:o
QuoteMayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson arrested along with four others in police probe
City leader one of five men arrested as part of an investigation into building and development contracts in Liverpool
By Ben Turner-LEBreaking News Editor
Liam Thorp
16:47, 4 DEC 2020
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoaMl15XEAABeGQ?format=jpg&name=large)
The elected Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, has been arrested.
The city leader was arrested earlier today by Merseyside Police along with four other men in connection with offences of bribery and witness intimidation as part of an investigation into building and development contracts in Liverpool.
Detectives made arrests at addresses throughout the city as well as Ormskirk and Southport.
The arrests are part of "an ongoing investigation", police said today.
Confirming the details of the arrests police said the following five people had been arrested:
A 72-year-old man, from Aigburth, has been arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.
A 62-year-old man, from Old Swan has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.
A 33-year-old man, from West Derby, has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.
A 46-year-old man, from Ainsdale, has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.
A 25-year-old man, from, Ormskirk, has been arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.
The ECHO understands that the 62-year-old man arrested is the directly elected Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson.
The Labour Party politician has led the city since 2010 and has been Mayor since 2012.
Last year he secured the Labour Party selection to run to be Mayor of the city for a third term at May's delayed elections.
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: "Liverpool City Council is co-operating with Merseyside Police in relation to its ongoing investigation. We do not comment on matters relating to individuals."
I have a soft spot for Joe Anderson - but don't feel entirely surprised, especially because he looks to me like a big city boss should (with all those connotations :lol:). There was a senior planning executive who was fired from the Council because he was being investigated by the police a while ago and I've expected the other shoe to drop on this - though I don't know if they're related.
But that investigation was in the "New Chinatown Development Project" which sounds like the name of something in a TV series about crooked politicians :lol:
This sort of strengthens my sense that if you really wanted to be a corrupt politician in the UK you'd get into local government: control over planning and development decisions plus a generally very weak (and declining) local media.
Edit: Also this means I've lived in two areas where the local mayor's been arrested :lol: :ph34r:
Weak opposition in Liverpool too, one of the rare places where a few more tories might actually be useful.
Quote from: Sheilbh on December 04, 2020, 12:19:32 PM
Edit: Also this means I've lived in two areas where the local mayor's been arrested :lol: :ph34r:
So, where do you live now by the way? :P
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on December 04, 2020, 01:15:02 PM
So, where do you live now by the way? :P
:lol: We've got a mayor of London, but he's not got much power. My borough doesn't have a local mayor - but does actually have a tonne of development scandals :ph34r:
QuoteWeak opposition in Liverpool too, one of the rare places where a few more tories might actually be useful.
It blows my mind that Liverpool local government swung between Labour/Liberals and Tories until the 80s. I think it sort of reflected Catholic Irish v Protestant Lancastrian communities. But my mum and dad always saying how big a deal it was when Shirley Williams won the Crosby by-election because that area was true blue. I know it's a little outside Liverpool but the idea of a true blue bit of Merseyside is just odd to me :lol:
I just checked and Labour have 72 of the 90 seats on the City Council, there are then 10 Lib Dems, 4 Greens, 3 Liberals and an independent in opposition - before the coalition the Lib Dems used to do well and occasionally won the council in the Charles Kennedy years when they were a sort of left opposition to Blair. But that is probably a little too one party state to be healthy.
Edit: Incidentally - and this is just gossip - but Derek Hatton is 72 years old. He also made the natural leap from Trotskyist council (deputy) leader to property developer. Despite being very politically different from Big Joe, they are pretty close apparently :hmm:
Maybe get Robert Lindsay out for GBH 2 :lol:
Edit: Also the investigation apparently relates to developments by the Eliot Group, founded by Eliot Lawless :lol:
It's confirmed that Derek Hatton is the 72 year old man who's been arrested for witness intimidation :o
For background Hatton was the leader of Militant tendency (an entryist Trotskyist group) when they run Liverpool. Technically he was only deputy leader, the actual leader was a broadly popular, very benign and slightly other-worldly elderly Labour councillor, but Hatton and Militant run the show. It was hugely divisive - they were taken on by Kinnock in his famous speech at Labour conference. My mum and dad still have stories of sitting in their living room cheering Kinnock on, and similarly they have family friends who were very strong Militant supporters. Needless to say, they just don't talk politics (though they're all on the left) :lol:
Hatton himself was very divisive - from an anti-Militant demonstration:
(https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/10D4C/production/_105704986_mediaitem105704985.jpg)
His nickname is still the Gobfather so witness intimidation is not a wildly surprising accusation. After being kicked out of Labour and local government he moved into property development in Liverpool and Cyprus. He's still a feature about town where he drives a few Land Rovers with licence plates like "DEGSY 1" etc - very perma-tanned and looking very well for a man in his 70s.
