A brown envelope dropped through my letter-box last week.
Its contents concerned the woman on the far right of this picture.
Her name is Murziline Parchment and she is the “Head of the Mayor’s Office” at Tower Hamlets council, a job she landed soon after Lutfur Rahman’s victory in October 2010 largely because of her connections to Ken Livingstone.
She used to be Ken’s director of “major projects and service delivery” during his time at City Hall. Andrew Gilligan has written extensively about her, for example here.
Since then she has gained a reputation at the town hall for being Lutfur’s political brains. She’s also the person who signed off those dodgy-looking invoices from her political friend Gulam Robbani.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about her. Some tell me she is very able and I’ve no doubt she’s very suited to her current politically appointed role. But I’m also told some senior council officers view her with deep suspicion, that she sees herself as the real boss of a borough that still has no formal chief executive.
So perhaps it’s a touch ironic that she once harboured ambitions of becoming Tower Hamlets’ chief executive (and maybe still does).
Well, when I say “harboured ambitions”, I underplay it slightly: she actually applied for the position after Lutfur, then the council leader, sacked Martin Smith in 2009.
Here’s the first page of the document that arrived last week.
Her CV makes for outstanding reading on paper: student union president, barrister, Ken crony at the GLA, career break, boss of Lutfur’s office…
But there’s also a rather damning assessment of interview with headhunters. It’s a comprehensive rejection, scoring 7 Cs and 3 Ds in her 10 assessment tests.
The recruitment consultants described her performance as “very unconvincing”. They said she demonstrated good administrative skills but her “responses lacked substance” and that “she tended to deal with the issues at a process level but said very little about the issues themselves”.
“The responses were all fairly basic,” the report’s summary continues. “There was little analysis and she offered no meaningful insights. She showed little awareness of the political, managerial or partnership context. There were several items where it was not clear whether she had understood what the issues were but her responses were so general that it was difficult to be certain. There were some items where she appeared to be on the right lines but she did not follow her approach through or there were aspects of the scenario that she did not address.
“In summary, this was a disappointing performance.”
The overall summary concludes: “Based on her performance at interview, Murziline showed little that convinced she was ready for this level of role. Her lack [of] operational leadership experience makes her unsuitable for the role at this stage.”
Oh dear. Maybe she’s now gained the “experience”.
I guess the question is: was Lutfur aware in 2009 she had applied for the job (when Kevan Collins eventually secured the role)? And was he aware of the above assessment when he appointed her reportedly without any formal interview of application process to head his office in early 2011?
Are there lessons to be learned about how these pork-barrel roles are dished out in future?
Here are the links to the assessment, Murziline’s CV and her cover letter to the recruitment consultants.
(On page 4 you’ll also read that she “finds Tower Hamlets to be an exemplary borough”. I know we all say things in interviews, but… .)
Trial by Jeory 
one wonders what illegal methods have you used to obtain this confidential information and should we be sending the Leveeson to investigate the express?
Steveo – aka Tone, Jez, John Terry, Tony – the envelope arrived anonymously, just like your comment.
I’ve no idea how the sender got it and there’s no way of finding that out. But that’s not my concern. The disclosure of the contents are in the public interest.
a likely story ted. how did you deduce that it is in the public interest?
I’ll let you work that out for yourself, Steveo.
Here’s a clue, steveo
It was created by a device calling itself ‘terryscanner’
know any ‘Terry’s who have (or whose loved ones have) access to this stuff?
I haven’t looked at any of the documents yet – but am commenting now because one statement in the above struck me as extremely odd.
“when (Cllr Rahman) appointed her without any formal interview of application process to head his office in early 2011?”
How can the Council make ANY formal offer of a contract of employment to an individual without complete compliance with:
1) the requirements of the Council’s formal policy and human resources processes on all appointments to the staff of the Council
2) the requirements of all relevant legislation relating to equal opportunities.
Does anybody at the Council have an answer on this one?
I forgot to add – again without reading the documents – but my other initial thought was that the thrust of your ‘public interest’ story reminded me very much of the rationale given to me by headhunters for the differences between glowing CVs and poor performance in headhunters’ assessments of competency and interviews.
Bottom line, it’s very often a sad case of ego and ambition getting in the way of intelligence, competence and aptitude.
Making further enquiries to test the accuracy of statements in a CV can often be a fruitful exercise. Often with respect to aspects of a career or achievements which the applicant has neglected to disclose.
