Hustings number eight: Reading 31/5/12

Reading CLPs have organised the eighth hustings - thank you!

Thursday 31st May, 2012 8pm

UNISON South East, St. Giles House, 10 Church Street, Reading.

I hope to see you there.

Hustings number six: Buckingham 23/5/12

Buckingham CLP have organised the sixth hustings - thank you!

The Council Chamber, Cornwalls Meadow, Buckingham MK18 1RP (opposite Waitrose and adjoining the Community Centre) 8:00 p.m. Wednesday 23 May 2012

I hope to see you there.

Hustings number five: Milton Keynes 19/5/12

Milton Keynes (N&S) CLP have organised the fifth hustings - thank you!

The hustings slot will happen towards the end of the Milton Keynes CLP AGM on Saturday 19 May, 10.30am to 12.30pm. The Cross & Stable Community Centre, Downs Barn Boulevard, Downs Barn, Milton Keynes, MK14 7RZ

I hope to see you there.

Hustings number four: Wokingham 15/5/12

Wokingham CLP have organised the fourth hustings - thank you!

Jubilee Room,Town Hall Market Place, Wokingham, RG40 1AS - 7.30pm - Tuesday 15 May.

I hope to see you there.

Hustings number three: Oxford 11/5/12

Oxford E with Oxford West & Abingdon CLPs have organised the third hustings - thank you!

Bishops Mews Campaign Centre, Oxford, OX4 6HD - 7.30pm - Friday 11 May.

I hope to see you there.

Hustings number seven: Slough 24/5/12

Slough CLP have organised the seventh hustings - thank you!

Thursday 24th May, 2012 7.30pm

Chalvey Working Mens club, 52 Chalvey High Street, Slough.

I hope to see you there.

Hustings number two: Banbury 5/5/12

Banbury CLP have organised this second hustings - thank you!

The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury OX16 5QE - 10.30am - Saturday 5 May.

I hope to see you there.

Manifesto ideas to be discussed & developed…

• Yes to innovation, efficiency and value for money, no to rampant, ideological and ‘chummy’ privatisation 
• Yes to high visibility and resilient local policing, no to any unfair distribution of scarce police & community safety resources 
• Yes to policing that works (evidence based), no to policing that does not
• Yes to human rights, no to any attempts to water down our historic and proud commitment to freedom & fairness 
• Yes to real and respectful community engagement, no to consultations that just go through the motions 
• Yes to policing that focuses on tackling harm and hate, no to policing that overlooks people who already feel ignored 
• Yes to prevention, no to endless quick fix responses
• Yes to restorative justice that reduces offending, no to retributional justice that increases it 
• Yes to proper funding, no to draconian cuts 
• Yes to fair working conditions and pay for police officers and staff, no to imposing new working arrangements in a way that would make a Victorian mill owner blush 
• Yes to carefully blended neighbourhood policing teams with a suitable range of skills and powers, no to beat policing on the cheap as stage one in outsourcing local patrol
• Yes to imaginative and slim procurement that (for example) develops local apprenticeship schemes and boosts our economy, no to bureaucratic and inefficient procurement that reduces value for money for local tax payers
• Yes to making sure that victims are supported with dignity and respect, no to cuts in services available to help victims of crime rebuild their lives
• Yes to tackling anti social behaviour robustly (especially where vulnerable people are being victimised), no to action that criminalises people who are not criminals
• Yes to local partnerships making a difference through empowering communities to improve community safety, no to dry and dusty talking shops that fail to represent the diversity of society
• Yes to tackling disproportionate stop & search tactics, no to all forms of racism (and other 'ism's) getting in the way of effective community engagement

These are just my early ideas and I am very keen to hear from party members and supporters what you want to say Yes and no to... please post your ideas below.

Thank you.

Hustings number one: Amersham 26/4/12

All party members welcome from across Thames Valley to this first hustings organised by Chesham and Amersham CLP (thanks!) 

8pm in the lounge room of Amersham Community Centre (Chiltern Avenue, Amersham, HP6 5AH) - Thursday 26 April 2012.

I hope to see you there.

In a nutshell...

I have my first hustings on Thursday. So I have been thinking about how to explain who I am, why I want to be the Labour candidate and why I think I am the best person for the task. So in a POLICE nut shell:

Passionate: very committed to policing and serving the community through this position – planning to spend most of the next six months actively campaigning

Occupation: been working with police on strategy & leadership since 1988 – with Thames Valley, other forces and wider national justice agencies. Issues: knife crime, collaboration & governance etc.

Labour: campaigning for Labour since 1974 as activist, party official & trade unionist, currently one of eight Labour councillors in Buckingham & CLP agent.

Insight: studied, lived and worked in Reading, Oxford & Buckingham – no satnav for Thames Valley needed. Looking forward to listening to people from across Bucks, Oxon & Berks

Campaigning: committed to win through good organisation, reaching out to diverse communities and focusing on concerns about policing cuts and privatisation

Egg: works directly with Chief Police Officers (with ‘scrambled egg’ braid on their collars) – knows what questions to ask to make them wriggle but not squirm

A worrying prelude or just an operational response to the circumstances?

"Former Home Secretary David Blunkett has criticised plans to replace traditional beat bobbies with police community support officers (PCSOs)."

Full BBC news story here

Could we see this happening in Thames Valley?

Is such a move a prelude to outsourcing PCSOs to a private sector supplier...?

You can replay my live microblogging of the South Yorkshire Police Authority meeting by using the hashtag #sypameeting on twitter. Some tweets from SYPA there too. 

My answers to my ten (Guardian) questions

Some weeks ago the Guardian posted an article of mine on the “Ten questions for potential police and crime commissioners”. (You can read the article here.) Several PCC contenders, including Tory and Independent ones, have referenced my article and given their answers. I must now, of course, answer my own questions…

1. This year, a number of police authorities have taken a one-off grant from the government in order to reduce their precept and the impact of the cuts. There is no guarantee that this money will continue which means that next year, the new PCCs may have to make even bigger cuts or seek higher precepts. If you had been elected last year, what would you have done and why? Would you have chosen to take the one-off grant or not?

The short answer is yes. The state of police finances are so tight, I could not have justified refusing this money this year. The other option, of course, would have been to raise the precept but I would probably not have risked the battle with the Police Crime Panel over this matter when this money was on offer. I suspect the debate would have gone down to the wire with the consequent instability for the Chief Constable and her team in planning budgets being no good to anyone. I describe myself as being on the pragmatic left which includes knowing which battles are worth fighting and which are not.

