SIR DIDDY AND LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL : THE UNTOLD STOREY

DAVID HENSHAW was "aggressive, threatening and intimidating" to the elected Leader of Liverpool city council, previously unreleased documents have disclosed.
They describe how chief executive Henshaw's relationship with Councillor Mike Storey deteriorated over the ill-fated Mersey tram.
And they reveal how the relationship worsened even further after the council turned down a huge pension deal for Henshaw.
The documents also give a shocking insight into Henshaw's personal behaviour and reveal how he used abusive and threatening language in his dealings with the council Leader.
The confidential documents are split into several different sections and give a fascinating glimpse into the battle for power behind the scenes at Liverpool Town Hall.

We shall be serialising extracts from the documents over the next few weeks so that the people of the North West will be able to judge for themselves exactly what kind of man Henshaw is.

They reveal in detail how Henshaw and senior council officals tried to mount a coup to remove the democratically elected Leader of the council. One of the council officials involved is still working for Liverpool while another, astonishingly, has been promoted!
The first part of the secret documents is headed "Circumstances leading to the publication of the so-called Draft Section 151 Report" and has been written by the former Leader Councillor Mike Storey.
It tells how Henshaw approached Storey in 2004 and infomed him that he would have to leave the council in March 2006, because pension changes meant "it wasn't financially worth his while staying."
The council's Director of Resources, Phil Halsall, (known elsewhere as 'the smiling assassin') was instructed by Henshaw to write a report detailing how to get round the pension changes involved.
But Halsall (right) failed to write the report, leaving Henshaw " quite agitated". Then in another blunder, Halsall gave Councillor Storey a copy of an entirely different report!
When finally the correct report on Henshaw's pension was presented in private to the council committee responsible in February 2005, they had three major concerns:

• The report proposed that future pension arrangements for other senior officers should be decided just by Henshaw, Storey and Councillor Marilyn Fielding.
• The report contained no legal implications.
• The report contained no figures!

Storey says Henshaw met him outside the Town Hall after receiving a briefing about the private meeting from Halsall. Henshaw was "very vexed at what had happened."
Storey says: "I have to say that I felt in a very uncomfortable position. The fact that Phil Halsall had repeated verbatim, the discussion in the private meeting."
Executive Board members then agreed to Henshaw's pension being topped up (no figures were given, but it was estimated that this would be to the tune of £340,000), with only two against (current leader Warren Bradley and Education Member Paul Clein).
However the Cabinet set two conditions: "they wanted to see actual figures" (!) and they wanted Henshaw to relinquish his position as chief exec of Capital of Culture.
Storey says that the councils Executive Board again met privately to discuss Henshaw's pension and there was concern that there were still no figures available and that the entire Lib Dem group needed to discuss their response.
Storey then says: "At the Group meeting, I proposed that the augmented pension be approved. There was strong vocal opposition to this with every member of the Group bar one, saying that they could not support this. That it would set a very dangerous precedent. However, members were appreciative of his role as chief exec and the job he had done. No formal vote was taken. It was agreed that I would.....see if there were other ways of retaining David, but not with an augmented pension."
Storey then tells how at the subsequent council committee, he moved that the extra pension for Henshaw was not approved.
"At the end of the meeting, I spoke to the Executive Director for Central Services, Mr McElhinney (left, known elsewhere as 'the rottweiller'), who was clearly surprised and shocked at the decision."
Storey tells how he was then collared by reporters about the decision.
"The reporters infomed me that they had spoken to David Henshaw and he had said that in view of this decision, he would be leaving at the end of the year."

COMING NEXT: Henshaw confronts Storey about his emails and threatens his career. Storey considers resigning and disciplining Henshaw.