It's pretty huge news to have him arrested, especially alongside the current mayor :o
This is all very nostalgic; also a very typical Labour party story, which reminds me of why I only rarely vote for them.
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on December 05, 2020, 07:22:59 AM
This is all very nostalgic; also a very typical Labour party story, which reminds me of why I only rarely vote for them.
Further chaos, in-fighting and probably involvement from London in another very Labour party story.
They had narrowed down their choice to run for Mayor to a shortlist of three - the Acting Mayor, the Lady Mayor and the former Deputy Mayor. All was going fine until today when it was announced that Labour were suspending the process. They were going to re-open for nominations and the three shortlisted candidates would not be considered, so are barred from applying.
All of which leaves a lot of questions in the air - there's been no explanation of why the process was stopped, why they're re-opening nominations or why they're blocking the three shortlisted candidates from trying again. It's very mysterious at this stage. The Greens and Lib Dems are rubbing their hands - the left candidate (the Lady Mayor) has said she'll take legal action and I think could, possibly, run as an independent.
Does the Liverpool mayoral election run democratically or is it FPTP?
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on December 05, 2020, 07:22:59 AM
This is all very nostalgic; also a very typical Labour party story, which reminds me of why I only rarely vote for them.
The Tories have the good sense to keep their corruption well hidden.
The Lib Dems I assume have tried being corrupt to get some attention but nobody was interested.
Quote from: Tyr on February 24, 2021, 05:17:22 AM
Does the Liverpool mayoral election run democratically or is it FPTP?
It's like the London system. You have two votes. If a candidate doesn't get 50%+1 in the first round then all but the top two candidates are eliminated and second votes distributed.
Being Liverpool, it's never gone to the second round :lol:
QuoteThe Lib Dems I assume have tried being corrupt to get some attention but nobody was interested.
Weirdly the Lib Dems used to run Liverpool City Council in the early 2000s until 2010. I don't think they were an awful council - Lib Dems tend to be very good at local retail politics. In most of the county they're riddled with NIMBYism but in Liverpool almost everyone is pro development and pro building so I don't think they were afflicted with that issue.
Although it's not that surprising - the country elects Tories, Liverpool goes Labour; the country elects Labour, Liverpool goes Lib Dem. I fully expect Liverpool to go hard-core Green when Labour next win an election :lol:
One slightly weird quirk of Liverpool is that there is one ward in East Liverpool that still regularly elects Liberal Party councillors - all three councillors from the ward are Liberals at the minute. Liverpool is, I think, the last stronghold where the Liberals still routinely win any elections :lol: :blink:
Edit: In other Liverpool news - new Everton stadium granted planning permission :w00t: (It now goes to the Secretary of State <_<)
IF this is the official Liverpool city council megathread, I will just add this:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-56153720
Quote
Liverpool councillor defends decision to live in Spain
A councillor has defended his decision to live abroad despite being elected to represent a ward in Liverpool.
Malcolm Kennedy said he was unable to return from Spain in March 2020 after the country was placed in lockdown and his flight was cancelled due to Covid.
The Labour councillor said he had fulfilled all his responsibilities as council meetings have been held online during the pandemic.
Liverpool City Council confirmed he has not broken any rules.
In a series of tweets, Mr Kennedy, who represents the Kirkdale ward, said he has previously split his time between Spain and the UK with his primary address being in Liverpool since 2001.
In March last year, he travelled to Spain to celebrate his wife's son's birthday with plans to return later in the month.
As "the Covid crisis deepened", Mr Kennedy said he chose to remain abroad to be with his wife who lives in the country.
He came back to the UK briefly in October but returned to spend Christmas in Spain which he said he has done regularly since 2001.
