COME ON TONY! GIVE US A BREAK BEFORE YOU GO....

OUTGOING Prime Minister Tony Blair is being asked to approve a Downing Street petition calling for Sir David Henshaw to be removed as Chair of the North West Regional Strategic Health Authority.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/
But don't hold your breath that TB will suddenly see the light about Sir Diddy, as he departs at the end of his 10-year rule at No 10.
So far the hard-pressed e-petitions team at Number 10 have already rejected three separate anti-Henshaw petitions.
The excuses for rejection offered by the Civil Service mandarins (all colleagues of Sir Diddy of course, ed) who administer the petitions web site have grown steadily more absurd and preposterous.
It seems they are intent on protecting one of their own.
Why is Sir Diddy, who pockets £40,000 a year in public money for being Chair of the RHA, so protected?
Why cannot he be critiscised, face a public call for his dismissal, or be held to account (even by Number 10)?
So much for democracy in our National Health Service.
We expect to hear very shortly that Attempt No 4 to petition the Prime Minister to dismiss Henshaw has also been rejected.
In the meantime, you can have a look at the three previous attempts to expose Henshaw as an evil blackmailer... Attempt Number 1 came with this petition to Number 1o:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to: 'remove Sir David Henshaw as Chair of the North West Strategic Health Authority' in the light of statements made by councillors in Liverpool and reports on a number of blogs, including the Henshaw and the Evil Cabal blog, we consider Sir David Henshaw to be unfit as a public servant to be left in charge of the region's health service. (seems a perfectly fair petition to me and would, no doubt, have got considerable public support, ed)
And this was the eventual response from No 10:

Hi,

I'm sorry to inform you that your petition has been rejected. Your petition was classed as being in the following categories:

* Potentially libellous, false, or defamatory statements

Presumably the bureaucrats believe it is "potentially libellous" to say that Sir David Henshaw is unfit to be in charge of the region's health service. This of course, ignores the views of 20 MP's, including the chair of the Labour Party, Hazel Blears MP and former Health Minister Jane Kennedy, MP, who said exactly the same and publicly protested about Henshaw's appointment.

Attempt No 2:

The petition was edited and re-submitted as follows:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to: 'remove Sir David Henshaw as Chair of the North West Strategic Health Authority' In the light of statements made by councillors and officials in Liverpool and reports on a number of blogs, including the Henshaw and the Evil Cabal blog (perfectly factual account, ed)

But this was the response from No 10:

Hi,

I'm sorry to inform you that your petition has been rejected again.

Your petition was classed as being in the following categories:

* Potentially libellous, false, or defamatory statements

So it looks as though, in our great democracy, you cannot now even make reference to statements made by senior councillors about Henshaw's blackmail and attempted coup d'etat!Notice how no details of these were even given in the petition, but it was still rejected by Number 10.

So here was Attempt Number 3

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to: 'remove Sir David Henshaw as Chair of the North West Strategic Regional Health Authority' because his previous behaviour as chief executive of Liverpool city council makes us fear for the future of our Health Service (perfectly understandable point of view, ed)

But this was the response from the mandarins at Number 10:

Hi,

I'm sorry to inform you that your petition has been rejected.

Your petition was classed as being in the following categories:

* The names of individual officials of public bodies, unless
they are part of the senior management of those organisations

* Language which is offensive, intemperate, or provocative

Now they appear to have decided that we can't even name Sir Diddy, nor say anything at all about Sir Diddy, even though he is being paid as a public servant on a public body. (And they don't like the fact that we fear for our Health Service either, ed).

Anyway this is Attempt No 4:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to: 'remove Sir David Henshaw as Chair of the North West Strategic Regional Health Authority'. (simple and to the point, ed)

Presumably they will reject that as well, because it refers, outrageously, to Sir Diddy by name. (Perhaps we should go for the record of having the most petitions rejected by Number 10? ed)

Sir David Henshaw

REVEALED: Where Henshaw has put the £300,000 he blackmailed and stole from the council taxpayers of Liverpool!

