'There will be no whitewash at the White House," said Tricky Dicky, before Watergate...will Bradley & Storey be in the dock at Liverpool Town Hall?

FIREMAN Bradley and the Storeyteller face a 'Watergate' style public trial by watchdogs.

That is the strong and mounting speculation as investigators from the Standards Board spend their second week in the city.

Last week they questioned Labour Leader Joe Anderson and former Events boss Lee Forde over allegations that Bradley and Storey conspired to get rid of the Harbarrowboy with secret meetings and threatening emails, etc.

Meanwhile Jase conducted a telephone interview with investigators from his home in Spain, where he was relaxing in his hammock in the hacienda counting his £250,000 council taxpayers pay-off and eating ice-creams.

This week the Standards Board, which is responsible for monitoring the ethical conduct of councillors, has been interviewing Bradley and Storeyteller for their side of the story.

It turns out that the pair of them have, totally predictably, been blaming everyone but themselves for their behaviour.

"No guv, it wan't me, guv" goes the Fireman's explanation, "it was all that Lee Forde fella and Finnegan's fault."

(Is Bradley this gifted with alliteration? eds)

Quite how anyone but Bradley could have sent emails, text messages and passed the Perroni at his house while plotting to 'do in' Jase is anyone's guess.

It has become increasingly clear however, that Bradley has no intention of falling on his sword (to quote an expression first coined by Sir Diddy, interestingly) and intends to brazen the whole thing out.

The Storyeteller dare not cough to anything, because they would lock him up and throw away the key after first disbarring him for life from public office for his second offence.

So it seems likely that the Standards Board will take such a grave view of Bradley and Storey's behaviour and their refusal to admit their guilt, that they will haul the pair of them in front of a special adjudication committee at the Town Hall.

Anderson, Forde and the Harbarrowboy would all be called to give evidence in public, while Bradley and Storey would presumably take the fifth or try to blame everyone else.

Of course neither of them would have any control over other relevant evidence and the extremely detailed testimony which would be aired in public against them.

We have already booked ringside seats for these Watergate hearings and are currently negotiating with the Harbarrowboy for the ice cream sales concession.

Souvenir 't' shirts, paper hats and lapel badges are already in production (at a very modest and reasonable price, off the back of a lorry, eds)

And we are cureently talking to YouTube about live 'streaming' of proceedings for the expected global TV audience (well more people than will be watching Macca at Anfield, anyway. eds)

Whatever, this extraordinary spectacle would certainly further drag Liverpool's name through the mud on top of all the other Lib Dem sleaze and incompetence and failure. Which wouldn't bother either Bradley or Storey of course.

Such is their brass neck.

HUNT ON FOR MATHEW STREET MOLE IN LIB DEMS

HUGE ructions within the Lib Dem group over who leaked Fireman Bradley's email.

Angry words around the Corridors of the Power(less) in the Municipal Buildings and in The Fireman's under-siege Leader's Office, which now apparently resembles Henshaw's bolt-hole before Sir Diddy was finally forced to walk the plank.

Bradley has been extremely active on the phone, calling up his 'colleagues', summoning others to meandering meetings and constantly pleading for party discipline (bit late in the day for that, eds)

But Wounded Badley still cannot put out the fire started by the Mathew Street fiasco.

Apparently The Fireman has ordered his own internal leak enquiry - threatening expulsion from the Lib Dem party, never mind the group, if the mole is ever unearthed.

(Shades of the ridiculous Tony Parrish probe, eds. Perhaps The Fireman can get the bald legal eagle, KenUnworthy to help him out?)

It is clear that Bradley's letter to Hilton, demanding the Harbarbarrowboy's resignation came from a mole inside the Lib Dem group.

They were the only ones who were sent a copy - in the post (silly boy. But it does show his weakness if he has to try and impress his own group with hysterical letters to the chief exec! eds)

Unfortunately we have only been able to narrow the likely leaker down to any one of about 24 Lib Dem's who had good reason to undermine the Fireman.

Apparently one enterprising Lib Dem has even opened a book on the identity of the leaker, with former Leader Mike Storey now 9-4 favourite.

But we can reveal that, in fact, there were two leakers who acted, apparently independently, within days of each other.

One copy of the email was delivered in a brown envelope to Labour Leader Joe Anderson's office in the Corridors of the Power(less).

The second was pushed, unaddressed, through Anderson's letter box at home!