He added "no secret has been made of the situation," and he will continue responding to mail, attending meetings and responding to phone calls.
The Labour councillor confirmed he will not seek re-election in 2022.
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: "Cllr Kennedy satisfied eligibility criteria on being nominated to stand for election.
"It is down to individual elected members how they discharge their role and Cllr Kennedy has been attending virtual committee meetings and responding to queries from residents in his ward."
:lol:
He's on the planning committee so voted on the stadium (which involves his area of Liverpool). And in fairness he seems to attend most meetings (which are all by Zoom) and have surgeries so he is still working. But yeah it does feel like you should be living in the same country as your constituents....
He could defend himself by saying he is following corona advice to the max and completely distancing himself from direct interaction? :p
Quote from: Sheilbh on December 04, 2020, 01:27:45 PM
Edit: Incidentally - and this is just gossip - but Derek Hatton is 72 years old. He also made the natural leap from Trotskyist council (deputy) leader to property developer. Despite being very politically different from Big Joe, they are pretty close apparently :hmm:
Both are bluenoses.
Early in my career I spent ages organising a meeting between two feuding sets of Merseyside politicians (all Labour) relating to a porject we were working on. Loads of pre-conditions etc etc. We were all sittin in the room waiting for the leader of one of the factions to arrive for about half an hour. He finall stalks in. Puts his face right up against the leader of the other faction and snarls "You. Yer fuckin' dead you" and walks out. Meeting over.
Quote from: celedhring on February 24, 2021, 05:40:44 AM
IF this is the official Liverpool city council megathread, I will just add this:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-56153720
Quote
Liverpool councillor defends decision to live in Spain
A councillor has defended his decision to live abroad despite being elected to represent a ward in Liverpool.
Malcolm Kennedy said he was unable to return from Spain in March 2020 after the country was placed in lockdown and his flight was cancelled due to Covid.
The Labour councillor said he had fulfilled all his responsibilities as council meetings have been held online during the pandemic.
Liverpool City Council confirmed he has not broken any rules.
In a series of tweets, Mr Kennedy, who represents the Kirkdale ward, said he has previously split his time between Spain and the UK with his primary address being in Liverpool since 2001.
In March last year, he travelled to Spain to celebrate his wife's son's birthday with plans to return later in the month.
As "the Covid crisis deepened", Mr Kennedy said he chose to remain abroad to be with his wife who lives in the country.
He came back to the UK briefly in October but returned to spend Christmas in Spain which he said he has done regularly since 2001.
He added "no secret has been made of the situation," and he will continue responding to mail, attending meetings and responding to phone calls.
The Labour councillor confirmed he will not seek re-election in 2022.
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: "Cllr Kennedy satisfied eligibility criteria on being nominated to stand for election.
"It is down to individual elected members how they discharge their role and Cllr Kennedy has been attending virtual committee meetings and responding to queries from residents in his ward."
Reminds me of a PS MP in Portugal for Lisbon who lived in Paris, and wanted her weekly plane travel expenses (business class) to be payed by the Portuguese taxpayer. Centre-right PSD complained and she called that demagoguery but ended up paying the bill herself.
I would have granted her magnanimously a weekly Eurolines allowance (by coach for those who don't know).
Inês de Medeiros, sister of Maria de Medeiros.
https://www.publico.pt/2010/04/23/jornal/viagens-de-ines-de-medeiros-custam-ate-2500-euros-por-mes-19254273 (https://www.publico.pt/2010/04/23/jornal/viagens-de-ines-de-medeiros-custam-ate-2500-euros-por-mes-19254273)
Quote from: Gups on February 24, 2021, 06:14:55 AM
Both are bluenoses.
Early in my career I spent ages organising a meeting between two feuding sets of Merseyside politicians (all Labour) relating to a porject we were working on. Loads of pre-conditions etc etc. We were all sittin in the room waiting for the leader of one of the factions to arrive for about half an hour. He finall stalks in. Puts his face right up against the leader of the other faction and snarls "You. Yer fuckin' dead you" and walks out. Meeting over.
:lol: That's amazing.
