Labour corruption in Radstock

Are you sitting comfortably ?

This is a little tale about that fragrant Labour couple, Peter & Anne-Marie Jovic-Sas.  Known locally as the Millwall Twins (“we know we’re crap, we know you hate us, we don’t care”) these two have been making themselves loathed around the Somer Valley for a couple of decades. Banned from Radstock Co-Operative shops, getting their garage fire-bombed,  not allowed to drink in the Miner’s Welfare, Peter is so well loved that the only ‘local’ job he could get was in London with the NHS. Not one of your silly doctors or nurses though, our Peter is ‘Head of Communications’!  Proper job !

Anyway, back to the story. Back in 2011 P & A-M decided they would show Ronnie the Rhino what being thick-skinned really looks like & both stood for election for Bath & North East Somerset Council.  And Midsomer Norton Town Council.  And Westfield Parish Council.  Oh, & Radstock Town Council. Not sure when they would have fitted all this democracy in, but I guess the expenses were good. Unsurprisingly they got roundly stuffed in all these elections, except in poor sad Radstock where no-one stood against them, so they got in unopposed.

So now our Millwall Twins were now duly elected representatives (according to them anyway) & they burrowed away in RTC, & got themselves put in charge of recruitment & staffing. Their cunning plan then was a bit of nepotism. They convinced the council that it was so important it needed a deputy town clerk. (Probably something to do with the town clerk being off sick for 6 months, but that’s another story for another day.) No other local council needed a deputy dawg, but RTC was so important that it must have one, so Mr Andy Saxton was appointed.

 Now Andy had never worked for a town council, in fact he’d never worked in an office, but he had one very important qualification. He was a member of Radstock Labour Party (Chair & Secretary: The Millwall Twins) so that was good enough. Andy started at the coalface straight away, no silly CRB checks or references for him ! But after a few weeks even he realised that he hadn’t the faintest idea what he was doing, so he resigned. ‘Don’t be silly’ says Peter, ‘you don’t have to be good at anything to take the money, look at us’, so Andy went back to work.

However it only took him a few more weeks to get into trouble. The council asked him to put a flag up for gay & lesbian week. Our Andy wasn’t having this, no support for poofters in Radstock from him, so he said no. At this point the acting town clerk (another story….) said you’re on a disciplinary, you’ve also failed your probation period because you’re crap, so time to go. So our Andy left for a second time.

Enter the Millwall Twins, not happy her little plan was being sabotaged. The acting town clerk was gone by the end of the week & Andy was told to put in an appeal, & to join a Union. For some reason not a clerical union, but the GMB (General Municipal Boilermakers) who I guess will be adding ‘& Town Clerks’  to their title any time soon.

The union rep then put in an appeal …. as the sacking hadn’t been done properly ?? & said they would go to industrial tribunal. Now for the rest of us poor mortals we have to work at a place for 2 years before qualifying for employment protection & a tribunal, but not our Andy. P.J-S says ’OK, fair cop, will £5 grand be enough of a payoff’ to which Andy says ‘that will do nicely’.

I suppose we can say that this is an advantage of being in a union,  but you have to have a special kind of union rep for a special deal like this. The GMB rep is Rowena Hayward, who (surprise, surprise) is a member of the Labour Party. In fact she is a very important member , she is a member of the south west council of the Labour Party. Along with A-M.J-S !  Small world eh.

So in these austerity times, when money is short, get yourself down to Radsock Labour Party, they’ll be there to help. As long as you are a member.  & as long as you sort out the right backhander.