A trio of stories:
Andy Coulson, the Conservative Party communications chief, “presided over a culture of bullying when he was News of the World editor, an employment tribunal has found today in upholding a claim of unfair dismissal against the paper … Driscoll was sacked in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave for stress-related depression, which the tribunal found had arisen directly as a result of bullying behaviour led by Coulson”. (The Guardian)
Nick Bourne and Alun Cairns, both Conservative Welsh Assembly members, have made donations to charity after coming under fire for claiming the costs of iPods on expenses. (BBC)
And finally, in Telford and the Wrekin (the council that didn’t like people without children walking in a local park), two Conservative councillors have quit their group. Liberal England has more.
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3 Comments
In fact Bourne and Cairns have repaid the money for the ipods to the Welsh Assembly in addition to making a donation to charity. This has not stopped the Western Mail calling for their resignation/Cameron to sack Bourne for possibly the third successive day. And will Nick Bourne now repay the cost of his trouser press and the £5,000 the taxpayer spent on doing up his bathroom?
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/welsh-politics/welsh-politics-news/2008/12/19/tories-to-pay-back-ipod-cash-91466-22510759/2/
A Conservative Councillor has also resigned the whip and signed up as a Liberal Democrat in Northants.
The Coulson story is an interesting one, because there is a fine line between bullying and driving your staff to extremes – which is pretty commonplace in journalism. Mind you, this particular story does sound fairly unpleasant.
http://www.lettersfromatory.com