So Labour have chosen their two candidate shortlist. Still no explanation of the issues they had with the previous three candidates - but the rumours are that it was either that they were too connected to Unite union or to the former mayor. But the Labour group are apparently not particularly happy - talk of the Labour group in Liverpool having a vote of no confidence in the Labour Party :lol: Alternately they may endorse Stephen Yip who is running as an independent (he's a prominent charity founder/worker in the city).
Things are not going well. I wouldn't be surprised if the Greens emerge as a force in Liverpool in the next few years because there'll be lots of people looking for an opposition to the Labour party as well as the government - in the 2000s it was the Lib Dems but I think they've burned their bridges in Liverpool through the coalition.
Central government sending in Commissioners to run Liverpool :o
The dysfunction etc does feel like the inevitable result of the electoral system plus one party politics. Labour have about 75 of the 100 seats on the council (and typically win 50-60% of the vote) so there's no meaningful opposition and all politics takes place within the Labour group. Corruption and intimidation etc doesn't seem like a massive surprise when one party dominates for a long time.
QuoteCommissioners to help run 'dysfunctional' Liverpool council
Unprecedented move comes after inspectors found 'serious breakdown of governance' at council
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d9d58460a9c26c49c6ace653d0d817aaa9dc8cd9/0_434_6720_4032/master/6720.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=cf0fc53f706ab118e6c705ee256506c6)
Liverpool city council's main administrative offices at the Cunard Building. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Josh Halliday North of England correspondent
Wed 24 Mar 2021 14.19 GMT
Liverpool should be brought under the joint control of government commissioners in an unprecedented move after inspectors found multiple failures and a "serious breakdown of governance" at the council, the communities secretary has said.
Robert Jenrick said an emergency inspection had painted a "deeply concerning picture of mismanagement," an "environment of intimidation" and a "dysfunctional culture" at one of the biggest councils in Britain.
He said government commissioners would be sent to "exercise certain and limited" functions of Liverpool city council for at least three years under a plan that will prove controversial just six weeks before the local elections.
Steve Reed, the shadow communities and local government secretary, said he accepted the report in full and that Labour supported the government's plan to reform the council. He said the report had raised "grave and serious concerns" and "severe institutional weaknesses" at the Labour-run authority.
It is thought to be the first time the Westminster government has directly intervened in the day-to-day running of a city the size of Liverpool and is politically incendiary because Merseyside is one of the staunchest Labour cities in Britain.
The region sends 14 Labour MPs to Westminster. A Liverpool seat last had a Convervative MP 38 Tory years ago. The last Conservative councillor lost his seat 23 years ago.
Jenrick's decision followed a damning report into parts of the council by Max Caller, a local government consultant who carried out an emergency inspection on behalf of the government. The report was ordered following the arrests of five men, including the Labour mayor, Joe Anderson, last December.
Anderson was arrested as part of Merseyside police's Operation Aloft, an ongoing investigation into building and development contracts in Liverpool that led to the arrests of 12 people. He denies all wrongdoing.
Commissioners were sent in to take over the running of councils in Northampton in 2018, Rotherham in 2015 and Tower Hamlets in 2014 but none of them was on the scale of Liverpool, a city of half a million people.
QuoteCorruption and intimidation etc doesn't seem like a massive surprise when one party dominates for a long time.
Really? because it is a rare municipality in the US that is truly competitive between Republicans and Democrats. One party can dominate for decades :ph34r:
Quote from: Valmy on March 24, 2021, 09:34:36 AM
Really? because it is a rare municipality in the US that is truly competitive between Republicans and Democrats. One party can dominate for decades :ph34r:
:lol: I know and American municipal politics is a by-word the world over for scrupulousness and good governance :P
This is one of those things I have no evidence for but am convinced is true: local government is the most corrupt layer of government. Local newspapers dying all over the world so no-one's paying attention. Lots of decisions about property and construction with abundant opportunities for dealing with contractors and sub-contractors etc.
I'm sure I've said it but lots of the allegations in Liverpool relate to the "New Chinatown Project" which just sounds like something from a TV series - a fictional scheme involving the mob or corrupt councillors :lol:
Edit: Some further details from the inspector's report :blink:
QuoteJenrick's decision followed a damning report on parts of the council by Max Caller, a local government consultant who carried out an emergency inspection on behalf of the government. The report was ordered after the arrests of five men, including the Labour mayor, Joe Anderson, last December.
