Tuesday, April 01, 2008

EMBARRASSING, UNDIGNIFIED COUNCIL SCRAP OVER WAR HERO.

March 27 Th. 08 full council going through business quitely when suddenly, a huge row breaks out over an item which should have been non contentious.

On Sept. 2Nd. 19 18 Hugh McIvor died in France at the age of 28, a casualty of the 'war to end wars' - if only.
He came from Linwood and he was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in action, a hero in other words.

Renfrewshire decided to mark the 90Th. anniversary of this man's death by attending the memorial service in France and this is where this business started to go wrong, for reasons best known to themselves it was decided that Renfrewshire would be represented by the Chief Executive, The Provost and the Council Leader.

A suggestion to include the opposition leader was turned down and argument followed, my own opinion with no disrespect to anyone is that 3 representatives was 2 too many, the Provost alone would have been appropriate.

It then descended into the mire when Cllr. Hall (Labour) expressed concern and informed the meeting that relatives of Hugh McIvor would be attending, Cllr. Hall said that she was worried that this could be construed as a 'junket' by some people when they observed that 2 Councillors and a council official would be going all expenses paid while the V.C. holder's family would be obliged to pay their own way.

This led to outrageous accusations from the SNP who immediately started to accuse Cllr. Hall of calling it a 'junket' which she did not do, the most vociferous of the accusers predictably was Cllr. McFee (SNP) a man with a reputation of never being able to see a belt without trying to hit below it, his opportunism was a sickening sight, some present were reminded of how he turned a valedictory speech for the late Brian Oldrey into an attack on the Labour Party, which, left some of his SNP colleagues at the time staring at the floor in embarrassment.

The dust has settled and I can only hope that the family concerned are not hurt by this row, hopefully they will remain unaware of it.
I hope that their trip to France brings great comfort to them and I hope that Renfrewshire Council learn from this.

The solution ? easy, Provost Lawson and 2 family members should have made up the visiting party, Cllrs. and officials should have been kept to a minimum, I sincerely hope that lessons have been learned by everyone through this fiasco.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

""The dust has settled and I can only hope that the family concerned are not hurt by this row, hopefully they will remain unaware of it.""

So why not remove this whole entry from yer blog ?????

Anonymous said...

Pity some Labour councillors did not exactly flock to his recent VC ceremony in Paisley Abbey but seem pretty keen to get on a plane to Europe !

Macnasty said...

What a good post from a man who is usually as sensitive as the Grampians.

I particularly like your pop at Cllr McPhee for hitting below the belt.

It would maybe have carried more weight had you not taken the McPhee tack with me on your 'Tommy' post. (27th March @ 7.08)

But nevertheless, well said, you old softie

Anonymous said...

Well said.

I am going to agree with you here. The figure head of the authority should go, the CE is a bureaucrat and has no place, the leader of the council is just a politician and so would the leader of the opposition. Even then having the head of SNP and Labour would then probably lead to calls for a senior Lib Dem and Langlands for the Tories to attend as well.

I am off to open my really good reference book with every VC gazette in it to remind myself of what he had done.

Anonymous said...

You think 3 pople is too many , why then did the labour ammendment ask for all 4 political parties to be represented??? The family have already made their own travel arrangements as they are travelling from elsewhere as they don't live in Renfrewshire. As for hoping the family don't find out about the row, why post about it in the first place!!!!!!

The Incorrigible Plagiarist said...


This led to outrageous accusations from the SNP who immediately started to accuse Cllr. Hall of calling it a 'junket' which she did not do


Why didn't she call it a junket?
It sounds like a junket.


The dust has settled and I can only hope that the family concerned are not hurt by this row, hopefully they will remain unaware of it.


How were you hoping to protect them from that?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 01/04/08

That’s a valid question I thought about not writing it at all but it turned into such a mess that I couldn’t ignore it.

We have to learn from it. I doubt if they read my blog, it tends to be people like you who read it.

