Greenwich Labour has been warned that selling “tea with the Mayor” and “lunch with the Leader” at a private Labour event is “inappropriate” and an “inadvertent blurring of the boundaries” between the party and council.
An internal audit into a private Labour event that was held using Royal Borough of Greenwich officers’ time, was published by the council on Monday.
It found that “historic practises” by Greenwich Labour “have built up over the years” and created a blurring of the lines between political activities and council business.
Greenwich borough has been run by Labour since 1971 and the party now has an overwhelming majority in the town hall.
A chance to meet Mayor Leo Fletcher or Leader Anthony Okereke were given out as raffle prizes at the Labour fundraising event on the evening December 6, 2022, despite both posts being formal council positions.
The internal audit found that the Labour Group marketed access to council positions, and therefore it was “inappropriate” and an example of blurring of the lines between political and council business.
“Whilst the prizes may have been offered in good faith, Internal Audit is of the view it is inappropriate for these prizes to have been offered in this manner,” the assistant director of financial governance and audit Brenda Costello wrote.
The report acknowledged that it’s not uncommon for mayors to hold an afternoon tea and for tickets to be sold to the general public for charity, but in this instance, tickets to the event were restricted via invitation only.
It pointed to the fact that the raffle prizes were advertised as tea or lunch with the Mayor or Leader, rather than with Councillor Fletcher or Councillor Okereke and that the prizes themselves represent Council resources.
The prizes were given out at the Labour fundraising event last year, which council officers offered to help organise. It was attended by Labour’s deputy leader Angel Rayner.
Officers volunteered to assist at the private event and it was held outside office hours. Staff involved were not paid for the attendance or any duties carried out in the evening.
But council officers did help to market tickets for the event to prospective attendees via their council email addresses, the audit found, and during work hours, despite a flyer for the evening being addressed ‘Dear Labour Women Colleagues’.
It was “inappropriate” for council email addresses and officers’ time to be used to assist in promoting the event, which was specifically for political purposes, the report found.
Council officers also attended the event in person, as seen in photographs posted to Twitter.
While the report did not find an issue with this, it raised “the potential risk of the perception that the council has used taxpayers’ money to aid a political party”.
The report also highlighted house the Labour Group bank account appeared to have been, for many years, the responsibility of the Leaders Office Manager.
“This represents a third blurring of the boundaries,” the audit said.
It recommended that “consideration is given to the roles of the officers…to avoid actual, potential or perceived breaches of the boundaries between labour Group or Labour Party activities and that of Royal Borough of Greenwich business.”
It added that similar activities had taken place over “many years”.
A Royal Borough of Greenwich spokesperson said on Monday: “In view of recent public speculation about the potential use of Council resources to help organise a Labour Party political fundraising event on 6th December 2022, the Council is publishing Internal Audit’s conclusions and recommendation from the fact finding exercise carried out in response to the Leader’s announcement on 25 February 2023.”
Issues with the private Labour event were first raised by Councillor Matt Hartley, Leader of the Opposition and the internal audit was approached on February 20.