And yes, I am very aware that by not increasing the precept this year this could damage future budgets (lower base from which to work) and therefore the independence of Thames Valley Police Service. TVP and the TVPA have in the past focused on the long game of shifting much of their funding to local precept which has given the service a good deal of resilience from being bounced by central government grants. By accepting the grant this year, Thames Valley Police Authority has gone in the other direction and so the worry is: what happens next year? 

But it will be a different matter next year. It will be interesting to see what the candidates put in their manifestos. If I am the candidate, as I hope to be, then please watch this space. (But do know that the long term budget signed off by the Police Authority a few weeks ago does include precept rises for coming years…)

2. The new Act gives PCCs the power to "commission policing services from the chief constable (or other providers)". How do you envisage using this power and what risks do you foresee?

The short answer is very, very carefully! I am not opposed to all outsourcing and commissioning of other agencies – how could I be since I have spent most of my career being one of those agencies. See below*

But… and this is a big ‘but’ – there are huge dangers in commissioning outside agencies for commissioning’s sake. I have been around long enough in the business of strategy and management to spot a fashion when I see one. And I can also spot bad deals as well. For example I have always been very sceptical about the benefits of PFI. And now we are seeing examples such as A4E as well. I could go on. Payment by results sounds like a good idea but will it be?

One of the biggest risks to all this is that the police service will increasingly fragment into a series of contracted parts where coordinated action on crime & community safety will become more and more difficult to achieve. Moreover I fear that if (say) police community support officers are contracted out, street patrol will become the preserve of private companies where members of the public will only see police constables in times of stress. This is hardly a recipe for boosting policing by consent.

So I am resolutely an arch commissioning sceptic as opposed to enthusiast. (Some of my concerns can be found in my Guardian article of a few weeks ago here.)

And I think this will become a bigger issue as time proceeds as the public become more aware of what is happening and the risks & downsides that are emerging. As evidence of this my tweet of a few days ago where I said "Please RT if you feel even just a tad concerned about police privatisation.. RT lots if you're really worried! Ta" was retweeted over a 50 times in the next few days.

*When Thames Valley commissioned me and the firm I used to work for back in 1992 to develop and run a cascaded Leadership development programme (called Leadership in Action) for the force, I grabbed the opportunity with gusto. I spent several weeks in Sulhampstead with some great police officers as I ‘trained the trainers’. (I still have the certificate for winning the Karaoke competition in the bar one night with my rendition of ‘Michelle’!) This was the beginning of my work as a leadership & strategy adviser / facilitator with not just Thames Valley but many other police services and partner justice agencies since then.

3. How do you plan to forge a constructive relationship with the chief constable, and what will you be doing to avoid or handle conflicting views and priorities?

I have the hugest respect for Chief Constable Sarah Thornton. She is doing a very tough job in a very tough climate with great professionalism, élan and good humour. If I am elected, that will be my starting point. I don’t know what Sarah thinks of me (we have met and corresponded several times) but I would expect that she will to engage in building a positive, productive and professional relationship. 

My aim will be to listen and seek to build a solid partnership. I will absolutely avoid even thinking about telling her what to do in her professional practice. That is not my style nor indeed what the legislation allows. I will instead ask lots of questions and seek to represent the views and concerns of the Thames Valley electorate. 

I plan on talking with her about priorities in great detail and examining the various scenarios where one matter is given precedence over another. And I also plan to keep talking about the talking as well. Trust will be key.

4. On the basis that limited police resources need to be deployed in proportion to where and when there is greatest risk of harm to members of the public, as PCC what action will you take to ensure your police force is doing this optimally?

My first action will be take a close look at how resources are deployed around Thames Valley. The force already has a formula for deciding on the level of resource given to Slough vs. Witney (for example) based upon need and incidence of crime etc. Notwithstanding the need to have a resilient spread of resources across all areas of Thames Valley, I will be seeking reassurance that the ‘thin blue line’ in (say) Reading is not being stretched even thinner because it is slightly ‘fatter’ than the risk of harm suggests than it needs to be in (say) Chipping Norton. 

There could be a problem and there could not be a problem at all. I don’t know, but it is a matter I would wish to investigate on the basis that I believe in the fair and proportionate (to the risk of harm) deployment of scarce policing resources. Policing for the many not the few, as it were.

5. Given the focus on the relationship between the police and the news media, what would you hope to achieve in your first 100 days of office in this respect?

Some years ago I read a piece in the Oxford Star which reported on a public meeting where a well-respected and experienced police inspector addressed a public meeting about the (reducing) rates of crime in their area. So far, so good. Except then the journalist went on to spend a half of the article to reporting on a single resident who wanted to say that things were so much worse in his opinion. This was not the general feeling of the meeting, but one person alone giving his view, without any evidence to back it up. I was left feeling angry so I phoned the journalist up and asked him why he gave equal space to this single individual. He muttered something about ‘balanced journalism’ and I said it was imbalanced to give equal status to a single person with a gripe. 

I also recall working with Watford Council and Police on a large strategic planning event (lots of diverse people and agencies working together sharing ideas – it is one of my professional specialities) to assemble ideas on what more could be done in the town to tackle crime and the fear of crime. (I have always loved the title we came up with which was ‘Fearless in Watford’ as it neatly summarised what the whole conference was about.) 

We wanted to invite the local media (newspaper editors especially) to engage in a dialogue but they only wanted to report on the event rather than examine their role in fostering or reducing the fear of crime in the town. They never showed up.

So in my first 100 days, I would plan to have dialogues with all the main media in the Thames Valley and find out what more they are prepared to do to tackle the fear of crime and maybe even crime itself. I hope we can explore some imaginative ways in which their contribution to the health and well-being of the Thames Valley public can be enhanced. This is my aim.

6. How much do you worry that a large proportion of police resources spent on devising partnership protocols, emergency plans and interagency strategies etc, are broadly equivalent to all the effort that went into Year 2000 compatibility?

I don’t worry a lot because I trust that people to use their time wisely. But I do worry a little that a great deal of effort is often expended on producing what I call ‘strutegies’ where most of the time is spent on talking to the printers and making the document look pretty. I am more interested in ‘stractegies’ where the effort is spent on devising actions that will make a difference. 

In my role as PCC, I would want to explore how to create more ‘stractegies’ and fewer ‘strutegies’. 

7. It would seem that the fear of crime continues to rise despite the reductions in actual crime. What electoral promises will you make regarding this worrying trend?

This is a big problem in my view. Fear blights people’s lives. I don’t want that.

Despite the fact that the Labour Government was the only government in history to leave office with less crime than when it came to power in 1997, the level of fear of crime had increased. (Indeed I lobbied hard, but unsuccessfully, to get the fear of crime included in the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act). 