Meanwhile Anderson is now understood to be in detailed negotiations with THREE separate Lib Dem councillors - including one Executive Member! - who want to cross the floor (or leave the sinking ship, eds).

Anderson's masterly leaking of Bradley's email to the Liverpool Echo also had its moments of quiet satisfaction.

After confronting Cover Up with Bradley's email, Anderson demanded an explanation from Hilton.

Word is that Cover Up was virtually speechless with shock and could only babble semi-incoherently as Anderson looked on in bafflement.

Anderson decided to put Hilton out of his misery and curtly dismissed the £225,000 a year chief executive. The lonely Hilton was left to trudge disconsolately back to Henshaw's old office "as white as the proverbial sheet", according to one observer.

One of the best conpiracy theories currently doing the rounds is that the leaker was not a Lib Dem at all, but in fact the smiling assassin, Hasitall, who saw his chance to get Bradley and Hilton out of the way, leaving him with a shoe-in for the job of chief exec.

It has a certain attractive authenticity, given Hasitall's record.

NEWS FROM INSIDE THE LIB DEM GROUP...

Dear Tony,

Just a note for you to use however you see fit.
At the Lib Dem Group meeting last week, which elected Warren Bradley unopposed, our erstwhile firefighter made a historic promise.
He told us: "If Joe Anderson ever becomes leader of the city council, I shall leave the city."
Some of us thought this was tempting fate a little.
One or two others apparently thought this was a good enough reason to cross the chamber and help Anderson next year.
Whatever, it illustrated just how out of his depth and lacking in judgement Bradley is.
The silly boy.
Some of us despair of him ever growing up and being anything other than teacher's pet to Storey....
I am sure you will have fun with this....

Eagle eye

WILL THE SECRET TAPES TOPPLE BRADLEY, STOREY AND CLARK?

ASTONISHING but persistent rumours are sweeping the city about secret tapes which reveal the inside story of the campaign against Henshaw's evil cabal.
The series of tapes are rumoured to heavily incriminate current council leader Warren Bradley, (below left, on the phone interestingly enough, ed) former leader Mike Storey (centre) and the city's first citizen in 2008, Councillor Paul Clark (right)
The gang of three are all said to feature in the secret tape recordings (wow, shades of Watergate, ed) of phone conversations they made between April 2005 and September last year. Then they suddenly stop, for some reason.


The city's chattering classes have been agog in recent weeks with feverish and growing speculation about what the tapes contain - and when, and if, they will ever be made public.
But according to one informed source, the tapes allegedly provide the inside story on council leader Warren Bradley's role against Henshaw's evil cabal.
It's claimed the tapes show how Bradley was secretly involved in bringing evidence against Sir Diddy's rottweiller, Dr David McElhinney, who is still on the council's payroll.
At one point Bradley is alleged to have been taped confirming that all of the allegations on Tony Parrish's legendary liverpool evil cabal blog were true.
He then goes on to say McElhinney "should be in Walton Jail" for the crimes he has committed and the theft of millions of pounds from council taxpayers. (good for him then, ed)
But unfortunately, any publication or broadcast of the tapes would inevitably mean a full-scale investigation by the Standards Board which governs the conduct of councillors in England and Wales.
They would also raise the question of Bradley's actions as leader of the council, his relationships with senior council staff and also bring into question his personal behaviour.
The tapes would also beg the question of why he has done nothing to remove McElhinney or his accomplice, the smiling assassin, Halsall from their lucrative sinecures with the city.
Insiders believe that the tapes are potentially so explosive and so damaging they would inevitably spell the end of Bradley's short tenure as Lib Dem leader.
They would also raise questions about why Bradley sacrificed the city's best interests for a quite life at the Municipal Buildings and condoned the loss of millions of pounds in public money.
(This at a time when the council is now planning massive cuts, ed)
Observers say if the tape rumours are true, Bradley would have to resign.
A similar resignation fate could also befall Storey, whose political career would be dealt a fatal blow by a second appearance before the Standards Board.
Rumour has it that on the secret tapes he tells the full story of his battles with Henshaw and his attempts to bring McElhinney and Halsall to justice (what's so wrong with that, then? ed)
Publication would again underline Storey's helplessness and weakness as a politician and his failure to force new chief executive Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton to take any action.
Storey is also said to be remarkably indiscreet about some of his senior council colleagues on the Executive Board and Hilton, as well as giving the shocking low-down on the appointment of Culture Company chief executive Jason The Harbarrowboy (bloody hell, I can't wait for this! ed)
The role of Councillor Clark, a barrister, and a close colleague of Bradley and Storey is just as interesting.
According to one astounding rumour, Clark, who is due to be Lord Mayor in 2008, could face action from the Law Society as a result of what the tapes reveal.
At one point Clark is also rumoured to have admitted, in a damning indictment of the Lib Dem regime at the Town Hall: "We couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery."
The tapes are said to be 'absolutely lethal and political dynamite'.


