Last week I reported on how the former Labour MP Keith Hill has been appointed by Hammersmith and Fulham Council as the grandly titled Residents Housing Commissioner. Really it is a PR job to try to win support for the Council’s plan to privatise the entire council housing stock. Just how independent he is can be judged by him having being the employer, for 13 years, of the Cabinet Member for Housing Cllr Lisa Homan.

Now more details are emerging which show this astonishingly dubious cronyism.

First of all the process was dodgy to say the least. It went as follows:

It has also emerged that Mr Hill is being paid £12,000. (We don’t know for how many hours but let’s just say I doubt it will cause any problems in terms of minimum wage regulations.) This evening I received the following email:

“The budget for the Residents’ Commission and stock options appraisal was set out in the December 2014 Cabinet paper.  In total this budget is £1,500,000. 

“The Chair of the Commission will receive £12,000 for the complete period of the Commission’s existence – i.e. until recommendations are made to the Council on the Commission’s proposals. This payment is payable subject to agreed targets being met and staged over 3 periods (approximately 3 and 6 months into the Commission’s work and again at project end).”

The plot thickens and the smell grows.