. I still cannot believe Peter Callow refused Steve Weaver’s resignation (so the rumour goes). Weaver does nothing for Blackpool yet we pay him a salary worth 5 or 6 NHS nurses, it is a disgrace. Cavill is just a pessimist who has no faith in Blackpool’s future yet he is paid an equally overinflated salary in a ‘regeneration’ post. And Marsden and Humble are about the most useless, self-centred, selfish, lazy and worthless MPs Blackpool has ever had. I will be glad to see the back of them. MARSDEN OUT 2010 LABOUR OUT 2010
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As well as this story, its interesting to take a look at the biased anti-Tory reporting from the Gasjet.
If you’ve noticed, there are never any stories about Labour sleaze or self interest, yet they’ll give Simon Blackburn a platform to spout a load of anti-Tory sewage, repeat the Kensington issue over and over (which I admit is warranted) and now this almost non-story about Jebson. Note also the sneaky article about Joan Humble backing something or other in the paper tonight as well.
There has been a total Ron Bell blackout and they always seek to make Peter Callow look like a buffoon both in text and pictures (although this could just as easily be Mr Callow’s own doing).
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Interesting you should mention this Phil. Look at the ridiculous amount of coverage they gave the St Georges Baths fiasco all because Marsden jumped on the bandwagon. Also I have had comments ‘removed by administrator’ because I dared to criticise Labour people namely Croysdill and Marsden. There is something fishy going on.
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Absolutely, it’s totally wrong.
If they want to be a proper journalistic representation of local news, they need to craft their articles better, use less suggestive headlines and quit this mindless swing to bashing the Conservatives.
They should leave the bias and character assassinations to blogs like mine!
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Precisely, a local paper should present fair and objective local news not sensationalised scandals and bias towards the Labour Party.
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They should also employ someone with at least a little knowledge of English Grammar!
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i dont think there is a bell blackpout, i think bell has gone to ground until the kensington story dies down. as for jebson, i think everyone is forgetting the imortant people in all this, the residents of anchorsholme. if the conservatives are satisfied that their man is doing a good job then why not do the decent thing and call a by-election and let the people decide!
the truth is that the libdems took their eye off the ball and allowed the conservatives to get in. williams has tried to get by covering for jebson but it hasn’t washed with the residents. he doesn’t reply to phone calls or emails, he doesn’t attend any other ward meetings, doesn’t attend pact meetings, doesn’t attend area meetings, in short, in political terms he is useless to the residents of anchorsholme but fallow is relying on his vote to save his own skin. this is why jebson has been allowed to stay.
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“but fallow is relying on his vote to save his own skin. this is why jebson has been allowed to stay.”
what do you mean by that please?
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Fallow is the political equivalent of a cat with 9 lives… He’s hanging on to his position by the skin of his teeth and just keeps coming back from the political dead – he doesn’t command the support of all the Conservative councillors in the group and it only takes 50% +1 of them to install a new council leader and he is sailing very, very close to the wind. This is why he did his best to frustrate Jean Kenrick’s candidacy in the Stanley byelection and then had her smeared by Shelagh Parkinson. She would have been an extra vote against Callow. Peter Evans’ wife would have been a compliant councillor had she been the candidate and gone on to be elected. This was the only reason for Callow’s endeavouring for her to be the candidate – it had nothing to do with her being competent or committed.
Callow could have come to an arrangement with Jebson, offering him ‘protection’ in return for his unconditional support as council leader. This is what Concerned is referring to.
On another note, I don’t have a problem with councillors not turning up to meetings – I think this is the wrong approach to the issue. How many protracted meetings solve problems? I’m sure there are councillors who feel that they could be doing better things.
In many ways, I would prefer that my councillors spent less time ‘meeting’ and playing chum with the officers and more of that time on issues and delivering results.
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A good point TB, why have the gazette refused to cover the story about simone blackburn that was given to them on a plate! allegedly him and his brunswick labour cronies are using the council community centre at walter robinson court as their private fundraising club!! its hard to defend the paper against bias when that stuff happens! sheila parkinson was given the proof but still no story!!!!
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Precisely there is definitely a hint of Labour bias in the Gazette. Whenever Marsden jumps on some kind of bandwagon on a non-story like St Georges Baths it is splashed over the frontpage. Rumour has it most of those ‘furious demonstrators’ were either Labour councillors or members of the Marsden fan club. The Gazette even said ‘the “demonstrators” were ‘cheered’ by passing schoolchildren. Do they honestly think the schoolkids were supporting the ’cause’ more like they were taking the piss I reckon. Also the letters section shows a Labour bias with many many letters from Croysdill and Grunshaw. Clive Grunshaw once wrote a letter in praising his treatment on the NHS at BVH, working at BVH I was actually pleased to read his comments, but then it declined into blatant political pointscoring because in the next paragraph he harped on about how we only have such a great NHS because of Labour, they just never know when to stop do they.