Tackling fear of crime is a tricky problem as well. At this stage (and this may change) all that I can promise is that I will make fear a priority for my attention and I will spend time researching where it has been tackled successfully. There may be international and national examples of where good and significant progress has been made. This is not a promise (as I do not think I can honestly give such an undertaking) but I will commit to doing all that I can do so that there is less fear of crime at the end of four years than there will be at the start. 

8. As PCC you will be elected by the people of your area. However the police often work in other force areas (as happened with the riots last year) and maintain resources to tackle national (often organised) crime. What tensions do you foresee there and how will you resolve them?

If elected as PCC for Thames Valley I will be parochial: my focus will be on what needs to happen so that Thames Valley people are and feel safer in their homes, on their streets and in their study & workplaces. I make no apologies for that. 

However, ‘never say for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee’. We are all connected in an intricate web of relationships and consequences. Therefore if there is an organised gang based in Banbury but committing most of their crime in Solihull (say) I would have no problems that TVP resources are dedicated to supporting the West Midlands Police Service in their efforts to bring the gang to justice. If another riot happens in London in the Summer of 2013, then I can foresee supporting the Chief Constable sending some of her resources to assist.

Why? Firstly, because it is the right thing to do. The world is not a spread sheet where we can fraction out one cost centre (aka community) from another. Some things just have to be done because they are right, regardless of the cost. Secondly, there are national agreements and agreements (or memoranda of understanding) between police services that should be honoured. The last thing I want to see happen on my watch is the Balkanisation of a coherent British police service. And thirdly, we may need help too sometimes. I believe in collaboration. 

Indeed, I believe that far more has been achieved in the world through people working together that has been achieved by people competing. I think humans are naturally collaborative. My style as the PCC will be harness such spirit and make not just Thames Valley a safer place to live, work, study and play but also the rest of the UK as well (if not the World…)

9. Is policing a complex business or a complicated one?

It is, of course, both. 

Policing includes a rich and complicated mix of different functions not just the ones that feature on TV programmes. The range is wide. I look forward to appreciating even more just how wide.

And the police have to respond to the messiness and unpredictability of the world. They have to stay one step ahead of criminals who are becoming ever more sophisticated in their attempts to exploit the rest of us. Our lives are becoming more fragmented as regular work is harder to come by, alcohol and drugs are more available, internet transactions are becoming more common and so forth. The world is complex: a butterfly flaps a wing in South America and we have a hosepipe ban in southern England... Rodney King is beaten up in Los Angeles and people protest outside Brixton police station. (That second event happened, by the way.) We need police leaders who manage within complexity.

10. Police authorities have been criticised for being too invisible. How will you visibly connect with all the diverse communities of your area and bring democratic accountability to life?

The short answer is that I do not know yet. I do know that I want to have a debate with fellow Party members and beyond to everyone working in and with communities around Thames Valley as to how to do this. But I will make these three points:

My style is to listen not tell and I plan on doing a great deal of listening over coming months in the run up to the election and then beyond. I promise to listen lots – and lots.

I am a believer in big meetings where people with diverse interests and ideas come together to agree a common way forward. I plan on hosting many of these kinds of meetings around Thames Valley if I am elected. I promise I will make such meetings happen and that there will be more opportunities than ever before for the people of Thames Valley to comment on and influence the kind of policing delivered to them.

And thirdly, I promise not a week will go by in my 3½ years (the subsequent election will be in May 2016) when I am not out somewhere by a school gate, at a council meeting, in a café, in a shopping centre listening to people about not just about their concerns about local policing but their ambitions and dreams too. 

I believe that policing done well, removes the fear of and the consequences of crime & antisocial behaviour, so that people get more of a chance to achieve what they want for themselves, their families and their communities. This will be the belief that will drive me forwards as the Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner.

My articles about the role of PCC and wider policing matters

I have been mixed up with policing, justice and community safety matters for a nearly 25 years. And I have been writing & thinking about the Police & Crime Commissioner positions since they were first being mooted by the Conservative Party in the run up to the 2010 General Election.

To add to your understanding of the implications of these new political positions, here is a selected list of some of my contributions over the last few months. (From newest to oldest)

• PCC election purdah: Many questions to be resolved (Policing Insight 16/6/15)
• Future of PCCs: Scenarios for change (Policing Insight 3/6/15)
• 'Light touch' police and crime panels must shift scrutiny powers up a gear (Guardian 24/7/13)
• PCCs: time for a pit stop? (Policing Today 25/4/13)
• Police and crime commissioners: six pre-election questions (Guardian 23/10/12)
• Police & Crime Commissioner campaigns – it’s all to play for (LabourList 29/8/12)
• What the Tories have in mind for Police and Crime Commissioners…(LabourList 4/7/12)
• PCC Elections: Pulling out all the stops (LabourList 25/6/12)
• Police and crime commissioners: 13 more questions (Guardian 13/6/12)
• Building a campaign for real politics (Labour List 27/5/12)
• Police & Crime Commissioner elections: connecting with the margin and mainstream (Labour List 4/4/12)
• Outsourcing: where do you draw the line? (Labour List 18/3/12)
• Is increasing public sector commissioning a good thing? (Guardian 16/3/12)
• Policing is political already – why should police commissioners hide their allegiance? (Left Foot Forward 7/3/12)
• Police and Crime Commissioners: 7 questions for ‘independent’ candidates (Labour List 19/2/12)
• The Trade Union role in Police and Crime Commissioner elections in November (Labour List 13/2/12) 
• Is there a thin blue line for the new Police and Crime Commissioners? (Labour List 9/2/12)
• Ten questions for potential police and crime commissioners (Guardian 30/1/12)
• My blog link to the Guardian article where people could post comments and discussions (My professional blog 30/1/12)
• We need to start campaigning now for the Police Crime Commissioners (Labour List 17/10/11)
• Police Crime Commissioners – what might be in their manifestos? (Labour List 31/8/11)
• 13 questions to help you believe in the government's NHS listening exercise (Guardian 7/4/11) (an article about good... and bad consultation processes - and we know what happened in the end!)
• Police: who will be the leader? (My blog 14/1/11)
• Ten ways to keep the peace (Guardian 13/9/10)

Why select me as the Labour Party Candidate

Please consider these three reasons

> Community understanding

> Campaigning passion, flair, experience and creativity

> Extensive knowledge of and a deep commitment to good policing

I have lived, worked & studied across the Thames Valley area for the last 35 years. I went to University in Reading. I then worked in housing for the Borough Council and social care research for the Berkshire County. I moved to live in Oxford in 1985 where I worked in Health Education across the county. I lived there until 2008. I now live in Buckingham where I am one of eight Labour Town Councillors. I have also recently joined the membership committee of the Milton Keynes and North Bucks Chamber of Commerce.