We await further developments with great interest....
(Can we quickly sort out how to broadcast audio on this blog? ed)

LIVERPOOL'S 800TH BIRTHDAY FIREWORKS - LET'S ALL GO OUT TO DINNER, SHALL WE?

LIVERPOOL'S firework display to celebrate the city's 800th birthday is set to be a damp squib.

Why, we can hear you speculating...?

1) Because firework displays are a tired old cliche, usually trotted out by lame brains with no better ideas?
or
2) Because, (typically, ed) 'Jase' and the Culture Company dickheads didn't consult anyone about their great display until after they had officially announced the plans?
or
3) Because the dolts at the Culture Company forgot that it doesn't get dark until quite late actually, in summer?
or
4) Because the city's little kids will all be safely tucked up in bed and fast asleep when this firework display finally starts? (shurely shome mistake here, ed)
or
5) Because it will be way past the bed time of the city's grannies?
or
6) Because even the city council have called for it to be scrapped?
or
7) Because the display won't be a patch on London's spectacular New Year's Eve celebrations which lit up the Thames?
or
8) Because (typically, ed) the Culture Company have hyped it all up to be the 'biggest in Europe' when it will be lucky to be the biggest in the North West?
or
9) Because having a fireworks display on August 28th is generally a pretty unimpressive way in which to celebrate the historical significance of Liverpool's 8ooth birthday, fails to take account of the practical difficulties, demonstrates a spectacular lack of originality and dearth of ideas but which the Echo will nevertheless, no doubt hail as a major triumph for Liverpool's world renowned cultural offer. (knoworrameanlike, ed)
No, the firework display will be a damp squib for none of these reasons, especially.
(Although all of them are individually and collectively true, obviously, ed)
The main reason that the firework display will be a damp squib will be because the mastermind behind this incredibly unoriginal idea will not even be in Liverpool to witness his handiwork backfire!
That's right.
Colleagues say that former council leader Mike Storey will be away at his usual six-week-long family holiday in France.
(Are you sure he is not going away because he is frightened of all the noise that those bangers will make? He has never been renowned before for his personal courage, has he? ed)
Storey's absence makes his defence of his own idea for the summer fireworks all the more bizarre, some would say hypocritical.
Here it is, from the Echo:

Cllr Mike Storey, who is overseeing the city’s birthday celebrations, is happy with the arrangements. (oh, that's all right then, ed)

He said: “In terms of the light, the event takes place two months after mid-summer so it should not be a problem. (we'll see, ed)

“Firework displays are always difficult in the winter, but in the warmer summer climate we will not need to worry about fireworks blowing over or the event being called off. (is that a promise then? ed)

“We are expecting a massive turnout (where? ed) and plan a wonderful night when people can go out for a meal and then take in the display later in the evening. (you what??????????Are you paying then, Mike?????! And for those of us who can't afford to dine out on August 28th? I know, why don't we all pop around to yours for a barbie and you can treat us to some of those truffles, foie gras and that excellent cabernet you brought back from France last time? Oh, I forgot, you won't be home in time, will you? ed)

“There is no better way to celebrate Liverpool’s birthday than a spectacular event for Liverpudlians, visitors and a huge television audience.” (yes there is - you just couldn't be arsed to come up with something suitable and because the talentless mob you have put in charge of Culture haven't got any original ideas. And just how huge will this vast television late-night audience be then? Just those anoraks like me who watch the late night North West headlines on the Beeb? ed)

We shall leave the final word to Councillor Tina Gould, who, surprisingly, spoke sound common sense when her committee called for the whole idea to be scrapped.

“We felt fireworks have been done to death and something with a lasting legacy could be arranged with the same money. It is billed as being the biggest display in Europe, but having seen the New Year event in London, I do not think it will be."