Anderson was arrested as part of Merseyside police's Operation Aloft, an ongoing investigation into building and development contracts in Liverpool that led to the arrests of 12 people. He denies all wrongdoing.
Jenrick said the report had identified multiple failures in its regeneration and planning department, including the "awarding of dubious contracts" and a "worrying lack of record-keeping" in which some documents were dumped in skips and others created retrospectively.
He said: "As a whole, the report is unequivocal: Liverpool city council has failed in numerous respects to comply with its best value duties. It concludes that the council consistently failed to meet its statutory and managerial responsibilities and that the pervasive culture appeared to be rule avoidance."
Jenrick said there had been a lack of scrutiny and a "continued failure to correctly value land and assets, meaning taxpayers frequently lost out".
"When selling land, the report states that Liverpool city council's best interests were not on the agenda," he said.
The inspectors found an environment of intimidation in which "the only way to survive was to do what was requested without asking too many questions", he told MPs.
Liverpool city council is expected to accept Jenrick's proposals, meaning government commissioners would be drafted in imminently. The number of councillors in Liverpool will also be reduced from 90, 72 of whom represent Labour. The election cycle will also be changed, moving to whole-council elections every four years.
Dan Carden, the MP whose Liverpool Walton seat is the safest Labour constituency in the UK with a 75% majority, said the city needed to see "real change" and "robust safeguards to guarantee transparency and accountability". However, he said residents were concerned the move represented a "takeover by Whitehall".
Jenrick said the local elections would go ahead on 6 May and that those politicians would then inform government about the best steps forward for the council.
He said if the government did decide to appoint commissioners it would be to "stand behind" the elected representatives, "not to tell them what to do but to guide and support them".
He added: "We have given them the authority to act, should they need to, given the seriousness of some of the allegations but it is not our hope or expectation that those powers would be exercised."
Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said the city deserved a well-run council with "stronger, more transparent governance procedures".
She added: "I'm a very proud scouser but listening to the secretary of state read the contents of the very damning report makes me angry, as it will the whole city when the report is made public."
There was immediately pressure on some Labour councillors to resign. Richard Kemp, the Liberal Democrat councillor and candidate for mayor, called for the resignation of all councillors connected to its scandal-hit regeneration, planning and property departments.
He said: "This is a sad day for our city, which the people of Liverpool do not deserve."
Liverpool's acting mayor, Wendy Simon, and its chief executive, Tony Reeves, who joined the council in 2018 and is praised in the Caller report, said: "This is a difficult day for our organisation and we take the report findings extremely seriously.
"The inspector's report has highlighted several failings, but there is a collective commitment from both councillors and officers to learn from these mistakes.
"We would like to reassure all residents and businesses that we will take action to address all of the issues highlighted. We know we need to rebuild your trust."
Commissioners were sent in to take over the running of councils in Northampton in 2018, Rotherham in 2015 and Tower Hamlets in 2014 but none of them was on the scale of Liverpool, a city of half a million people.
In his report, Caller examined more than 65 property transactions at the council and concluded that "corporate blindness" had failed to pick up on serious failings in governance. He likened the council to the historian Robert Conquest's third law of politics: "The behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies."
The council's regeneration department was described as having a "bullying culture", where officers were visited at their desk and told to follow instructions – apparently on behalf of the mayor – and that "people who did not comply did not last".
The report said many senior councillors flouted the code of conduct by not declaring gifts or hospitality on a register of interests. It noted that these registers were only updated from December, when the inspection was announced. The council's ethics and standards committee last met in January 2012.
Anderson said Liverpool had been transformed under his leadership into a "northern powerhouse". He added that he continued to cooperate with the police and denied the offences he is facing: "Today's headlines do not reflect the dramatic success that we have generated over the last 11 years. With success brings jealousy and I want to digest fully today's report before commenting on specific details."