I first tasted the excitement of campaigning in 1974 when I remember being bused around Portsmouth North, knocking up for Frank Judd in the closing hours of that February election night. I have been through the highs and lows of the intervening local and national elections since then. Currently I am the Agent for the Buckingham Constituency and last year we managed to get our first Labour District Councillor elected in a long while. I am excited about how we will create a dynamic & inclusive campaign for the PCC elections that will reach out and listen to all the communities of Thames Valley and harness social media to connect with people.

Since 1988 I have been working as a leadership and strategic adviser, facilitator and coach with Thames Valley Police and many other forces around the country. For example I coached Peter Neyroud through all his time as Chief Constable for Thames Valley Police and then during his time as CC of the National Policing Improvement Agency. I designed and facilitated two large conferences on gun & knife crime for the Home Office involving young people, community activists, senior police officers and civil servants. The first conference was held in Birmingham (with Caroline Flint as Home Office Minister in attendance) and the second in Oxford. I carried out a best value review of Thames Valley Police Authority some years ago. I am an independent assessor of Chief Superintendents wishing to become Assistant Chief Constables. I work across the criminal justice system and have worked on leadership, strategy and change with senior probation managers, youth offending team managers, prison governors, senior managers from local authorities and senior civil servants. I am also a trained mentor and spent time with three young men during my latter years in Oxford.

Not only am I an ardent supporter of focused police and community safety practice that tackles and prevents crime effectively, I know what questions to ask and where to look to obtain even better practice and results.

The mystery of Cllr Anthony Stansfeld (collected posts)

I thought I would put down here all of my postings about Cllr Anthony Stansfeld's 'CV' in one place. I have dated this 1/1/12 in order place it at the bottom although I complied this post on 26 October 2012. I have simply copied out all the previous posts with out any editing.
________________________________________

1) Cllr Anthony Stansfeld: Chairman of what exactly? (3/7/12)


So, the Conservative Parties in Thames Valley have finally selected their candidate to fight the election to become the first Police & Crime Commissioner of our local police service. He is one Councillor Anthony Stansfeld (you can find his biography here)

He has spent most of career either in the Army or in defence industry working with the Army. He is now “Chairman of a small company that has interests in water systems for agriculture and energy recovery systems for industry”. He also chaired the “Performance Committee of the Thames Valley Police last year, during this period the overall crime rate has dropped by 15%, the greatest drop of any Police Force in England and Wales”.

I assume he will be resigning from the Police Authority soon. 

Meanwhile he is an executive member of West Berkshire Council. He was born and bred in Newbury and West Berkshire.

But of what small company is Cllr Stansfeld Chairman?

His West Berkshire register of interests says he is “Chairman of FIDAS” but does not give an address for this company.

I have checked out Companies House records but I have drawn a blank.

His LinkedIn profile lists him as Chairman of ‘Prescience Switzerland’ in Reading, a bio technology business. 

As far as I can discover, this company has details here but Anthony Stansfeld is not listed as Chairman.

However making the link between him and Frank Iding, it would seem that they were both Directors of company called European Land Solutions Ltd and terminated their positions (along with David Hewitson) on 15 July 2008. This company is now dissolved but was previously called ‘European Landmine Solutions Ltd’. Janes list this company’s activities as “Detection and clearance of mines, marking and monitoring, mine risk education, surveys and training” 

So I am puzzled: of what company is Cllr Stansfeld currently Chairman? 

If it is ‘FIDAS’, may we have an address or website? I will have other questions to explore, but perhaps he or his spokesperson might like to come forward with this information soon. And maybe Cllr Stansfeld might like to expand on his statement in the West Berkshire register of interests.

UPDATE 5 July 2012

I have just written to West Berkshire Council:

Hallo
 I have been looking at the Register of Interests of Cllr Stansfeld. Under the section “5. My Employment or Business carried on by me”, he records that he is “Chairman of FIDAS”. However no address (postal, web or otherwise) is given for this organisation – either here or in the box underneath (6. The name of people/bodies who employ, or have appointed, me) where he simply says “ditto” and the address box is left blank. I have been unable to find a record of FIDAS anywhere.
 As I assume that a Member’s Register of interests should be clear, comprehensive and unambiguous, may I request that Cllr Stansfeld completes the information about this company so that council taxpayers may have a full knowledge of the interests of their councillors. I am sure that this is a matter that can be quickly resolved.
 May I also request, through you, that Cllr Stansfeld may wish to adjust his LinkedIn record which shows him as Chairman of a company called Prescience, Switzerland based in Reading (see attached). Unless of course, he is Chairman of this company as well as FIDAS. In which case he will wish to add it to his register of interests, I assume.
 My interest in all of this stems from Cllr Stansfeld’s selection as the Conservative candidate for the forthcoming election for the Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner.
 Many thanks
 Very best wishes

I am looking forward to the response... (part two of this story is above)


2)  What does Cllr Stansfeld chair? (part two) (9/7/12)

Ok - this is getting quite technical now. I received a reply to my email (see below) at the end of last week:

Dear Mr Harvey

I refer to your e-mail of 5th July addressed to the Council's General Information address which has been passed to me for comment and response

The Register of Interests is currently being updated by all members of this Council and others around the Country following the introduction of the revised Standards regime as part of the Localism Act 2011. Under provisions introduced by Government on 6th June members now have to reveal 'disclosable pecuniary interests' which are defined by Statutory Instrument.

Under the new provisions a member has to disclose any beneficial interest in shares or interests in securities in a company where that company operates within the 'area of the relevant authority'. In this instance, as the company is neither registered in the UK nor West Berkshire the interest does not fall within the provisions of the Act.
The requirements of the existing Register similarly refer to the

body(company) having a place of business or land in the 'authority's area' which neither of the two companies to which refer has. As far as I am aware the companies do not have any contracts with the Council and therefore there it is not necessary for Cllr Stansfeld to disclose their existence.

Under the previous Register individual members have to disclose the name of the organisation by whom they are employed and their position which Cllr Stansfeld has done as part of his disclosure under paragraph 5 of the Register. There is no statutory requirement to disclose the address of the employer although I would expect that to be the case if the body/company was based within the District. It will be a matter for Cllr Stansfeld to assess whether he feels it is necessary to disclose the additional information to which you refer when he completes his new Register in due course.