DOCUMENTS from Companies House reveal exactly what has happened to the £300,000 which Sir David Henshaw blackmailed from Liverpool.

Sir Diddy, who used extortion, threats, blackmail and lies to eventually escape with the pay-off has now set up his own company, the grandly named - David Henshaw Partnership Limited.
Not surprisingly however, no-one else has yet been prepared to put their names to Diddy's 'Partnership' except Sir Diddy and his long suffering missus, lady Alison.
Sir Diddy was finally forced out as chief executive of of Liverpool city council last March when councillors refused to work with him any longer.
But just before he fled with his huge bag of swag, Sir Diddy got his accountant to set up the 'David Henshaw Partnership' for £1, using the 'off the shelf' name Brighton Secretary, of 3 Marlborough Road, Lansing, West Sussex.
Once Sir Diddy had resigned, the way was then left clear for Sir Diddy to have total control of his new company with his 'poor' missus. There are no other Partners listed in the Partnership.
Companies House documents give a formal and routine description of what the business is for - everything from loaning money to property investment - but clearly Sir Diddy believes that squirrelling away his cash in the company will result in considerable tax advantages. (If anyone wants to see the full documents, send us an email, ed)

But crucially, the official documents reveal that:


"The Company's share capital is £300,000 divided into 100,000 ordinary Class 'A' shares of £1 each, 100,000 ordinary Class 'B' shares of £1 each and 100,000 ordinary Class 'C' shares of £1 each."

So that's where all that council taxpayer's money went!

Further enquiries with Companies House have revealed the following details about the Diddy Partnership:
Company Number: 05736115
Date of Incorporation: 09/03/2006
Company Name: DAVID HENSHAW PARTNERSHIP LIMITED
Registered Office: CENTURY HOUSE, ASHLEY ROAD, HALE, CHESHIRE. WA14 9TG
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Status: Active
Nature Of Business (SIC(92)):None Supplied
Accounting Reference Date: 31/03
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 09/01/2008
Next Return Due: 06/04/2007
Last Bulk Shareholders List: Not available
Number of current appointments: 3

SECRETARY: HENSHAW, ALISON
Appointed: 10/03/2006
Date of Birth: 22/12/1960
Nationality: BRITISH
Address:
9 BARKHILL ROAD
AIGBURTH
LIVERPOOL
MERSEYSIDE
L17 6AY

DIRECTOR: HENSHAW, ALISON
Appointed: 10/03/2006
Date of Birth: 22/12/1960
Nationality: BRITISH
Address:
9 BARKHILL ROAD
AIGBURTH
LIVERPOOL
MERSEYSIDE
L17 6AY

DIRECTOR: HENSHAW, DAVID GEORGE BAM SOCSCI FIMGT SIR (for it is he, ed)
Appointed: 10/03/2006
Date of Birth: 07/03/1949
Nationality: BRITISH
No. of Company appointments: 15
Address:
9 BARKHILL ROAD
AIGBURTH
LIVERPOOL
MERSEYSIDE
L17 6AY



THANKS TO FRIEND FOR HIS/HER WELL INFORMED COMMENTS WHICH LED TO THIS POST!

Sir David Henshaw

HENSHAW THE HYPOCRITE DOES A RUNNER - AFTER BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE FOR LIVERPOOL!

