A salute to Philip Grant for his work on the Davani case

Nan Tewari, who first raised the issue of the behaviour of Brent Council Human Resources on this blog LINK wrote the following comment on the post below about Brent Council settling the Rosemarie Clarke case 'out of court'. I think her comment deserves more prominence.

What stands out in this sorry saga is the power of one individual's tenacious struggle to expose the truth and how that struggle carried out in the public domain, i.e. Wembley Matters, bolstered its effects to ensure a massive degree of success.

Philip Grant's relentless pursuit of matters of fact in this case, together with Martin Francis shining a light on that pursuit, has had the powerful effect of seeing off Cara Davani, Andrew Potts and Christine Gilbert.

After stringing out the Chief Exective 'interim' role for 3 years, Brent Council and Gilbert would have been quite comfortable for her to throw her hat into the ring for the permanent position and for her to have been appointed based on her sterling record of failure to follow basic procedures and nurturing conflicts of interest.

Andrew Potts, business and personal partner of Davani, emerged as a beneficiary of the legal department restructure that had been conducted by Davani and signed (nodded?) off by Gilbert.

Davani herself was secure enough to work on adding such unlikely strings to her bow as taking on responsibility for equality and diversity as well as wanting the acclaim of a Business in the Community award to trumpet the Council's equality achievements as a means of countering the public disgrace at the Watford Tribunal and the public disrepute she brought the council into, for blatant race discrimination.

And Philip's efforts have also exposed for all to see (the video of the council meeting would probably warrant an 18 certificate in the scheme of these things!!) the underlying ill manners and discourtesy of Cllr Butt and Cllr Dr Helen Carr BA (Hons); M Phil (Oxon); Cert TEFL; Dip; DPil who appear singularly unable to understand the balanced deportment required of public figures.

So at a time when it appears that we the public are powerless against those in power, Philip Grant has led the way in showing that we can put the frighteners on public institutions whatever they may choose to admit or however much they may attempt to conceal.

Philip, we salute you.

Brent Council settles Employment Tribunal compensation out of court

Ten minutes before the Employment Tribunal remedy hearing was due to start at Watford Tribunal on Wednesday  Brent Council settled with Rosemarie Clarke's legal team out of court.

Although details are subject to a Confidentiality Agreement an award would normally cover legal costs and loss of earnings.

This marks almost the last chapter in the saga with the main protagonists including Cara Davani, Andy Potts, Fiona Ledden and Christine Gilbert no longer employed by Brent Council.

Muhammed Butt, a stout defender of Cara Davani, remains in post and of course Philip Grant's two questions remain unanswered.

Private Eye on Brent Council’s Case Again ?

Guest Blog by Audrey N. Stables

After the national expose of the Brent Council racism, discrimination and workplace bullying scandal in Private Eye’s last edition, Davani, Gilbert, Ledden, Potts and others named and shamed may well have thought they deserved a rest from the limelight.

However, it seems that Rotten Boroughs (Private Eye’s regular dodgy-local-authority section) is not the only page that  the Civic Centre chums will now want to flick straight to as they check their cuttings each fortnight. The cartoon below appears in the current edition of the Eye and, though it principally relates to similar scummy practice by some NHS managers, will surely resonate with Davani and Gilbert and Fiona Ledden (and, even more so, with some of their more honest, and therefore no-longer-employed, ex-colleagues). 

Rotten Boroughs features Brent Council's HR & CMT Scandal

Police Appeal: Do you recognise this butt?

Deadline for nominations for Staff Achievement Awards extended as Council leaders ‘snatch   dogs off the streets’ in desperate bid to boost Davani vote.    
                               

Guest blog by E.Tribunal

Earlier rumours that Brent Council leaders have reacted to the avalanche of support for Rosemarie Clarke by selecting, as their own favoured nominee, HR  supremo  Ms Cara Davani, seem to have been confirmed.  Leaks from Civic Centre staff tell of receiving scores of nomination forms bearing a paw mark where the nominator’s name should be ( see earlier report HERE, and that almost all the dogs involved appear to be Kerry Blue Terriers, Lakeland Terriers, Irish Terriers or Welsh Terriers, the breeds which Ms Davani  and her partner Andy Potts specialise in at Kebulak Kennels LINK , the business Ms Davani runs when things are a bit slack in her other jobs. 

Now, in a new development, it seems that Cara and Andy’s kennels have not been able to supply enough supporters to swing the vote in the HR supremo’s favour and last Thursday’s deadline for nominations has been extended to give the Butt/Pavey/Ledden/ Davani/Potts  gang one last chance to deny Rosemarie Clarke her rightful award.

Desperate for extra votes, it seems that supporters of Ms Davani, having exhausted their own canine support, are now snatching other people’s  dogs off the streets and, with promises of mountains of bones and endless  walkies, or simply by crude threats of violence (see below,) forcing the unfortunate mutts to put their paws on the form and vote for the shamed HR chief who was recently found guilty of racial discrimination, victimisation and workplace bullying in her role of Human Resources lead and figurehead in equal opportunities Brent.  

Local police, who are understandably keen to trace the perpetrators of this particularly cruel and insensitive practice, have issued a CCTV image of a suspect  reproduced above in the hope that someone out there will recognise him. Detective Inspector Sturmey Archer of Wembley CID  made this plea:

‘If anyone in the community recognises this butt, don’t hesitate to get in touch. The man is described as below average height and bearded. Do not approach him. He is desperate.’  

Witnesses said that when he spotted the CCTV camera, the suspect seemed at first to react by smiling broadly into the camera and looking for someone’s hand to shake. However, when he realised what he’d been filmed doing he immediately ran off at great speed throwing away the rope and a half-eaten takeaway meal. Police later said they had sent away a quantity of akee and salt-fish for analysis. 

Meanwhile they have urged residents to keep their pets safe indoors until the extended deadline passes today.

Breeding at the top of Brent Council

The tangle of previous employment, business and personal relationships among the top management of Brent Council is rapidly becoming a talking point in the Civic Centre.

The case of Cara Davani, Head of Human Resources and Andy Potts, Principal Employment and Education Lawyer in the Legal and Procurement Department is particularly colourful.  Fiona Ledden heads up Legal and Procurement.

Cara Davani has recently announced that Andy Potts has become a partner in Kebulak her dog breeding business. LINK

Terrier World LINK congratulated the breeders by posting a picture of their twins who were born in June. (scxroll down)

The name of one of the twins is purely coincidental. (I hope)