Hmm. So I mulled on this for a while, dug deep into my inner-terrier and I replied just now:

Many thanks for your detailed reply. It raises a couple of queries for me which I would beg your assistance with:
As a Town Councillor myself, I am naturally aware of the changes to the Standards Regime - indeed I have a new form to complete currently sitting in my in my email inbox. For the time being, I am not concerned with these changes and what information Cllr Stansfeld decides to declare or not under the new provisions.
I note from your own form as published on the internet that members are required to state (until the new provisions become active):
5. My Employment or Business carried on by me - Description of your employment activity
To this question, Cllr Stansfeld has replied “Chairman FIDAS”
I understand from the information you have provided me with that he has correctly answered the specification of that question. This is fine.
However the next question asks:
6. The name of people/bodies who employ, or have appointed, me
To this question, there are two spaces which I presume that you require to be completed (otherwise why have the two spaces)? You ask for Name of Employer AND Address of Employer. To this question, Cllr Stansfeld has answered “As above”, expressly leaving the address portion of this question blank.
Whilst I understand from you that there “is no statutory requirement to disclose the address of the employer”, your own procedure appears to require such a detail. Moreover, without such address detail (though I am sure it would not happen) a councillor could invent any organisational name and there would be no means of cross checking it.
And so, I would be grateful if you would supply a copy of your procedure (as was) as to the information requested from each councillor. I would like to know if Cllr Stansfeld was (either explicitly or implicitly) asked for an address of the “of people/bodies who employ, or have appointed, me” or not. Thank you.
Secondly, and your procedure will probably clarify this, but were councillors expected under the old regime to list all “of people/bodies who employ, or have appointed, me” or just one, more or none of their choosing? In other words, could a councillor choose not to declare a body (etc) that has appointed him/her under the old system?
If it is the case that Cllr Stansfeld was required to declare all such bodies, can you explain to me how it is that he did not declare his involvement with Prescience AG? Or is he no longer involved with this company or was he never involved? (Is his LinkedIn account now out of date, for example?)
Many thanks
Very best wishes 

3)  The mystery that is Councillor Anthony Stansfeld (part three) (27/7/12)


It is now (pretty well) three business weeks since I wrote to West Berkshire Council in response to their reply to my request to know more about the businesses that Cllr Stansfeld says he chairs. (See part two here and part one here for the back story.) I have not had a reply. This is curious since they replied to my first inquiry within one day.

Quite frankly, I am bemused as to why doesn't Cllr Stansfeld just make a clear statement about what companies (with accessible addresses / numbers etc) he is involved with. I am beginning to wonder if there is something a shade hidden here. The electors of Thames Valley may be wondering the same thing...

So, if I do not receive a reply from the West Berkshire Official by Tuesday (he is returning from holiday on the Monday it would appear from his out of office email), I may well have to resort to an FoI inquiry to prize the information out.

But come on Cllr Stansfeld! As you are standing to be the Conservative Police & Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, you surely want to be (and be seen to be) totally transparent about your various commercial (and other) interests?

Don't you?

4) Stansfeld mystery - part four (31/7/12)


Today I received this reply back from the West Berkshire Council monitoring officer:

My apologies for not getting back to you but there is very little I can add to my previous response.

However in answer to your specific questions regarding 'the procedure (as was)' as to the information requested from each councillor, each member was provided with a pre-printed form from Shaw & Sons (Cat. No. LGA1). The guidance notes to that form provide in respect of question 6: 'If you are employed or have been appointed give in this section the name of the person or body who employs you or appointed you. Please indicate whichever applies deleting the appropriate words in square brackets.'

Cllr Stansfeld followed the guidance in his response as far as I can see from his response. There was no request for details of the address of the body referred to under this section and as I mentioned previously there is no requirement to provide an address.

In regard to your second question you ask if councillors were expected to list all bodies who employ/appointed them. I would expect that any member who disclosed this information would disclose all such bodies. The completion of the form was a matter for each member, as I'm sure you are aware, and if they had any concerns they could have consulted myself as Monitoring Officer.

As far the other company you mention is concerned I have checked with Councillor Stanford and he is no longer involved with it. I am not responsible for the currency of his Linked in account so I am unable to comment as to whether it is out of date. 

Once again apologies for not responding sooner

This seems like a reasonable response from the Council officer. I do note that he says "I would expect that any member who disclosed this information would disclose all such bodies" [my added emphasis] and there is just a hint that perhaps Cllr Stansfeld may have omitted mention of Prescience AG. He says he is no longer involved with that business - but from when was he no longer involved?

So the mystery continues. 

Perhaps I ought to write to Cllr Stansfeld directly? 

Email sent:

Dear Councillor Stansfeld
You will have been aware that I have been trying to track down the company that the register of interests states that you are Chairman of. I understand the company is called FIDAS. I am usually pretty good at finding most things on the internet, but I have failed to find the details of this company. I would be very grateful if you could send me a postal or website address for this firm. Thank you.
Furthermore, Mr Holling informs me that you are no longer involved with Prescience AG although your linked-in account says that you are. Please can you tell me on what date you terminated your involvement with this company?
Many thanks. Sincerely yours

5) Stansfeld mystery (part five) (15/8/12)


As per my last blog post about the mystery that is Cllr Anthony Stansfeld (the Conservative PCC candidate for Thames Valley), I decided to write to him directly, asking him to shed some light on the two firms with which he appears to have / have had connections: the elusive ‘FIDAS’ (as mentioned by him on the West Berkshire Council register of interests) and ‘Prescience AG’ (as mentioned on his Linked-In account).

His replies were (shall I say) robust and not especially illuminating. I hesitate to bore you with all the details but here are some things that he wrote to me. In reply to my first email he opened with:

“Dear Mr Harvey, I have complied with all requirements of disclosure. My business interests, which have absolutely  nothing to do with either policing or military, which you suggest in your press releases, or also nothing to do with you. You appear to be purely on a political exercise trying to damage my reputation.”

And later in the same email:

“I no longer have anything to do with Prescience, a company that never traded, so was disposed of”

So I wrote back:

“It was when I went looking for more information about FIDAS that I drew a blank. While I am no internet geek, I can usually find what I am looking for on the net. And so I have raised questions in various quarters but I believe I have made no unsubstantiated accusations.  You can clear that matter up now, if you wish. But I note, so far, that you have chosen not to do this. Please allow me to repeat my question: what is the address of FIDAS?”

I have yet to receive a reply to this last question – including in a second email he sent to me. All that the voters of Thames Valley currently know is that FIDAS could be

a) fictional
b) a spelling error
c) another company that also never traded
d) just what Cllr Stansfeld says it is: “a small company that has interests in water systems for agriculture and energy recovery systems for industry” or
e) something else entirely.

Amongst the seven Nolan principles of public life is the idea of “Accountability - holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office” [with my added italics]. I note his phrase “nothing to do with you.” Hmm.

I maintain that to merely give a name of a company with no address is not being transparent, it is precisely the opposite.