DISGRACED former chief executive Sir David Henshaw changed the day of his Grauniad lecture to avoid an angry public confrontation with his former media chief.
Sir Diddy begged organisers of the conference to let him speak a day early than scheduled so that he could escape a public mauling from Matt Finnegan, the city council's former AED (Media).
Sir Diddy was due to speak at the conference on Friday when Finnegan, who had been framed and suspended by Henshaw, planned to join other Merseyside delegates in questioning Henshaw about his record at Liverpool, which cost council taxpayers millions.
But when Henshaw read this blog and found out who was amongst the delegates in the audience, he pleaded with the Guardin to allow him to speak on Thursday instead, in an unadvertised slot, because he feared an embarrassing scene.
A Guradian staffer said:"Sir David has kept up to date with what is being said about him on the blogosphere and elsewhere and was clearly concerned that there would be people in the audience who were not amongst his supporters and there might be some inappropriate questioning after his speech. He asked us to bring his slot forward a day to avoid any
unpleasantness - and we were happy to oblige."
As Henshaw escaped from the Guardian Public Services Summit Finnegan, who has become Henshaw's sworn enemy, warned there would be 'no hiding place' for Henshaw.
He said: "I am obviously disappointed that Henshaw did a runner and scarpered early. He did the same in Liverpool of course, to avoid embarrassing and difficult questions.
"He will find that he can run, but he can't hide - eventually his sins will catch up with him."
During his Thursday speech Henshaw, chairman of the North West Strategic Health Authority, had the gall to blame everyone but himself for the fall-out in Liverpool and being finally shown the door.
Henshaw conveniently ignored his own personal greed, attempts at blackmail and attempted coup d'etat, and his own abuse of his personal position and power.
Astonishingly, Henshaw who took early retirement after a no confidence vote by Executive Members following his feud with Mike Storey, blamed "additional pressure from central government on council chief executives" for his bust-up.
Henshaw, who was paid £250,000 a year and left Liverpool with a £360,000 pension pay-off, said local authority chief executives were faced with pressures from the government, which 'sometimes conflicted with the ambitions of locally elected councillors and caused tensions on the ground.'
This of course, has absolutely nothing to do with his departure from Liverpool.
The tensions on the ground at Liverpool came from his own personal style - his bullying, lying and uncontrollable rages had finally become too much for the politicians to stomach any longer.
They feared that his huge ego, control freakery, arrogance and obsession with his own image was harming relationships inside and outside the city and damaging Liverpool'e reputation.
In his Guardian speech, Henshaw tried to rehabilitate his shattered reputation by posing as a defender of democracy, when as has been revealed, he had personally orchestrated an attempt to remove Liverpool's democratically elected leader.
"We are seeing more and more clashes between managerial and political leadership," said Henshaw, trying to excuse his own extraordinary behaviour and implying that the Liverpool debacle was not unique.
"Pushing responsibility towards managers by central government creates a displacement of power at local level which leads to tensions."
In other words, it was all Mike Storey's fault because he was jealous of Sir Diddy's power (and his intellectual superiority, political astuteness and personal charm no doubt, ed)
Utter bollocks.
Henshaw's immense ego, self-importance, arrogance and control freakery were beginning to alienate everyone who came across him (see Maggie Boyle's resignation, ed)
He had simply become too big for his boots (even with his Cuban heels on, ed).
There was a genuine fear for the future of the city if he carried on a moment longer.
Henshaw is now so desperate to try and re-write history (like every other dictator, ed) that he personally briefed The Guardian reporter at the conference on the civil war in Liverpool, trying to pass it off as "a professional feud" with Storey.
Wrong.
It was both a deeply personal and highly political feud which, if it had happened in Islington, the Guardian would have been splashing all over the front page as a threat to democracy.
Henshaw is well aware that he has now been publicly identified as an anti-democrat and plotter of coups.
To try and rebuild his reputation he, apparently straight-faced, told the Guardian audience:
"Unless we empower local elected politicians with real responsibility and real accountability we will not refresh the local politics that need to be refreshed and therefore reengage at local community level."
What a hypocrite the greedy little man truly is...

THE UNTOLD STOREY (PART 5): 'MY WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE" - "I thought he must have been drinking. Henshaw completely lost it."

The Storey so far: in confidential documents, former council Leader Mike Storey describes his war with former chief executive, Sir David - 'Sir Diddy' - Henshaw. This week: how the fall-out began.

