After relatively lowly local government posts - including in a Parks Department - Jan Britton was inexplicably promoted to Chief Exec of Sandwell Council in 2010 where he was nicknamed, "the big, f**, Parkie". One of the Councillors involved in the bizarre appointment told us that the Labour leadership [sic] thought he "could get things done". He proved to be weak and biddable. In 2012 he wrote an infamous email to all staff stating that they must kowtow (like him) to the political leadership. Very quickly Britton's reign became synonymous with corruption, cronyism and incompetence. Full details can be found in multiple posts of The Sandwell Skidder blog:
https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/
The Labour leadership [sic] knew he was too feeble to stop their nefarious schemes and kept him in post for an incredible nine years of failure. The curious thing was that whenever there were any investigations into the deteriorating situation at Sandwell, Britton's name seemed to be absent from such documentation as existed. It became apparent that, in addition, to his Council-issued iPhone he used an encrypted Blackberry for much traffic. Very recently it has been established that he was also using a private email account for official business. There is a further allegation (as yet unproven) that he was also using WhatsApp so that he was distanced from the growing wrongdoing and corruption on his watch. Questions are being raised whether this "off the record" conduct was malfeasance and/or misconduct in public office and this is an ongoing issue.
Another lowlight of his gruesome Sandwell career was the failure of its Children's Services on his watch - another matter which required Government intervention. Britton took no personal responsibility even though he had involved himself in the abject history of failures but attacked his cadre of social workers instead. This grotesque slur caused widespread anger and offence.
Britton was eventually kicked-out without any compensation above his statutory/contractual entitlement - an extremely rare occurrence in the rip-off world of Local Government employment (you see, it CAN be done). The principal cause of his denouement was that he was very actively involved in subverting a Standards Investigation into Labour Cllr Simon Hackett (again, see the Sandwell Skidder blog for the gruesome details). And whilst he escaped perjury charges after giving false evidence on oath in criminal proceedings, Sandwell MBC itself reported him to West Midlands Police (where Britton had many friends and who employed his son) as they found written evidence that he had colluded with a witness (another employee) whilst preparing their police statements in the same criminal matter.
This week the Government has taken the extraordinary step of putting SMBC into special measures without the Labour Authority being financially bankrupt (it has been morally bankrupt for years). This follows repeated concern about the regimes of Britton and his relatively short-lived successor, David Stevens (also "sacked" but apparently with a huge - as yet undisclosed - pay-off of taxpayers' money). The Department of Levelling-Up made the following damning statement about the disastrous misrule of Britton and Stevens whilst appointing Commissioners to try and lance the poisonous boil they created:
'The move comes after an external review revealed a "deeply troubling picture of mismanagement and of ineffective scrutiny and accountability arrangements" at the council.'
The Minister of State, Kemi Badenoch MP, found "clear evidence of the failings at Sandwell Council".
Despite his truly shocking record and sacking by Sandwell the politicians at West Oxfordshire District Council, Forest of Dean District Council, Cotswold District Council and Cheltenham Borough Council thought Britton was just the man to run their adminstrations via their supposedly "arms-length" Company, Publica Group! Why? Hardly had he been kicked out of Oldbury Council House that these guys and gals raced to acquire his pathetic "services"! And there you have it - no matter how awful you are, you still get a seat on the Local Government gravy train!
iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com
