Labour’s Thanet East general election candidate Polly Billington was, until earlier this year, a Hackney councillor. During her six years in office she is said to have become a close political ally and friend of the directly elected Labour Mayor of Hackney, Phillip Glanville, who was widely tipped as having a glittering political future.
But Glanville’s hopes for a parliamentary seat, and possibly a Cabinet position in a Labour Government came to an abrupt end when in September 2023 he was suspended from the Labour Party and forced to resign from his £90,000 a year post of mayor.
Why? Because Glanville had tried to cover up the fact that he had attended a Eurovision party with his close friend and Hackney Labour Party Councillor, Tom Dewey, who just days before had been arrested by the police for the possession of thousands of hard core child porn images and videos.
Glanville was briefed about the arrest of his friend, with whom he also shared a house, by a very senior Hackney council officer on the day of the party but despite knowing that Dewey was being investigated for committing very serious crimes, he still decided to go.
After pleading guilty to the possession of child porn at a court case in June 2023 the Hackney and London-wide media took a big interest in the matter which led to Glanville making public statements distancing himself from Dewey. This included the issuing of a dishonest timeline which deliberately covered up his Eurovision partying with Dewey just hours after he had been told that the councillor had been arrested on suspicion of committing appalling crimes.
A photograph eventually emerged which showed Glanville and Dewey at the Eurovision party and which exposed Glanville for misleading and deceiving the public in order to selfishly save his political career.
Following his resignation the disgraced and dishonest former Mayor vanished from public view, until January this year when he suddenly re-appeared as the Director of Advocacy of Engagement for a company called UK100, an organisation which works within the local government sector to promote NetZero and clean air initiatives.
UK100 was set up by Polly Billington in 2016. She was its Chief Executive Officer until selected to be Labour’s Thanet East parliamentary candidate in 2023. Some would say UK100’s real purpose was not to promote environmental issues, but to promote Billington’s all-consuming ambition to become a Labour MP by raising her personal profile.
Although no longer its Chief Executive, Billington held (and probably still holds) over 75% of UK100 shares. Until December 2023 she was described by Companies House as having significant control over the organisation, including the power to appoint and dismiss company directors. Companies House records now say that whilst Billington is still a director, no one has significant control over the company.
But, it would be delusional to believe that the person who founded the company, was its Chief Executive for almost seven years, and who is still a company director and probably still a majority shareholder too, does not continue to exercise significant influence, if not control, over UK100.
The question must therefore be asked did Billington use her influence to fix a job at UK100 for her friend, the disgraced and dishonest former mayor of Hackney?
There can be no doubt that Billington was aware of the circumstances leading to Glanville’s downfall. In 2023 the media was full of stories about the circumstances leading to his resignation.
Hackney Labour councillors and activists, including Billington, would have certainly discussed this astonishing matter amongst themselves. And in January 2024, whilst Billington was still a Hackney councillor, the council published the results of an independent investigation into this sordid affair, with which Glanville refused to cooperate.
Whilst knowing that Glanville had, to save his political career, decided to dishonestly mislead the public about his contact with Dewey, Billington appears to have been quite happy to use her influence to secure him a well-paid job at a company over which she is likely to have a very strong influence.
If true, this sleazy episode shows Billington to be an ethically and morally corrupt person who doesn’t give a toss about the standards expected of someone seeking, or holding , high political office.
Politicians, whether local or national, aspiring or incumbent, are all required to follow the seven principle of public life which, amongst other things, require them to act with integrity which means that they must “not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends”.
This is precisely what Billington appears to have done in relation to her friend and disgraced former Hackney Mayor Glanville. This leads me to speculate that if she can give a dishonest politician a helpful leg-up and perhaps the chance to rehabilitate his badly tarnished reputation, she may also be likely to follow Glanville’s lead by dishonestly misleading the people of Thanet East.
One final thing which occurs to me is the Mafia practice of rewarding a wise guy who doesn’t rat on his colleagues. Could it be that Glanville took the rap for the Dewey affair whilst saying nowt about what Billington and other Labour folks may have known or covered up, and that the UK100 is his reward?
I asked UK100 for comment but have had no reply. What do they have to hide?
ShoutOut- if you have any information about Billington which you think the voters of Thanet East should know about, please contact me. Confidentiality assured. Tel 07866588766 email ianddriver@yahoo.co.uk
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