Relations between Sir David Henshaw and council leader Mike Storey deteriorated completely over two issues - Merseytram and Henshaw's pension.
Henshaw was 'aggressive' and used 'threatening and abusive language' both to Councillor Storey and the city's Director of Communications, Matt Finnegan.
The man who later succeeded Storey as Council Leader, Councillor Warren Bradley, described Henshaw's behaviour over the tram as "appalling" and admitted: "We should have sacked him on the spot there and then."
Finnegan, who had to deal with the media attention caused by the tram row, described how Henshaw rang him from Scotland where he was celebrating his wedding anniversary.
Henshaw had earlier already argued violently with Storey over his Merseytram comments and Finnegan had been left trying to persuade the media to play down the story.
But Finnegan says:"Henshaw was completely out of control - at first I thought he must have been drinking, he was shouting and swearing and raving like a lunatic. But he was even worse the following morning. It was an astonishing and shocking performance from someone who was supposed to be Liverpool's Number 1 public servant. He totally lost it. It was a bit frightening to hear someone so obviously out of control."
Storey's statement begins by telling how in 1999 Henshaw was 'very keen' to get the job of chief executive and "immmediately made an impact."
"For the first five years, I enjoyed a very effective and successfull professional relationship, although our relationship has always been purely professional and we have never engaged socially," explains Storey.
But the relationship began to change when Henshaw started to demand more media and public attention and tried to claim credit for all the improvements being made in the city.
His manic obsession with trying to control everything that was said about him brought him into direct conflict with both councillors and journalists who were uneasy at the prominence of a public servant.
Storey says:"At times I have felt that David has over-stepped the mark in terms of his own personal media profile.
"In November our relationship deteriorated over the issue of Merseytram.
"I had felt that the issue was being handled badly and the media perception was bad for the city. I gave comments to the press that I would be 'banging heads together'.
"David reacted very angrily and aggressively to this and told me was going to resign, with swearing and abusive language. He also threatened to attack me publicly.
"Things blew over, but our relationship was never the same."
Current Council Leader Warren Bradley, who was a witness to the row between Storey and Henshaw, said:"I shall never forget it - I could not believe what I was hearing.
"Henshaw was absolutely wild - he was effing and blinding at Mike and calling him every name under the sun. I am used to hearing some strong language from people at times, but this was really shocking coming from the chief executive.
"I thought he had lost his marbles to speak to the Leader of the Council in that way. There was no reasoning with him - he was almost foaming at the mouth."
Finnegan who was on the end of phone calls from Storey and Henshaw throughout the row, said: "It was pretty raw and nasty stuff - I was shocked that he spoke to Mike Storey in that way - and then he turned on me too and suddenly started calling me names! It was literally unbelievable. He was like a wild animal just lashing out at everyone, without any reason.
"He kept on threatening to resign, which would have been a disaster for the council at that time - and then he ordered me to arrange for him to go on to the Roger Phillips programme on Radio Merseyside.
"I asked him what he wanted to say on the radio. Henshaw said: 'I am going to denounce the Leader of the Council of course and tell Phillips that I am resigning'. I could not believe my ears, to be honest. I thought he had taken leave of his senses and gone completely mad.
"There was no way that I was going to arrange for him to go and attack his own Council Leader in public. He semed to have got everything out of proportion. Then McElhinney also instructed me to get Henshaw on the radio - I treated that with the contempt it deserved. It would have been an absolute public relations disaster for the city of Liverpool to have the chief exec and Leader kicking each other in public.
"It was clear that Henshaw and McElhinney had their own personal agendas and they were not bothered about what was in Liverpool's best interests."
Storey then recounts how a truce was called and he and Henshaw put on a show of sweetness and light for public consumption.
It was not too last.
Storey says: "Over the issue of the pension deal our relationship deteriorated completely to the point where we did not speak...once David publicly announced his intention to retire our relationship became very frosty."
TO BE CONTINUED...

