RAVE ON

By ‘Eck! A man of principle on Doncaster council? Deputy mayor Aidan Rave, 13¾, resigned form last month because, he said, his values of “honesty, integrity and accountability” were “no longer compatible” with those of Mayor Martin Winter, the subject of not one but three police investigations (Eye1151).

Some mean sprits claim that Rave’s resignation, and that of fellow cabinet member John Mounsey, was motivated by a desire on the part of Winter’s hitherto loyal deputy to distance himself from his tainted boss before the May elections. A disgraceful slur.

After Rave’s stab in the back, four local Labour MP’s - Rosie Winterton. Caroline Flint, Jeff Ennis and Ed Milliband - rallied round. They issues a joint statement saluting Winter’s” important work” and achievements. But the kiss of death could be the intervention of Labour’s Yorkshire and Humberside regional director, Nan Sloane who said; “We are very sorry to of these resignations from the cabinet but pleased that seven other cabinet members have publicly supported the elected mayor.”

Sloane has a gift for backing the wrong horse, having endorsed every short-lived “new regime” throughout the Donnygate scandal. The high point came in1998, when she told a meeting of the Labour group, after another round of arrests has left them leaderless, that the next leadership had better consist of councillors Colin Wedd, Mick Farrington and Charles Harrison of the whole group would be expelled. All three subsequently had their collars felt. (Farrington and Harrison both pleaded guilty to charges of expenses fraud; the utterly Wedd was not prosecuted.)

Sure enough, the ink was scarcely dry on Sloane's endorsement of Winter when it emerged that the mayor had personally intervened in favour of a developer, Peter Thompson, whose application to build on a field that he claimed was “garden” had been rejected after vigorous local opposition. Winter demanded that the application be looked at again, and, according to emails between officers, personally “conforms the land’s use as a garden”. Labour councillors fell into line, the decision was reversed, Mr. Thompson stands to make a lot of money and Knacker has swung into action.

Inspector K is also taking an interest in other planning decisions taken under the Winter regime, particularly those that have advantaged developers Lloyd Nicholson and Mick Murray - whose properties throughout the town displayed prominent “Vote Winter” banners in both mayoral elections - and Doncaster Rovers’ chairman John Ryan whose interest in redeveloping Rovers’ Belle View stadium so happily coincided with Winter’s most recent election campaign (Eye 1151).

· One of the most unsavoury crooks on Doncaster council in the 1990 was Ray Stockhill, a former mayor and deputy council leader, who died last week. Stockhill l wasn’t just caught with his snout in the expenses trough. In a 2002 he received a two-year suspended sentence for taking bribes from developer Alan Hughes. He spent much of his gotten-gains on his mistress - a drug-addicted prostitute whom he helped jump the queue for a council flat. On hearing of his death, his former Labour colleagues announced that there would be a minute’s silence in his honour at this week’s council meeting. How touching.

Webmaster's Note - Only the Labour party members were present in the chamber for the minute's silence.

Private Eye No 1153 3rd March 2006