No-one escapes blame here BTW.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 01/04/08

That’s a lie, Labour Cllrs. Were present at the Abbey. That’s why they were able to tell us about the deplorable lack of respect and disdain shown by some SNP representatives who talked and laughed throughout the ceremony.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Macnasty) 01/04/08

What can I say ? I keep forgetting how sensitive you are.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 01/04/08

The labour Party would have been OK with the provost alone who represents the council, the decision to include the Council leader and the C.E. just looked terrible and selfish.

I did consider not writing this but I thought it better to clear the air, it was a mess and lessons need to be learned.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(The Incorrigible Plagiarist) 01/04/08

“It sounds like a junket”

if I believed that I would have jumped all over them.

It was a poor decision by an inexperienced administration, leading to an unseemly row, perhaps they will be a bit more sensitive in future.

I took the decision to write this with some concern but I think it had to be said, I doubt if they read my blog, It’s mainly people like you (God help us) who do that.

Anonymous said...

Terry:

Perhaps Renfrewshire could be the start of a new movement; end all junkets in local and central government. That would be nice, and the money could be used to help those who need it most.

Anonymous said...

Why did the labour ammendment not say just the Provost then???? Labour asked for 4 representatives did they not????

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Rumbold) 15:25

What has happened to you ? You are sending me dire stuff.

I would agree about stopping ‘junkets’ but that wouldn’t stop me from going away on council business because I don’t go on ’Junkets’ geddit ?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 16:47

Labour did say that we would go along with the Provost only I.e. if the administration had agreed to that we would have removed the amendment. The administration were made to look awful by insisting on two SNP and an officer.

I did say that no-one came out of this blameless but the administration could have avoided this with a bit more thought / experience. Did no one among them see the potential for trouble here.

Anonymous said...

You gotta laugh.

clearly Labour have now decided they cant get at the SNP so they now into attacking the officers. The Chief Executive in this case.

I also heard at the same meeting the less intelligent half of the chuckle brothers (Mullin) said the officers were involved in 'dodgy dealings' Yeah that will get the officers motivated.

Go on Terry historical rewrite required here as well.

Anonymous said...

I know loads of people with fathers and grandfathers who died in WW1, and not a single one of them could care less, let alone get aupset, by anything said about them today.

But you keep digging son.

Anonymous said...

Terry,

I have to concur that sending 3 representatives was not clever.

Either the leader of the administration or the Provost should have attended only.

For Labour to request that this be increased to 4 representatives is stupidity upon stupidity.

Like others, I must question your motives for publishing this at all.

It would appear to be a cheap jibe at your opposition as opposed to a comment of sincerity.

For the record, I am a member of the Conservative Party and I have no wish to enter into the infantile type of exchanges that I have seen recently between your party and the current SNP/Lib Dem administration.

I did feel that I had to comment on this as I don't believe that any of your sentiments or intentions are really in the interests of the family, otherwise you would not have used this as a cheap pop at your opponents.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 02/04/08

How easy it is for anonymous cowards like you to make these accusations, no rewrite is required, you’re a liar.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(George Mc......?) 02/04/08

You must know lots of people, I only know 2 or 3 either that or you are a liar.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Richard) 13:48
I wrote it because of the behaviour of the SNP which was atrocious but, having read this I will bow to your superior knowledge of how to have “a cheap shot at your opponents”

Anonymous said...

Blogger Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(George Mc......?) 02/04/08

You must know lots of people, I only know 2 or 3 either that or you are a liar.


Then you should get out more, or were your forebears and friends all conscies then too?

Scum.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 03/04/08

Clearly you are a liar. That’s what’s causing the inarticulate rage.

Anonymous said...

Blogger Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 03/04/08

Clearly you are a liar. That’s what’s causing the inarticulate rage.


No rage at all, and certainly not the disgraceful and disgusting faux outrage you show. You are using a mans death in WW1, and the feelings of that mans family, allegedly, to try and build a case against a political opponent.

Now that is about as low as it is possible to get.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 04/04/08

You are now doing exactly what you are accusing me of doing.

Some of the SNP Cllrs. behaved in a disgraceful way over this and can’t be allowed to get away with it.

Anonymous said...

Truth to power. Yeah!

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Batta) 14/04/08

Sound good.