THE UNTOLD STOREY (PART 4) - HOW THE BLACKMAILED COUNCIL LEADER FLUFFED HIS CHANCE TO SUSPEND THE EVIL HENSHAW

The Storey so far: Henshaw has mounted an attempted coup d'etat against the elected Leader of the Council, Mike Storey. He has used Storey's emails to suspended media chief Matt Finnegan to try and force the Leader's resignation. Henshaw, aided and abetted by McElhinney and Halsall, has also threatened Storey's job as a headteacher in neighbouring Knowsley. The Storey continues....

Henshaw's threat to Storey's job forces the council leader to call a meeting of his school's governors who give him their complete support, he reveals.
"There then followed a very difficult period when David Henshaw withdrew sending me his diary and his correspondence...I felt very isolated in all this...I contacted the chief executive of another authority and asked for advice...He was shocked and said that 'really you should suspend David Henshaw for behaving in this way'. I felt that would be inappropriate."
Story continued to lack the killer instinct even though he pursued the idea of taking disciplinary action against his renegade chief executive.
Storey tells how he met representatives from the Employers Association in Nottingham.
"A team of their staff, after several hours of discussion, got together a proposal in which they considered that David Henshaw's activities were of a serious nature. And that this should be a disciplinary matter. They made the point jokingly, that it was easier to get rid of Her Majesty the Queen than it was a chief executive."
The Employers Association advised the council leader to set up a special disciplinary committee to 'try' Henshaw.
"It could then consider suspending David Henshaw while the matter was being investigated. They also said that if he was suspended, there would have to be a report put together on David Henshaw's activities. They were happy to send a team up to Liverpool to put that report together."
But Storey faltered.
Weakly, he preferred the option of mediation to try and bring peace to the civil war.
In looking for a way to avoid a further bloody conflict, Storey let down his loyal supporters, democracy and the people of Liverpool.
It was to be his last chance to take strong and decisive action against Henshaw, but he fluffed it.
Amazingly, the arrogant Henshaw at first refused Storey's offer of mediation, believing he had the council leader on the run.
Then the evil cabal swung into action.
City solicitor Graeme Creer, who had been appointed by Henshaw, privately told the renegade chief executive of the Lib Dem group's confidential plans to set up a disciplinary committee to prosecute him.
Henshaw then moved quickly to avoid humiliation and agree mediation, with Sir Michael Lyons brought in to act as referee.
It sealed Storey's fate.

THE UNTOLD STOREY (PART 3): THE ATTEMPTED COUP D'ETAT

The Storey so far: Liverpool city council have turned down a £340,000 pension deal for Henshaw, who has announced his early retirement. Henshaw has now used emails from the Leader of the Council, Mike Storey, to blackmail the council into agreeing an even more expensive retirement deal and Storey agreeing a dishonest and humiliating press release.

Storey tells how, a month later, on 17 May, 2005, four Executive members - Councillors Clucas, Clein, Antrobus and Fielding - were asked to meet in Henshaw's office at 8 am.
"They were given no reason as to why they were to meet in his office and assumed it was for a number of different reasons," says Storey.
"Paul Clein, for example, had been trying to fix a meeting to do with the appraisal of the Executive Director for Education.
"I was not informed that this meeting was taking place. The other 5 Executive Members, some of whom were more senior, were not invited.
"At the meeting with Mr Henshaw, Mr Halsall and Mr McElhinney they were shown copies of a draft S151 report (the emails) which they read.
"At the end of the meeting they were concerned and shocked and came out of the meeting. Marilyn Felding contacted Paul Clark, (right) knowing of his legal background and told him what had happened. Paul Clarke suggested that we met."
Storey tells how he and Councillor Clark then went to Henshaw's office to read the S151 Report.
"Henshaw introduced Dr McElhinney and himself. We read through the drafts which he wanted to keep in his office. At the end, Councillor Clark said, where do we go from here - what do you want?
"David Henshaw said 'I am not prepared to speak to Councillor Storey. I will speak to you over the phone.'
"We left that meeting and met with our four colleagues and discussion carried on there. Executive members informed me that David is trying to set up meetings with them.
"Paul Clark contacted me to say that he had had a phone call with David Henshaw. Paul says his behaviour is unbelievable - David saying that I work for a Labour controlled council - how would my Governors feel - I could lose my job.
Paul made it clear that David Henshaw was threatening my professional career.
"I was at my lowest ebb, both my political career and professional cereer were being threatened. That evening, I told my wife - that if my job is on the line, as a result of what the chief executive said, then I would resign."