Cllr Stansfeld may believe that I am the only one asking these questions, but I suspect as we get closer to November 15th, more people will be asking these and other questions too. If you would like to write to Cllr Stansfeld yourself – his various addresses are available from the West Berkshire Council site

Meanwhile I am off to do some more research to see what I more I can find out. Wish me well.

Cllr Stansfeld may be happy to remain a mystery to the voters of Thames Valley. I suspect that many more people will want to know a good deal extra about the person who wishes to become the Police & Crime Commissioner once they fully understand just how much ‘quasi presidential’ power the PCC will wield.



6) Anthony Stansfeld mystery - solved? (part six) (15/8/12)


Could the mystery be solved? After doing some more research, I have now managed to locate a company called Fidas AG. Details can be found here

Why do I think this could be ‘the’ FIDAS mentioned by Cllr Stansfeld:

- The name is the same

- It is in a German speaking part of Switzerland – and press releases about Cllr Stansfeld’s bid to be PCC have mentioned a ‘German based company’ (see here) 

- It shares the same address as Prescience AG (as mentioned on their website: Rathausstrasse 7, CH-6340 Baar Switzerland), a company we know that Cllr Stansfeld has had connections with

- Bruno Bosshard is the ‘supervisory board member’ and according to Linked-In, people who view Bruno's page, also view Cllr Anthony Stansfeld’s page (a tenuous link, I know)

So is this the company, Cllr Stansfeld? Or are these details coincidental?

The tricky bit, however, is that there is no mention it being a “green technology research and development company”. Instead the company’s listed purpose is “Erwerb, Halten und Verwalten sowie Veräusserung von Beteiligungen” which means (care of Google Translate) “Acquisition, holding and management and sale of investments”.

So perhaps the mystery has not yet been solved?

Over to you Cllr Stansfeld for clarification…

7) Cllr Stansfeld has yet to resign from the Police Authority (31/8/12)


As regular readers of this blog know, the TaxPayers' Alliance are not my favourite bunch of bunnies as I think they think far too much concerned about cost and not enough about value. They have also yet to support my campaign to have the Freedom of Information Act extended to all organisations spending our money - be they public services or businesses on contract etc.

However, in my inbox this morning arrives an email from them saying "Councillors' allowances are often reasonable compensation for people making a valuable contribution to their local community. But it is hard to justify why some authorities are paying much more than others, and big increases at a time when taxpayers are under so much pressure. And with other perks too, there is a real danger councillors start to see their job as representing the council to the people, not the people to the council".

The big increases bit stood out for me. I can sign up to that. If any council remuneration committee has increased expenses by more than inflation, let alone by more than the increase in the national average wage, that is pretty shabby in my opinion. It smacks of councillors looking after themselves rather than the communities they represent. And I say this without knowing the political colour of the councils involved.

But what of PCC candidates and in particular those who currently sit on Police Authorities? It seems reasonable to me that, given the law (you cannot sit on a police authority and be a PCC etc), that if you have started campaigning to become a PCC you should resign from being a member of your police authority. To do continue being a member and continue claiming an allowance... just does not seem right to me. Indeed, it seems pretty inappropriate.

Again I am saying this without the knowledge of what is happening around the country so I may have upset some Labour PCC candidates. Nevertheless, I stand by what I say.

But I also know, because I had it confirmed to me this morning, that Cllr Anthony Stansfeld, the anointed Conservative PCC candidate for Thames Valley has NOT resigned from Thames Valley Police Authority. He has had plenty of time to resign since he was selected (back in the middle of July).

Is Cllr Stansfeld still claiming an allowance from the PA which is (indirectly) helping him fund his campaign?

Is Cllr Stansfeld still getting privileged access to information about policing in Thames Valley by dint of his membership of the PA?

Is Cllr Stansfeld still getting privelged access to police staff and officers by dint of his membership of the PA?

Why hasn't Cllr Stansfeld resigned yet?

Perhaps the Police Authority or Cllr Stansfeld might like to answer these questions. (Although I am not holding my breath regarding Cllr Stansfeld who has yet to answer my questions about the location of his business interests... see here, here and more below)



8) Does Cllr Anthony Stansfeld believe in transparency and accountability? (21/9/12)

OK, so where are we up to with understanding Cllr Anthony Stansfeld’s commercial interests and whether we know all there is to know? This is what I think I have established:

• His West Berkshire register has now changed to comply with new regulations around the declaration of interests (as I understand matters). The full text can be seen here. It now says he is “Chairman of FIDAS - not registered in UK and with no interests in the UK. Unpaid” 
• So we still know little about FIDAS unless it is a company registered in Switzerland called Fidas AG (see earlier blog to see the connection ) However, this company states that its purpose is ““acquisition, holding and management and sale of investments”.
• Cllr Stansfeld states on his published CV to be “currently Chairman of a small company that has interests in water systems for agriculture and energy recovery systems for industry” (see here)
• So if Fidas AG is an investment type company it could well have interests in water systems etc. just as it might also have investments in many other kinds of (unknown) businesses as well. There is no website and not much more information about this company and precisely what its business is. What conclusions would you draw from this: Switzerland, investment type company, paucity of information?
• I now have a copy of Cllr Stansfeld’s register of interests for his Police Authority work. Interestingly, it does not mention FIDAS at all, nor indeed, as it happens does it list his membership of West Berkshire Council (I have raised this with the PA). The document I was sent says it was updated on 29/8/12… However it does mention (under Name of Employer or Name of Firm of which I am a Partner/Remunerated Director) the following: “ELS, Redhill Chambers, 28 High Street, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1RJ”. This is interesting as when I search on “els redhill” I get links to European Land Solutions. As I have established before, Cllr Stansfeld has indeed had a relationship with such a business (see this below) but he terminated his involvement with this business in 2008 and it was formally dissolved as a company a year or so later. Just to repeat, the document was updated on 29/8/12… (I also cannot account for the fact that the last company address of ELS was in Peterborough not Redhill…) And the website that the ELS links point towards include this which seems (now) to be a querky and slightly dodgy website in Japanese. Huh ???
• His LinkedIn account still shows him as Chairman of a company called Prescience AG which Cllr Stansfeld has told me in an email never traded even though it still has a live website presence. The website is neatly designed and describes the company as Turning today’s innovative technologies into tomorrow’s universal applications in target markets in the Middle East, Australasia, Europe and Asia. Working with Europe’s leading innovators in the water and energy sectors, PRESCIENCE AG helps with the development of new and significant technologies in territories where team members have gained considerable experience. This sounds rather like the company described in Cllr Stansfeld’s CV. But it never traded according to him. Hmm...

