Well, we can’t accuse Tory Councillor Ian Lewis of “not being in step with the rest of the team” can we?  Not on this occasion.  When given the chance to clobber a cow’s arse with a banjo, i.e. to acknowledge that in 2012 the Labour party he opposes allowed two proven abusers of disabled people to dodge disciplinary action and walk into well paid jobs, one of which gave rise to a safeguarding emergency in Reading… what does he do?

He walks by on the other side.

Wirral Council Labour members will be hugely pleased and relieved to see Ian and his Tory followers crossing the divide, joining their ranks, standing strong, shoulder to shoulder, and holding the fort with them against a robust public challenge.

Here’s an email we sent to Councillor Lewis yesterday:
From: Paul Cardin 
Date: Sun, Jun 17, 2018 at 6:46 PM
Subject: Safeguarding emergency in Reading
To: ianlewis@wirral.gov.uk
Cc: lesleyrennie@wirral.gov.uk, paulhayes@wirral.gov.uk

Hi Ian,

Are you planning to speak up / issue a public statement / act in the public interest on this?

Some Wirral Council Tory members are culpable, 

Many thanks, 

Paul Cardin 

To which he responded today:

From: Lewis, Ian (Councillor) <ianlewis@wirral.gov.uk>
Date: Mon, Jun 18, 2018 at 2:31 PM
Subject: RE: Safeguarding emergency in Reading
To: Paul Cardin 

Hello Paul

I won’t be making any comments about situations that I am not fully aware of at Reading Council.

If you have any evidence that councillors in Wirral are ‘culpable’, you should contact the Monitoring Officer , Mr Philip McCourt.

Cllr. Ian Lewis

Having copied Ian into this earlier email, out of courtesy to him as Tory party leader, he’s already been informed.

Despite his denials, he’s now been primed with enough information to see clearly what occurred at Wirral Council in the lead up to the departure of the two abusers in January 2012, and is fully aware of what is unfolding now at Reading Council as a direct result.

He will therefore be in no position to continue pleading “ignorance” .

In fact, we know he tunes into this blog from time to time to tap into what’s going on in the real world, so the following details are just for you, Ian.

It’s all the links we’ve put up  over the last two weeks or so, where you will find a wealth of information about this particular Wirral Council failure, directly involving two of your colleagues – Tory Councillor Lesley Rennie and Tory Councillor Paul Hayes – and two of your ex-colleagues who’ve now lost their council seats, ex-Tory Councillor Sheila Clarke and ex-Tory Councillor Peter Kearney.

Also explored is the broader failure of the Information Commissioner and a First Tier Information Tribunal judge – Chris Hughes – both of whom failed spectacularly to spot a safeguarding disaster in the making.

Here you go Ian.  As you’ll be aware, we’ve  invested lots of time here over the last six years to make your job of representing the Wirral public so much easier.

The irony being: we expose unseemly, corrupt, immoral, sometimes criminal conduct for no monetary return, whereas you receive a regular cash allowance …for attending meetings, for hollow, party political posturing, and it seems for stubbornly sitting on your hands and applying a blindfold when cornered.

Still, we will continue to broadcast yours and others’ failures and to work from a desire to see Wirral become a better place to live and prosper.

Which, unlike you and your party, is a balanced, honest, truthful and dignified position.

Perhaps one day you can begin to earn that public money allowance by leaving the dark side, opposing Labour, rather than rushing to their aid, and assisting us and the broader public in our honest aims?

Any queries, give us a shout.

1 An emergency safeguarding message has been left with our representative on Wirral Council, Seacombe Councillor Adrian Jones – 4th June 2018

2 The causal link between a Wirral Council failure and a safeguarding emergency – 5th June 2018

3 Safeguarding Emergency. An updating email to Councillor Jo Lovelock, Leader of Reading Council – 13th June 2018

4 Reading Council latest. We hate saying “We told you so…” but… – 14th June 2018

5 It looks like holding Wirral and Reading Councils to account is not going to be easy

6 Reading Council latest. The emergency safeguarding situation. Here’s some “Private Eye” cuttings.

7 Thousands endangered in Reading. Here’s the FOI request spelling it all out. Yet still… Wirral Council FAILED

Update on 23rd January 2021

From 8 years ago today…in the Wirral News.