THE UNTOLD STOREY (PART 2): Henshaw confronts Storey

The Storey so far: Liverpool city council have turned down a £340,000 pension deal for chief executive Sir David Henshaw, who has announced publicly that he will now be taking early retirement in March 2006. Within days of headlines about the pension dispute and his impending retirement, Henshaw suspends the council's media chief Matt Finnegan on a pretext that dates back four years. This leaves the way clear for Henshaw to try to re-build his public position.

Council leader Mike Storey was confronted by Henshaw a month later on April 21, following a Capital of Culture meeting.
Storey says:

"He informed me that as part of the investigation into Matt Finnegan, (right) they had taken his PC for examination and going through several hundred emails, had come across some emails from myself which he felt were extremely damaging and serious and we needed to think carefully how to handle this as it could be potentially dangerous, both for the city and myself.

"I felt his mood was grave and threatening. I felt he was being aggressive and intimidating. I made no comment to him about this and he suggested that I speak to one of my council colleagues, Paul Clark, who is also a barrister."

Clark then met Henshaw on Saturday April 23rd. Paul Clark's notes of the meeting recount how Henshaw "has had enough and wants to go."

Clarks (below) says: "DH (Henshaw) wants the following deal:

1) A press release has to be issued - "co-conspirators have to be stopped"

2) Wants to establish that peace has broken out.

3) MJS (Storey) to specifically call the press and to telephone Larry Nield (Daily Post journalist) and Rex Makin (Liverpool solicitor)

4) MJS to telephone Local Government Chronicle and Municipal Journal - verbalise the press release.

5) Meeting of the Appointments Panel (the council subcommittee that turned down a pension deal for Henshaw) probably after 5th May, 2005

a) DH to retire on 30th March 2006
b) Sub committee awards him from the day extra pension years
Sub committee begs CX (Henshaw) to reconsider and to continue working. In the event of them being successful in persuading him to stay, the extra pension years will be rescinded.

6) Consultants to review the pay of senior management (McElhinney and Halsall)

7) DH be allowed to do other duties during the notice period and receive remuneration from those other duties.

8) Council go to market place for replacement chief executive in September.

Storey says: "I agreed to the points raised but had concern over a press release which asked the press to apologise to David. I felt that I could not say this. Henshaw...insisted on this line, or there would be no deal. I felt compelled to agree.

"The press release was issued by my office on Monday 25 April as agreed although Mr McElhinney had organised for the newscentre to issue the agreed statement as well."

So Henshaw used the discovery of Storey's emails to Finnegan to force a better pension deal for himself. This is demanding money with menaces - or blackmail.

The council Leader has now also agreed that Henshaw can retire with the pension deal which the council had already turned down. He has also left the way open for Henshaw to change his mind about retiring after apparently agreeing the sub-committee will "beg him to stay."

Storey has also agreed to a grovelling press statement which attempts to patch up their differences and pretend nothing is wrong. And Storey has agreed that Henshaw can earn extra money during his notice period and that his chief lieutenants, McElhinney and Halsall will have their pay reviewed.

All this in return for Henshaw agreeing to retire in March 2006.

NEXT: Henshaw changes his mind and mounts a coup d'etat; "his behaviour is unbelievable"; Henshaw faces disciplinary action.

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.