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Thanks for the explanation, much obliged, and I take your point about the meetings, but if they dont go to them, then they should not get 7k in expenses either; thats the issue here, no meetings = no expenses and pro rata etc a few meetings, some expenses but NOT 7k!
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What would you prefer, though? A councillor who spent their time in meetings, pushing pens and talking bollocks, or one who spent that time shifting dog shit, clearing out bins, dealing with dangerous pavements etc?
Turning up to meetings doesn’t automatically make a councillor ‘good’. Allowances shouldn’t be predicated on attendance at council meetings.
I think we need to take the rough with the smooth on this one – his removal from office at the next election should be the best ‘deterrent’ for abusing remunerations.
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Excellent point Big Blue Bear, attending meetings doesn’t prove anything about a councillor’s actual activity or committment. I don’t care if Marsden had a 100% attendance record in Parliament doesn’t make him a good MP, not by miles.
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I dont believe a councillor or anyone should get 7k of public money for attending 2 meetings, thats fuckin obscene.
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That obnoxious little tosspot ‘frustrated of blackpool’ resident Labour sympathiser is doing my head in accusing me of being ‘exempt’ from comment deletions. Come and join the party John Horrox and help me to shut him up once and for all.
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True Blackpudlian has been the target of a vicious and unwarranted deletion camapaign, come on Gazette, do the right thing and change the forum format; this is ludicrous!
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Now the same obnoxious little tosspot is going around claiming I have deleted his silly comments. I HAVE REMOVED NOTHING. If he keeps these crass remarks up I will be making an official complaint because I am sick to death of being blamed for something I didn’t do by someone who supports the party which is driving this country into the ground with their lies, spin, empty promises and wasteful spending.
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As a young voter who has lived in Blackpool all his life (except when I went to Uni) I can believe the utter corruption our Council has been part off in recent weeks.
First was the donations of £10,000 from the developers wanting to build on Marton Moss which was apparently ‘ring fenced’ for Tory candidate Cllr Ron Bell.
Then we here about this Councillor claiming £7,000 for attending two meetings and according to friends in his ward never responds to calls from his constituents when they need help.
And finally we hear of a Council probe into contacts with builders after a national scandal.
How do these people think my and future generations will see politics, never mind get involved.
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I feel your pain, I really do.
As a similarly young person (at least I like to think so) that has an interest in local and national politics, it sickens me to see both sets of elected members raiding the public money coffers and doing, frankly, very little else.
Wherever you look there’s a cash influence or a self interest. Politics should be about passion and energy for what you believe and not determination to fleece the taxpayer.
I bet it can be said that of all of the councillors that are self employed, all of them can say their business has improved as a result of them being on the council.
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Well said Balckpool lad, little wonder regeneartion is so slow in Blackpool,its time the whole lot were turfed out with ReBlackpool etc and a full blown election take place.
Bpool council is not fit for purpose.
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Exactly, O Redoubted Researcher
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What we need is a full publication of every Councillor’s second jobs to see if any more improper deals have been given to their businesses for self profit.
These Councillors talk about running a clean administration now is the time to prove it by opening not just the Council books but their own!
This would be a small step into regaining some of the public’s trust.
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Does anyone know the result of the vote on the Moss development?
someone on the gasjet said that jean kenrick voted for it!!!
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There was a motion last night at Council it says on the website:
MARTON MOSS. Councillor Blackburn to propose
Council is opposed to the inclusion of Marton Moss as part of the preferred spatial option of the Blackpool Core Strategy, as resolved by the Executive on 15th July 2009.
Council rejects any suggestions that the Council is being ‘forced’ to allow wholesale housing development on Marton Moss.
Council therefore requests the Executive to give further consideration to the matter and to take no further decisions on this subject pending a stand-alone comprehensive public consultation on the future of Marton Moss. To this end, the Executive is asked to prepare a comprehensive document on the future of Marton Moss, including open space requirements, recreation, horticulture and all other aspects, as well as housing, so as best to plan for an area which is regarded as precious by many Blackpool residents.
She voted against this motion
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Another perfect example why the people of Blackpool dont trust their Councillors.
It makes you so angry that people can give their word about such a strong issue then go back on their word once they’ve got what they wanted!
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Cheers, why did she vote against this, one may ask?
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Jean Kenrick is a lying, cheap, shitty,cheatin,shit house scrubber, and not worth the piss, she uses as perfume!
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WORK FOR FREE!!!!
You really couldn’t make this shit up!