[…] always questioned by many. Now there seems to be substance to those concerns. The great Ted Jeory has been leaked an earlier application she made, in 2009, for the chief executive's job at Tower Hamlets council. And the assessment, by […]
That picture of Ken and his three henchmen is almost as amusing as the one of the fragrant Red Rose Party which adorns your blog Ted. keep up the good work!
Doesn’t really make sense this. On the one hand she’s the political brains of Lutfur Rahman. No one is accusing Lutfur of being bad at politics. But on the other hand “She showed little awareness of the political, managerial or partnership context”.
Sounds to me like every has had a bad job interview at some point.
The political brains? Really?
So if that’s true does that mean she’s told a porkie to the London Ambulance Service and breached the declaration relating to political activity required of any candidate for Non-Executive Public Office?
This website http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/news/news_releases_and_statements/appointment_of_new_non-executi1.aspx indicates that she failed to declare any political activity when she accepted the post of Non Executive Director of the London Ambulance Service which she was appointed to in 2011. It’s a mandatory declaration for all those involved with politics.
Presumably you can’t have it both ways. If the Head of the Mayor’s Office is a political appointment then she had to make a declaration as all her activity is political.
If the job is entirely nonpolitical – as are all senior local government posts – then it must comply with ALL the requirements of the Council’s policy and PLUS all the equal opportunities law relating to appointments.
So which is it?
Over to you Ted……….
Unbelievable Brown envelopes
Not Good
someones personal CV i would have thought that it was errrr
Personal and not for publishing
Brown envelopes through door…. Hmmmmm very cliched image of how reporters work, because its very cliche, it cannot be true??
Just like you said about my account of the cliched reporter style of ‘door-stepping’ someone’s front door to ask questions if you remember Ted?
If a Local Authority already has a competent Executive Mayor why does it need to employ a Chief Executive?
Delete the post, save around £200k per annum and keep the statue.
So wait…..someone applied for a job three years ago and didn’t get it? Scandalous! I wouldn’t be surprised if the person that put the brown envelope through your door did so to divert your focus from the current bad behaviour of the council. Sneering at someone’s interview performance is low; without context or any clear concerns about the individual’s current performance it looks like bullying. You say: ‘some tell me she is very able…But I’m also told some senior council officers view her with deep suspicion’ – that could apply to any number of key council people. Why pick on this woman?
“A job”? It was THE job–CEO.
But she now is one of the most powerful people in the council, a job she got, we understand, without any formal interview process.
You talk about diverting focus away from the “current bad behaviour of the council”, but she is that. She signed off dodgy looking invoices, something that’s now being investigated by the council’s fraud team. She advises Lutfur to say nothing at council meetings, she tells him not to answer people’s questions.
She’s in charge of his office, an office that is redirecting millions of pounds of public grant money to small community groups in what looks like a vote-buying exercise. More on that soon.
Are you saying there should be no scrutiny of such a role?
There should be scrutiny, most definitely, but posting someone’s CV and feedback on a blog isn’t scrutiny; it looks like a personal attack. The issue of the grants is serious and pressing, and I think it’s thrown up all sorts of issues about the way the council works, the way power, authority and influence operate and the way decisions are made. In all the conversations I’ve had and heard about it I haven’t heard Ms Parchment’s name mentioned once, which is why I’m surprised to see a post about her today. I look forward to your report with interest.
Not a personal attack. The cv is just a statement of facts, something people post on linkedin.
The assessment is of public interest partly because she was handed a powerful council role without proper process and now pulls many strings.
If someone were to send me the interview notes for other candidates, I’d v much consider posting them as well.
Am amazed that some seem to support the suppression of such detail. Transparency, particularly regarding high profile public sector roles, is a good thing.
What a great job these headhunters have done , i wonder if the council still works with a high integrity organisation like this or of if the cronies are recycling the management teams makes or not bothering to fill the jobs at all
heyyy! where did Josh Peck’s rose disappear on the blog pic???it appears he is holding a phantom rose….
He was holding an imaginary rose
He rose to the occasion….
Shumi… that is why the picture is amusing. He was pretending to hold a rose…duh!
who’s denying it’s amusing? I noticed it so mentioned it. stop being so patronising. It is you who fail to understand the humour in my comment!
She also got a Desmond at uni.
Why can’t the CEO just be neutral, a good staff manager and a good administrator? Who does it have to be someone with an agenda???
[…] My last post about Murziline Parchment’s failed application to become Tower Hamlets chief executive has caused a bit of a fuss at the town hall, I’m told. […]