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.
Trial by Jeory 