I am almost getting bored by all this now as I have met with so many cul-de-sacs and information that just does not add up for me. But I say almost… because in the end, Cllr Stansfeld is pitching for high and powerful political office. I think the electorate have a right to know about all of his commercial interests whether they are in this country or not. Right now, I think we know very little.

I will continue to dig… (and all help with the spade work much appreciated)

Here for your information are links to all the previous blog posts on this matter:
Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four | Part five | Part six | Part seven


9) The truth is simple? (part nine) (25/9/12)


I am now officially and totally confused about Cllr Stansfeld's commercial interests.

Thames Valley Police Authority have now kindly sent me a copy of his Register of Interests as at March 2012. First, here is a clip of the one 'updated' for August:

And now the one for March this year:

So here are a number of questions now outstanding:

• Why did Cllr Stansfeld remove reference to being Chairman of the Sefinor Group?
• Who is the Sefinor Group? (Again I can find no easy reference to this organisation anywhere though see below)
• Does the Sefinor Group exist?
• How come mention of the Sefinor Group appears to have been omitted from his record at West Berkshire Council - although perhaps it was there in a previous version?

Questions and more questions: and still no answers from Cllr Stansfeld....

And there I was thinking we were getting somewhere.... (see blog post below)

In my research around Sefinor, I did turn up this interesting page. (Remember we have established that Cllr Stansfeld was involved in a company called Prescience AG along with, among others, Frank Iding.) This page is interesting on two counts:

• "Mr Iding has been Managing Director of Prescience AG since 2007...  Mr Iding has wide international experience gained through his work for the two companies and in his previous role as Chief Executive Officer of the Sefinor Group – a group of companies based in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere specialising in landmine and unexploded ordnance clearance and risk management" So, at least in 2009, the Sefinor Group of companies existed although who knows what has happened to it now (Cllr Stansfeld?)
• Now secondly and this is a crucial bit. Note the statement "Mr Iding has been Managing Director of Prescience AG since 2007" on a document dated 2009. That is two years and note the tense of the statement. In an email that Cllr Stansfeld sent to me back in August he said "I no longer have anything to do with Prescience, a company that never traded, so was disposed of" [my highlight] A company that never traded but existed for two years (at least) with a Managing Director... How are these two statements both true? I am intrigued to find out.

So is the truth simple here? It doesn't feel like that to me at the moment...



10) Very unattractive? (part ten) 9/10/12


During the hustings last night, I asked a question of the panel:

Most of you have written and all of you have talked this evening about your leadership experience at running a business, as being part of your bid to be recognised at the best PCC candidate. Please will you give specific names and details of all the businesses you have led in recent years, together with details of where the voting public can find out more about the actual financial performance of these businesses so that we can assess your leadership credentials.

The answers were illuminating. Rather than try to record what people said in note or verbatim form, I have uploaded a file to two places so that you can hear the response from the panel:

• Audioboo (first three minutes only)
• My Google drive (full .wma file with responses from all - but note it is about 15Mb)

It would appear that my research into the commercial interests of Cllr Stansfeld has upset him somewhat. You may have some sympathies with him and think that his business is none of my business (etc.) Please allow me to state again why I have been doing this:

• It all started by accident. I was curious to find out more about the man so I went to looking and found his register of interests on the West Berkshire Council site. He listed and still lists a company called Fidas. His register (now) says this company is based abroad. I could find no record which got me wondering...
• I did some more digging and found out several facts which don't appear easily to stack up with each other. (See my earlier posts for all the information - here and later here) There is significant inconsistency between several public records. 
• The position of PCC is one that has considerable power, almost presidential power. I think the voting public have a right to know about the background of a person who is bidding to become the first PCC. As Tim said last night, it is about accountability and transparency.
• Do note that Cllr Stansfeld's current bid to become PCC is partly built upon his statement that he is (not was) "currently Chairman of a small company that has interests in water systems for agriculture and energy recovery systems for industry" (from his short CV on the West Berkshire Conservative Association website which I assume Cllr Stansfeld either wrote or approved) Other websites repeat this information such as 'Your next PCC'

Cllr Stansfeld can clear all this confusion up very easily. I would be happy to print whatever statement he wishes to make. All he has to do to state clearly the name and address of the company he currently chairs and which is referred to in his CV. (He may then have to adjust various registers of interest as well, I don't know...) Indeed, he may be chairman of more than one since his TVPA record currently refers to ELS and the WBC one refers to Fidas. An explanation of why these two records differ would be helpful too.

I am not interested in going back many years. I am interested in recent times. I am not greatly interested in Cllr Stansfeld's exploits in Borneo (worthy though I am sure they were) or his leadership of Pilatus Britten Norman which, according to his LinkedIn profile, he left 16 years ago. Those two roles (among others in his earlier years) were very different to the PCC role, I would contend. (The PCC is role is much more about influence and leadership than it is about management and command.)

It seems to me that Cllr Stansfeld thinks it is only me that is curious about his credentials and interests. I can assure him that is not the case if the people who have contacted me and others about these matters is any indication.

And personally, I really want to get onto policy and just what Cllr Stansfeld is promising the public of Thames Valley if he becomes PCC. His website is still pretty well void of all policy. I will be more than happy to move on from my "very unattractive" digging into his commercial interests when all is clear.

Over to you Cllr Stansfeld....


11) Anthony Stansfeld: the facts do not add up (UPDATED) (21/10/12)


Anthony Stansfeld has been announced at the Conservative Party Candidate in the election of the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner. Some of the facts about him do not add up:

• His CV on the West Berkshire Conservative Association website describes him as currently being “Chairman of a small company that has interests in water systems for agriculture and energy recovery systems for industry”. Note that word “currently”.
• Thames Valley Police Authority sent me a copy of his recently revised (August this year) register of interests where he states he has in interest in an organisation called ELS (and no others).
• At a hustings meeting in Reading two weeks ago he said that he “was” a non-executive chairman of ELS and he “had” a very small non-executive chairmanship of a research company (though he did not name it). Note the past tense in both of his statements. 
• His statement of his interests on the West Berkshire Council website says he is a Chairman of a company called FIDAS. This register too has been fairly recently updated in line with new Government guidelines.
• Linked-In shows him as being Chairman of a company called Prescience AG. The website of this company states that the MD of the company is one Frank Iding. Mr Iding cites his being MD of this company for at least two years on an official US government form
• In emails that Anthony Stansfeld sent to me on the 2nd and 3rd August this year, he stated that ELS “was closed down some years ago” and Prescience was “a company that never traded, so was disposed of”. 

These facts are not consistent with each other, in my view. On several occasions, I have asked Cllr Stansfeld to clear these matters up and show how they might be made consistent. He has not done so. With this blog post I am asking him again.