In addition the inspectors said they had a number of people who were making allegations (and providing documentary evidence) but would only do so as whistleblowers or if given anonymity because they'd been intimidated :blink:
Details from the report - as Jen Williams of the Manchester Evening News points out Liverpool City Council's always been a bit of a "well at least we're not that dysfunctional" for other bits of local government. But there's part of this that applies to other areas - big majority, a desperate need to show local action/results, underfunded system, little national attention. She doesn't note - but I would - that the local press also weren't that impressive. The Liverpool Echo is pretty bad at providing critical coverage of any of the local institutions (Liverpool city council, Liverpool football club, Everton football club etc):
Quote'You did what you were told': Inside Liverpool City Council's collapse into scandal
Arrests, intimidation, dubious contracts and squandered millions - how England's 10th biggest local authority failed the people it was supposed to serve
Colin Drury
North of England Correspondent
@colin__drury
1 day ago
(https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/03/27/19/LiveSky.jpg?width=990&auto=webp&quality=75)
(Getty Images/iStockphoto)
In an interview given in 2020, Joe Anderson, the then mayor of Liverpool, was asked what the biggest misconception about him was.
"Things like the brown envelope comments," he told the Trailblazer website. "I live in a terrace house in Old Swan... I'm a scouser that wants the best for his people."
This week, the city council which he led for a decade until December was found to be mired in scandal so rotten it will now be partially taken over by government commissioners.
In an eviscerating report following a three-month investigation, inspectors described an authority where "dubious" contracts were regularly handed out, key records were routinely destroyed and staff who dared voice concerns – or even ask questions – were intimidated. "Those who did not comply," the report states, "did not last".
Among major issues highlighted were senior councillors benefiting financially from funding decisions, a scrutiny process described as "sketchy", and the handing of at least one major contract to a direct family member in breach of all regulations. Insiders suggest as much as £100m of public money may have been squandered.
"It could hardly be more damning," says Jonathan Tonge, professor of politics at Liverpool University. "You could hardly get a more excoriating report. It is page after page of the most shameful stuff."
Now, with Anderson himself under police investigation following his arrest on suspicion of bribery in December, the civic soul-searching is beginning: how could England's 10th biggest authority – one that serves a metropolis of half a million people – fail so badly?
Part of the answer to that, it now seems, may lie in nothing more obscure than a couple of city centre flyovers.
The Churchill Way – a pair of brutalist 240-metre long road bridges – carried four lanes of traffic up and above Liverpool for almost 50 years until their much-welcomed demolition in 2019.
Now, two years on, they are at the centre of one of the most eyebrow-raising sections of the new report.
Specifically, it is said that, during their demolition, Amey – the company charged with the £6.75m job – was given a "direct instruction" by council officials to contract out part of the work to a small Liverpool venture called Safety Support Consultants.
While bosses at the infrastructure giant questioned this – SCC had "no published highways experience" – it ultimately did as it was told. Over a four month period, some £250,000 was paid out to the smaller firm for safety work.
Why is this significant? Because the director of SSC, it turned out, was none other than David Anderson, the 33-year-old son of the mayor.
"This action exposed the site teams to considerable health and safety risk," says the report, which was written by government inspector Max Caller. "It also increased the commercial risk to the council of budget overrun."
Any allegations of wrong doing have quickly been denied by both Anderson senior and junior.
In a statement released on Thursday, the latter described the 69-page report as "slanderous, unfounded, biased, tactical and politically motivated" as well as "factually incorrect".
Yet it was his company's involvement with the Churchill Way that perhaps first truly set alarm bells ringing about wider issues at the authority, insiders tell The Independent today.
By 2019, backbench councillors and officials were already becoming concerned about the way the regeneration, planning and highways departments were being run. Deputy mayor, Ann O'Byrne, had quit her role in May 2018 with a blistering attack: "The mayor isn't listening to the Labour group, wider party and, most importantly, to the people of Liverpool". Six months after Anderson himself was questioned by Lancashire Police in connection with a fraud inquiry.
Yet, up until the flyover demolition, there remained a widespread belief that, if the methods being deployed were unorthodox, they were not without their benefits. What the new report has judged to be "intimidation", many saw as the forthrightness required to get Liverpool moving. What it has called "dubious" contracts were widely considered a way of ensuring local companies got local jobs; that money came into the city and stayed here.
The old government maxim was regularly thrown about: what's right is what works. And on some level, it did work. According to Anderson himself, some £10bn was pumped into Liverpool during his tenure and 31,000 jobs were created.
