Well, here’s a blast from the past. Do you remember my favourite thin-skinned council spin doctor, the one who ordered security guards to frog march me out of a council meeting because I told him quietly he was acting like a prick by stopping me doing my job?
The one I believe tried to get me sacked from the Sunday Express because I had used one of its scanners to copy a leaked council document?
The one who wasted £123,000 of council cash hiring PR consultants Champollion to try and undermine John Ware’s BBC Panorama documentary on Lutfur Rahman?
The one who spun the true £1.6m cost of producing East End Life?
The one who before he took up his £100k a year job at Tower Hamlets council was a Labour councillor in Haringey where when in charge of social services he complained about regulators giving his department a zero star rating in the wake of the Victoria Climbie scandal?
There are many other fond memories of dear Takki Sulaiman, I’m sure.
When it became clear that the writing was on the wall for Lutfur, Takki quickly deserted the sinking ship and in January 2015 headed for the head of communications job at Aberdeen council. Not surprisingly, his £80k appointment immediately caused a political row.
A little over two years later and after what appears to be a mixed record with the council, his post was made redundant. He now runs some sort of holiday home on the shores of Loch Awe, according to the Press and Journal. Good luck to him; I’m sure the Trip Advisor ratings will be fabulous.
And the newspaper has this gem: that his golden goodbye settlement was £63,000. That’s £63k of public money – £30k tax free.
I don’t think any more comment is needed.
Here’s the full piece from the Press and Journal’s John Hebditch.
A former city council spin doctor was given a £63,000 golden goodbye when he left the authority last year.
Former head of communication and promotion Takki Sulaiman, who was known as the authority’s “happiness tsar”, departed last May.
New figures from the Taxpayers’ Alliance have shown he was paid a salary of £80,697 – and received a pay-off of £63,000 when leaving.
Mr Sulaiman was formerly a Labour councillor in the scandal-hit London borough of Tower Hamlets.
The opposition SNP and Liberal Democrat groups criticised his appointment in November 2014, but the Labour-led administration at the time insisted that the HR team had not been told of his political background.
SNP group leader Stephen Flynn said: “The administration was told that the council did not need a spin doctor but they pushed ahead and the cost borne by the people of Aberdeen is eye-watering.”
But Aberdeen Labour council co-leader Jenny Laing hit back: “Although Mr Sulaiman’s stay with the council was short he did help create the successful 365 project which has brought forward the Great Aberdeen Run, tour cycle race and Nuart which have all contributed to the cultural offering of Aberdeen.”
The spin doctor position has since been abolished.
It is understood that Mr Sulaiman how runs a self-catering property on the shores of Loch Awe on the west coast.
Disgusting but that’s local government for you.
Such an unfortunate chap. The fact that dismally poor performance and ultimate failure dog his every move is surely just bad luck, isn’t it?
Answers on a postcard to the usual address please ….
He is living proof that scum always rises to the surface.
Takki also had a deputy hired at £459.40 a day. After he left Tower Hamlets and the council blocked me on Twitter I was told that I was essentially not allowed to contact him to ask him any questions by Louise Russell.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/308802/response/760565/attach/html/2/Response%20all%20information%20to%20be%20supplied.pdf.html
He should contact Biggs. He will soon fix him up with a nice five hours max working week, six figure sum just like Will Tuckly, Susmita Sen. Money no object Biggsy will just impose another high council tax rise on the mug residents, Probably give his own salary another whacking top up and lets slip another few million to Rich Mix.
Well said Mo. Will Tuckley is a failure.
All these public CEO jobs are a joke. In no way comparable to similar jobs in private industry. People like Tuckly and Sen are basically unemployable outside the public sector, so happy to ride the old public gravy train to early retirement. As I stated elsewhere John Biggs earned many votes across the estates with people believing he would scrap Tower Hamlets Homes and the millions we would save. Now he is quite happy for Thh to squander money daily. So this fact could well have an effect at the polls. Across the borough THH staff spend most of their day just socialising and on social media because it is grossly overstaffed and they have little to do. When the Inspectors were in the borough this ALMO should have been part of their remit. Although i came to the conclusion they were more interested in their own expenses rather than any real zeal investigating the real scandals that go on in the borough. Biggs should hold his head in shame he lets this abuse of our money go on.
Kelly Powelll in communications had a fake job. They tried to stop me from getting this. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/380503/response/934207/attach/html/2/Response%20all%20information%20to%20be%20supplied.pdf.html
Obviously Biggs is as corrupt as all the others. What a surprise!
One piece of good news for London residents is that “Its a Far Cry to Loch Awe”
Most senior managers in Tower Hamlets would not find a job in the private sector.
Biggs the old fool loves Our East End which is a waste of money and we don’t even get it. When I complained they did not deal with my complaint in a professional manner.
Yet Tuckley picks up £228,000 per year for his cosy part time job. It should be his remit to identify the waste, the gross over staffing, bad practises etc. But he is happy to ignore it all with Biggs. The Town Hall is nothing more than one large holiday camp. Staff come and go as they please. I know the candidates for Mayor are a rather pathetic lot, but Biggs is a disaster. He carps on about the odious Rahman, but people forget it was him and all the usual suspects Denise Jones, Josh Peck etc who stunk the borough out for years with their high council tax policies that allowed the rise of Rahman.
You’re slipping Ted! A little search online reveals the additional information…..
Signed off with stress – since November 2016 – so that’s maybe 6 months unpaid leave prior to the golden goodbye.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/1173555/sun-for-mon-council-considering-abolishing-spin-doctor/
His Twitter account now provides the following as his profile
“Communications and transformatiuon consultant. DL MBA student. Passions include Scottish countryside and cycling” (complete with spelling mistake)
Could this be what the hard-earned cash from the public coffers was spent on?
The “self-catering property” is described thus….
“Charming Scottish baronial country house with outstanding views of Loch Awe and Kilchurn Castle” – with just 8 bedrooms!
Obviously you’ll want to pay him a visit – a snip at £200 per night
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/13924180
Somebody really ought to do a “what they did next” for all the people paid off by Tower Hamlets.
Something along the lines of a campaign document to stop public authorities wasting public money.