DEVIL's PEEL MACHINE will walk ove Merseyside, any time, any where.
In 2008, Mike Butterworth, (wouldn't melt in his mouth), claimed he was the Devil, a joke of course!
In 2011 the Salford Star printed the following.
PEEL HOLDINGS SALFORD ELECTION
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issue 7
Dance With The Devil!
We exclusively reveal how mega-bucks company Peel Holdings is trying to influence this year's local election... |
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"I'd like to explain our position" says Mike Butterworth, Peel Holdings' Property Director "and then you can consider to what extent you are prepared to dance with the devil."
Peel Holdings is certainly one beast of a company. With an estimated £6billion worth of assets, it's got massive interests in Salford and beyond, which include owning the Trafford Centre, Media City, Barton Airport, the Ship Canal, a slice of Salford Reds new stadium complex and huge chunks of Salford's green belt which are about to be developed into a racecourse/hotel complex and a freight terminal.
Peel is going to extraordinary lengths to protect those interests in the run up to the forthcoming local elections, trying to influence local media coverage and, in Butterworth's words, "picking a fight" with elected councillors to stop a policy which might affect its obscene profits.
The policy is congestion charging - which aims to make motorists pay for having their cars on the road at certain times of day, matched with major improvements to public transport - but the principles go much deeper than that.
Whether anyone's for or against the congestion charge isn't at stake here. This is about a huge company using its power and money to put its vested interests at the forefront of a local election, rather than issues that might be more directly important to the community, such as housing, education or…let's think… the protection of Salford's precious green belt.
Mike Butterworth, and his sidekick, Gordon McKinnon, Peel's Director of Operations, have been holding meetings with local political parties that are standing candidates in opposition to the Labour Party, offering to help unseat councillors who are in favour of the congestion charge.
"The forthcoming elections are a big opportunity" Butterworth said at one recent meeting "What can we do to help you guys?"
Butterworth explained just why Peel is so against congestion charging, which boiled down to protecting its real estate interests at Media City…"we don't want to see anything done that will slow it down, hamper it or make it less attractive"…and the possibility of companies around the Trafford Centre having to increase wages to their workers…"I can't say that a lot of them are particularly well paid and people won't be able to afford this charge, so it will affect our ability to draw people in to working here…"
Butterworth put to the meeting a number of ways in which the parties could "dance with the devil". First he mentioned `colluding' with a local newspaper to do a survey asking councillors who are due for election if they were in favour of the charge or not…then he offered the services of political lobbyists and a PR firm to do the survey. Finally he specifically targeted Roger Jones, the Labour councillor for Irlam and chairman of the GMPTE, which is attempting to bring in the charge.
"There is another way of partly skinning the same cat in that Roger Jones is up for re-election - he's bricking it over it, he's rattled" Butterworth said "He has a majority of 200 or something like that, it's nothing. It's almost inconceivable that with a bit of the right kind of publicity he can't be turfed out*…"
Butterworth then revealed details of a telephone survey of 300 people, paid for by Peel and done through market research firm, Aspect, which showed 60% of people who voted for Jones at the last election won't vote for him again if he introduces the congestion charge.
"He knows we've done the survey and is very upset about it, and I've had the chief exec of Salford Council asking what we're up to but at some point we're going to release this information" he added, asking "What's your relationship like with the Salford Advertiser?"
"My impression of the Salford Advertiser is that they didn't particularly carry any great weight of support for Roger Jones" he continued "But if at some point we worked it out between us and we release this information about the survey, and that was before or after - depending on the tactics - some sort of release by you guys saying `This is wrong, and Roger Jones is wrong'…You guys could have so much fun…"
Whether anything was actually put into practice will be seen in the run up to the local election in May. But this does reveal how big business tries to influence and sway the media and political agenda towards its own interests.
"I think it's an abuse of democracy" said Salford Council Leader, John Merry, when we revealed details of Peel's plan "From the point of view of trying to buy an election…the only way it would work is if you think that the people of Salford are going to vote on something solely on the basis of congestion charging…Now I happen to think the people of Salford are more intelligent than that…"
Meanwhile, Peel aren't the only ones trying to interfere with the media agenda. At a recent Salford Council offshoot meeting we understand that control of the Salford Advertiser was discussed…
"I think people - not me - were saying that the Advertiser is perceived by sections as being very negative and misleading in some coverage" explained John Merry "People were saying how we need to influence how the Advertiser was portraying Salford…"
Politics, with a capital `P', is a dirty business. Makes you want to have a bath at the thought of it…Meanwhile, Peel continue to be involved in `skinning cats' and `dancing with the devils'.