"You have to remember Joe got things done," says one Labour backbench councillor today. "He promised to bring development and jobs and he did that, so when people heard about corners being cut, there was a willingness to give the benefit of the doubt and accept it was being done for the right reasons. Which I think, to some extent, it probably was."
But?
"But then SSC happened, and it was just one contract too many that was difficult to justify," comes the reply. "People looked at that and it didn't pass any kind of smell test."
Indeed, it was by no means the only dealing that failed to meet such standards, according to the Caller report.
In total, inspectors analysed 65 sample property transactions entered into by the council between 2015 and 2020. Not a single one was found to be entirely satisfactory. "When selling land," communities secretary Robert Jenrick told parliament after assessing the findings, "Liverpool City Council's best interests were not on the agenda."
(https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/03/27/20/PA-44240259JoAnd.jpg?width=640&auto=webp&quality=75)
Joe Anderson
(PA)
The report itself goes back no further than 2015 but arguably a more key date in all this was 2010 and what some have called Liverpool's Night of the Long Knives.
Within six months of Anderson sweeping to victory in that year's local elections, the council's chief executive Colin Hilton along with six or seven of its most senior directors and officers had either retired, moved on to other authorities or been asked to step down.
"It was a major clear out of the stables and, in effect, what ought to have been a neutral civil service was replaced by senior figures that were far closer to the politicians leading the authority than perhaps they should have been," says Tonge today.
Key among the replacements was new interim CEO David McElhinney, a man with a reputation as an enforcer so ruthless he had the nickname Mack The Knife. His appointment, the Liverpool Echo reported at the time, would "send shivers down the spines of staff".
A message, one insider says, soon started coming down the food: "You did what you were told or you started looking for a new job."
The problem was – and still is – that there was no real opposition to scrutinise such manoeuvres. Liverpool is all but a one-party state. Of 90 councillors here, some 72 are Labour. Every single one of the city's MPs is red.
"The Liberal Democrats are energetic, but they don't have the volume or resources to engage in full scrutiny," says Tonge. "There were a lot of Labour backbenchers who were brassed off with what was happening, but they have no mechanism to change things. Those that did speak out were marginalised. They were sent to political Siberia."
None of this was in anyway illegal, or even necessarily improper, it should be said. It is the same political power plays that go on everywhere.
But it does offer context as to how, from then on in, certain council departments were able to operate, as Caller's report notes, with minimal transparency.
Indeed, that opaqueness was only compounded in 2012 when the council shifted to a directly elected mayor system – a post which Anderson himself duly won in a city-wide election.
"It was a new system so there was confusion about who had what authority," says one backbench councillor. "The consequence was that there was significant overreach that went effectively unchecked."
Thereafter, power became increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few. In one of the bombshell lines from his report, Caller acknowledged this. He suggested the council's leadership became not altogether different from a "secret cabal".
Where exactly Liverpool goes now from here is not immediately clear. No other city of this size had ever had government officials move in like this. It is unprecedented territory.
What is already clear is that – excluding some on the hard left who talk of a Tory takeover – there appears some political agreement that communities secretary Robert Jenrick had little choice but to appoint commissioners to oversee change.
"We've got to be big enough to own [what has happened]," said Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree. "If we expect any moral authority to call out alleged government corruption and cronyism, we've got to have the bravery and integrity to investigate it out in our own ranks."
Sir Kier Starmer, too, supported the move.
The commissioners, it is understood, will now work alongside the council's chief executive, Tony Reeves –acknowledged in the report for beginning to turn things round – to implement a plan for action in the authority's planning, highways, regeneration and property management departments. They will likely stay in position for three years.
The police investigation into Anderson and at least four other men remains ongoing, meanwhile. All strenuously deny any wrongdoing. Anderson released a statement this week saying of the Caller report that "success brings jealousy".
And, then, just to throw an extra ingredient into the pot, there's the upcoming mayoral election in May.
Labour are still to pick a candidate – a process which has already been the subject of infighting – yet, whoever they do choose, their ultimate victory retains an air of inevitability.
"Will it all have an impact politically?" ponders Tonge. "The report is so damning, it could hardly fail to have some impact but I can't see this staying anything other than a Labour city. The movement away would need to be too big. What it might mean is that we now have a contest rather than a coronation."