Before too long, the voting public of Thames Valley will have a chance to elect their first Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC). The person filling these shoes will need to operate by the highest standards of public office which include the principles of integrity, openness and honesty. The PCC will a critical role in the governance of local justice services.

The facts above speak for themselves.

Is Cllr Stansfeld the right person for the job of PCC? Personally, I think not. What does the wider public think? Will any of this matter to people when they come to vote on 15th November?

I hope it does. I really hope it does. 

UPDATE: 

Just noticed some discussion about this and related blogs on some forums based down Newbury way. One person said "Just perusing some links up on 'the other forum' they are obviously from the 'Labour' perspective, but this Councillor does seem a little 'economical with the truth' somehow." (link) and another wrote "Probably doesn't amount to a hill of beans (one for the oldies there) but interesting reading all the same. Especially the getting around the members interests disclosure."

Hill of beans? True, I have uncovered facts about Anthony Stansfeld's 'CV' that don't add up... I have not found any evidence of him (say) corrupting an official or being involved in the manufacture of badger culling equipment. But, the question the voters have to ask themselves when they come to cast their vote..

Would you employ someone who has been shown to have inconsistent statements on their job application?

My answer is, of course, no. And the reason it is a 'no' is all to with trust & confidence. If a person cannot get facts about themselves on their 'CV' lined up, then you have to wonder is that down to poor self organisation, a general cavalier approach to the truth, or do they have something bigger to hide or something else? I really don't know. All I know is there is doubt.

I am reminded of... (again for the oldies...)

For those who don't know, this is the former president of the USA, one Richard Nixon. This is a copy of an election poster that might be said to have derailed his campaign in 1960 such that JFK won. But he was later to become president succeeding Lyndon B Johnson. The rest is history.

I am not saying that Cllr Stansfield is like Richard Nixon, naturally. I am saying, that on the basis of the facts I have uncovered, I would not appoint him to any job, let alone the PCC.

12) Anthony Stansfeld: a compilation of his greatest hits (26/10/12)

As the Government website containing all the candidate statements went live today, I thought I would put together a compilation of all my blog posts about Cllr Stansfeld's 'CV' into one place. I have put it right at the bottom of the blog as it is quite long.

If you want to access it, here is the link.

You can follow my research and thinking in one easy to read place and perhaps deduce, like me, that the facts just do not add up...


13) An extraordinary allegation (UPDATED...) (31/10/12)


I have mentioned this below but I have now had a chance to review the webcast recording of the event in Aylesbury where Anthony Stansfeld made an extraordinary allegation. You can watch what he says by going here and scrolling through to 1 hour 42 minutes in. You will hear my colleague Labour Cllr Michael Beall ask a question and then Cllr Stansfeld's response.

Amongst his remarks he says:

"and you've gone through my bank accounts and expense claims in huge detail and I know that.."

I am really not sure how Cllr Stansfeld thinks I have the power to trawl through his bank account in 'huge detail' (which I assume would also be an illegal act were I have to have done it). But I can confirm here that I have neither gone through his bank accounts nor his expenses at all.

Now I would like Cllr Stansfeld to retract that statement and offer me an apology. He has the opportunity to do that below and I will happily print his statement. We can all make mistakes in the heat of the moment, and I would be prepared to forgive this one.

However, if he fails to acknowledge my objection to his public allegation, then I may have to reconsider my first reaction in the post below.

UPDATE (1/11/12): Late yesterday afternoon, I sent the email below to the email address published on his website. I had no reply by this morning, so I have now also written to his West Berkshire Council email address, which he has used in the past in writing to me. I await his response.

Dear Mr Stansfeld

On Monday evening in Aylesbury, in your response to a question from Cllr Michael Beall about your declarations of interests on the TVPA and West Berkshire Council websites, you appeared to me to allege that I had been trawling through your expenses and bank accounts. Specifically, and I quote from the recorded webcast, I believe you said "and you've gone through my bank accounts and expense claims in huge detail and I know that.."

First let me state clearly that I have never sought to examine your expenses – although if I had wished to they are public records. But I have not.

Moreover, I have not gone through your bank accounts. Not only would have I have no idea as to how I would gain access to such information but also it would be an illegal act, I understand. By saying what you said, I believe you have publicly accused me of something illegal. 

I think it is highly likely that you made this statement in the heat of the moment, as it were, and I would like to offer you the opportunity to retract what you said and perhaps even apologise. I will be happy to accept both. 

I look forward to your response. Thank you.
Very best wishes

UPDATE 2: I have just now received this email from Cllr Stansfeld. I am happy to accept his retraction and apology. (11.10, 1/11/12)

Mr Harvey,

I did not mean you had literally gone through my bank accounts and if I gave that impression I apologise. I am aware that you have made contact with the Council through FOI regarding my business interests and have been interested in my Council expenses.

I hope this clarifies the matter.

Yours sincerely,
Anthony

Although I am still curious about the expenses thing. It is not so critical naturally, but genuinely I have not be inquiring into his expenses. Hmmm....?

14) Questions about Anthony Stansfeld that we will probably never get answers to... (12/11/12)


Perhaps you have alighted on this blog post after searching for information about Anthony Stansfeld, the Conservative candidate for the Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner. Perhaps you are a regular reader of this blog. Either way, here are some questions which I hope may one day be answered:

• How come Anthony Stansfeld was selected over David Burbage (leader of Windsor & Maidenhead Council) and why has Cllr Burbage stayed so quiet in recent weeks?
• Why does Cllr Stansfeld talk so much about his time in Borneo and being MD of Pilatus Britten-Norman and so little about his time as a cabinet member of West Berkshire Council (a post much closer to being PCC)?
• Did that company export planes to Burma, Iraq and Iran in the 1990's and did he as  managing director approve those exports?
• Why did Cllr Stansfeld declare 'ELS' on his Thames Valley Police Authority register of interests but an entirely different company (FIDAS) on his West Berkshire Council declaration?
• Why has mention of him being "Chairman of a small company that has interests in water systems for agriculture and energy recovery systems for industry" now slipped off later CVs and his campaign newspaper?
• Given Cllr Stansfeld's understanding of the seven principles of public life, why has he got so tetchy with me investigating public records about his commercial and other interests? (And for the record again, I have not been trawling through his expenses or his bank accounts...!)
• Why do some of his pledges contradict each other?
• How come Cllr Stansfeld appears to believe that he has single-handedly improved performance of Thames Valley under his chairmanship of the TVPA sub committee on performance, overlooking the official police authority report which documents improvements and better scrutiny from well before his tenure?
• Why does he believe he is the best person for the job when the PCC role was designed to overcome the problems of police authorities, of which he has been a local member for several years?

I could go on. But one day perhaps, we might get some answers....