At least he’s now agreed to take f*ck all for doing f*ck all!
Absolutely unreall all of it!!!!!
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Blackpool council is shite, nothing less!
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I see that wanker Renwick is at it again, this time with a mobile phone, any porn on its Simon?
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I have just been away from home for an hour and reposted my comment and its gone already the Labour anti-freedom of speech brigade are sitting there waiting to delete my comments. Come on Gazette find the little twat and ban them
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My money is on seaside sid,he deletes mine.
He thinks I used be “John Roberts”, whilst I have been ernst and herbert, I have never been John Roberts, whom I suspect is an ex lover of seaside sid and who jilted him before their civil partnership, lol.
The gasjets system is shite.
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I am more suspicious of some of these Labour sympathisers namely; Timmy Laycock, frustrated of blackpool, Sangrown’un and the mysteriously vanished ‘dustin’ who was a really obnoxious offensive little twat. Notice how any comments which slag Labour off get deleted and any anti-Tory or anti-Council comments remain. It is a Labour supporters consipracy I think.
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Yep – got back last night to see this councillor is going to work for free! What a brilliant idea. So is he giving the £7k back now? Uh – not as far as I can see. What a banker.
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Giving it back? Haha, this is a councillor we’re talking about.
He should have walked.
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To Blackpool Lad – Political Donations –
They have been around since politics was invented. Anyone who gives money to a political party gives it because they have a vested interest in getting something for it.
Maybe it’s a blatent interest and maybe it isn’t so obvious, but no matter what political colour all parties do it.
Even the sainted Labour Party, the Liberals and all the rest of the hotpotch that make up politics in modern Britain.
So can we all remember this and don’t assume that just the local Tory party do it please. After all, as the saying goes, there’s nothing new under the sun.
To John Horrox – it’s easy to call people disgusting names when you are hiding your identity. You might have been Ernst and Herbie Schooler, but you still writing obnoxious things no matter what name you use. If this blog was ‘moderated’ correctly you wouldn’t be allowed to use that sort of language. If you believe everything you read in the Gazette you’re more stupid than you make yourself sound. Jean Kenrick has said clearly from the start that she is against building on the Moss and repeated it clearly in the Council Chamber on Wednesday night. It was the way the motion was written by Simon Blackpburn that she voted against, not the principal of it.
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You are of course correct in the notion of influential donations.
It could be as simple as cash for planning permission or could go up as far as bunging money to the likes of disgraced Lord Taylor of Blackburn for law changes.
Every revelation about this has people’s blood boiling, but we’re helpless to do anything unless the media latches on and publicly assassinates the perpetrators.
I’ve no intention of moderating swearing, though. John is a law unto himself!
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personal political donations are one thing, I have no objection to that as long as it is registered if the amount goes over a certain limit. Political donations from business on the other hand are just bribes! They should all be banned. All of the political parties are guilty and it should be ended immediately.
Simon Blackburn did not draught his motion to make it more pallateble for Jean Kenrick, it isn’t the best worded motion I’ve ever seen but it certainly puts its cards on the table – its wanting a review of the whole Moss process. There is no reason why anyone opposed to build on the Moss should vote against this motion. From what I hear, Jean Kenrick is a talented and focused lady who has a real sense of what is right and what is wrong. She should get out of politics before she is completely ruined. Any councillor who votes the way they are told despite wanting to vote otherwise is not only letting down the people who voted for them but they are letting themselves down. They should take stock of why they entered public service in the first place and consider their positions – its not too late to grow a pair of balls!!!!
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Horatio H or Seaside sid: If you dont like my language, then:FUCK off.
Free Speech.
This is Phils blog, if he wants me not to be abusive, I will be.
Its his decision, not yours.
Just because you are fucking Jean Kenrick, you get all upset.
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Like I said, I’ve no intention of moderating swearing, but I might moderate unprovoked personal attacks on other commenters…
I’ve yet to moderate any post on here and I’d prefer it to stay that way, mainly because I can’t be arsed.
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Why are donations from businesses worse than from individuals? If Richard Branson gave money to a political party would that be more acceptable than giving the same money from one of the Virgin group companies?
Or Lord HawHaw donating rather than Kensington?
Same difference if you ask me and you can’t ban donations from rich individuals.
Better would be to limit the amount people could donate in any form (so companies and businesses couldn’t be used to get past individual’s limits). Then no-one would be able to have much influence – and the parties would need to be attractive to a lot more people rather than a bunch of corrupt cronies whose only loyalty is to themselves.
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I don’t think they are: behind every business decision to give a donation is an individual anyway.
I’d always question the motive though. If Mr Branson were to hand out large donations to a political party, you can be sure it is in order to give himself a platform to influence it.
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