Posted at 8th December 2007 19:58Kerrygate and the Stapleton Affair
Around Tuesday lunchtime, I received an anonymously forwarded email, originally from Professor Kerry Turner and copied to some thirty members of the Broads Authority and the BA Navigation committee, forwarding an earlier copy email from Tony Stapleton and thanking him for providing the positive, good news for the public consultation evening that BA members had obviously been requested to provide. The ‘good news’ wasn’t unequivocal as the well wisher mainly had words for the work carried out by the Environment Agency.
I posted a complaint about Stapleton’s comments under a pseudonym on Speaker’s Corner.com. My views were that Stapleton’s remarks could be taken as offensive to those preparing to attend the public consultation meeting and could be taken as a statement by a DEFRA nominated member of the Broads Authority on the perceived importance of this meeting. Rather pompously, I demanded a formal apology for these remarks during the consultation meeting. The thread on Speaker’s Corner was quite busy but I was amazed when, within 24 hours, I saw an apology posted, which claimed to be from Stapleton - I wasn’t at all sure he’d made the posting himself. I later, also anonymously, received a copy of his email to fellow members of the BA and the Navigation Committee, announcing his resignation from the Broads Authority “with immediate effect” and regretting “the embarrassment I caused Kerry and John”. This was not posted on the website and most did not learn of the resignation until they reached the consultation meeting at Sprowston Manor.
This venue had been severally described as a tent at the back of Sprowston Hall but turned out to be remarkably civilised. This year’s meeting was highly stage managed with various Broads Authority members reading from a script that had obviously been prepared for them. To ensure continuity, John Packman acted as projectionist but the game was given away by the Planning speaker who patently hadn’t got a clue about the meaning of a graph he was supposed to be speaking to. It did seem as if an attempt was being made to keep the contentious figure of Mr. Packman out of the public eye and doubtless there will be those that take this decision as a tacit admission of problems with his public perception. The event went largely without expression of public contention beyond the Hart Island liveaboards. On one hand, I’m not convinced they put their case very well, on the other I’m fairly certain the Broads Authority is unaware there had been liveaboards on Hart Island at least since Ron Ashby first moored Morning Flight, his motor gunboat there in probably 1947. Clearly one or two of the questions had been ‘planted’ to present the Broads Authority in a positive light. One outburst of sycophantic praise was seated near me - he was an obvious plant as ChiefCoe knew his name without introduction.
A cup of coffee and home again. An eventful day but a thoroughly uneventful meeting. The very next morning it was clear the Broads Authority had been doing their homework on the Eastern Daily Press. On page 14 was a short piece by Tara Greaves from the Norwich Office covering Stapleton’s apology with the comment from Broads Authority Chairman Professor Kerry Turner that Stapleton’s comments were a personal opinion and disassociating the Broads Authority. This didn’t ring at all true to anyone who’d seen a copy of Turner’s email. Not only had he thanked Stapleton but by way of endorsement he’d forwarded them to thirty members of the Broads Authority and their Navigation Committee. He certainly hadn’t taken issue with the comments at the time and I subsequently learned that only one addressee had complained. He was in it up to the hilt – but maybe this is the way Broads Authority members think and speak about their constituents – dangerous in such a leaky organisation with so many discontented staff.
I felt quite strongly that Turner’s statement as quoted by the EDP was untruthful. Most of those who follow the Speaker’s Corner Forum will have become familiar with accusations about the BA Press releases being half truths or ‘spun’ but historically there had always been an element of truth involved – not bare faced lies; but not quite the truth either. More a question of two half truths making a whole truth. I had documented evidence that this statement to the local Press was untrue and sent them a copy. Time for action and I posted the whole thing on Speaker’s Corner. I left the email addresses of copies on the posting to demonstrate the provenance. After what was described as a furious ‘phone call from John Packman to staff at NorfolkBroads.com demanding that they be removed they, quite properly removed the email addresses.
After a week, there was still no follow up from the Eastern Daily Press and the paper still hadn’t reported Stapleton’s resignation. The story was being passed around the newsroom like a hot potato. It took a week before Stephen Pullinger from the Yarmouth Mercury office, who normally handles Broads stories was persuaded to cover the resignation and he also managed to collect a nice quote from Mike Evans of the NSBA. Stephen’s approach was, as always objective and even handed but I understand the Fragrant One was flustered and taking it rather personally. I found it slightly difficult to see why; unless someone had recently expressed dissatisfaction or she’d made up the chairman’s response without telling him. A blank refusal to comment further was possibly their worst possible response, adding currency to the theory that Stapleton had been made a scapegoat for the sort of language in general circulation.
Kerry Turner’s motivations were left in question with another episode leaving a distinct aftertaste of New Labour – even to one who doesn’t do politics. This was the very man who had written a foreword to the 2004 Broads Plan speaking of partnerships being "based on trust and accountability." Instead the Authoritynhe heads has been minuted twice this year in the House of Commons as being widely distrusted. Not really a great success.
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