Being non political, the Salford Star neither endorses nor opposes any candidate at the local election in May. We do, however, urge everyone in Salford to vote on issues that matter the most.
Graphic by Jamie Reid |
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Not fickle, just democracy at work surely?
Salford Advertiser
Shocks in Salford as Jones is out
Pamela Welsh
May 02, 2008
ROGER Jones, champion of the controversial congestion charge, was one of three high profile casualties in the local elections in Salford.
Jones, the man behind the toll tax, came third in Irlam, behind Rick Houlton from the Community Action Party, who won the vote, and the Conservatives' Stephen Fitzsimmons.
Jones will now not only lose his seat on the council, but will also forfeit his position as chair of the GMPTA, the body pushing through plans for the Toll Tax.
Also defeated was the mayor of the city, Councillor Valerie Burgoyne. She lost her seat to Liberal Democrat Martin O'Neill, who will now join his father Joe on the council benches, representing Swinton South ward.
Alan Broughton lost his seat in Eccles to the Tory candidate Judith Tope. The Labour losses means the party now has 36 seats on the council, 13 for the Conservatives, and 10 for the Liberal Democrats, with one other.
Further coverage in next week's Advertiser ...
State of the parties:
Labour 36 (-6)
Conservative 13 (+3)
Lib Dem 10 (+2)
Others 1 (+1)
May 13, 2008
A letter from Roger Jones
I am writing to thank the people of Irlam & Cadishead for their support over the last 26 years. Naturally my family and friends are very upset by the election result, but politics is a rough business.
The way I look at it is that I have won eight elections and lost one and even Alex Ferguson would be happy with that record !!
I fully accept the verdict of local people and that it brings an end to my role as a local Councillor as well as Chairman of the Passenger Transport Authority. I have been to Manchester this weekend to clear my office and desk ready for the new Chairman to be elected in June.
Do I have any regrets ? – No. Any disappointments? – Yes. In accepting my defeat I did not want to be replaced by the community action party who bring politics to a new low. It is not just their lies, but they also bully and intimidate anyone who disagrees with them. I hope that local people will soon realise what these people are really like.
Roger Jones.
Salford Advertiser
Jones back in the driving seat May 13, 2010
http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/res/478.$plit/C...A33%3A06%3A608 Councillors Joe Kean and Roger Jones
Transport supremo Roger Jones has won back his council seat after a storming performance by Labour in the local elections.
The party held the city council and increased its majority in the council chamber.
The new make-up of the council is Lab 39 (+3), Con 13 (=), Lib Dem 5 (-2), other 3 (-1).
Click here for the results ward-by-ward, in full
Roger Jones regained his Irlam seat with more than 1,700 votes - a majority of just under 700. Mr Jones was ousted from the council and from his position as transport chief on the GMPTA after his shock defeat in 2008 - because of his support for the ill-fated congestion charge.
He said: “I am both delighted and proud to be representing the people of Irlam again.
“I can promise the people of Irlam,whether they voted for me or not, I will work tirelessly on their behalf.
“Congestion charging is no longer an issue, the referendum result made that quite clear.”
The Labour resurgence surprised opposition leaders, who had been predicting Labour would lose control for the first time since 1974.
But the breakthrough never came and Labour gained three seats. The Lib Dems lost two seats and the independents one.
The Liberal Democrats lost two hard-working councillors in Mary Ferrer and John Deas, who lost in Claremont and Weaste and Seedley.
Cllr Norman Owen, leader of the Lib Dem group, said: “The council has lost two hard-working councillors in Councillor Ferrer and Councillor Deas. They always did their utmost for the residents they represented and they will be missed.”
Independent candidate Joe O’Neill, who left the Liberal Democrats last year, was defeated by Labour in Swinton South. Council leader John Merry was re-elected with ease in Broughton.
:002:A bit of meat on your statistics, Grekko.
Chas:PDT11
3 Attachment(s)
PEEL Elephant ignored at LCC budget meeting!
http://connect.liverpool.public-i.tv...0&m=wm&l=en_GB
1 hr 20 mins of LCC budget, August 9, 2011. No mention of the Peel deal yet
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^^CLICK ABOVE^^
A nod's as good as a a wink
Chas
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