Nothing Like A Dame: The Scandals of Shirley Porter

by Andrew Hosken

(published by Granta 2006)

Reviewed by Brian Jenner February 17th 2006

Why Do Politicians Do It?

Dame Shirley Porter could have spent her whole life playing golf, but she chose to go into politics instead.

Her father, Jack Cohen, created one of the most successful retail chains the world has ever seen. He didn't do it by being nice. On occasions he had punch-ups with other board members.

Hosken overstates his case calling her gerrymandering 'the greatest act of corruption in the history of British local government.' He adds that she was, ‘Leader of Westminster council for eight catastrophic years.’ – yes, she did some disgraceful things but she did not do them for self-enrichment.

Shirley modernised Westminster Council. She brought in the successful one-stop shops and booted out lazy staff. She closed down porn outlets in Soho. She was also obsessive about street cleansing many years before Rudolph Giuliani pioneered the 'broken window' theory.

When there was a danger that Labour might take over the council, she addressed the problem in a business-like way. She did whatever she could to move Labour voters out of marginal wards. She didn't have much empathy for the homeless when she exported them out of Westminster or the bereaved when she sold off cemeteries for five pence each.

Hosken spells out the grisly details: she ordered council properties to be boarded up so she could sell them on to Conservative-voters, she moved families into asbestos-ridden high rise blocks, she intimidated council officers and employed dirty tricks to fight battles with local residents in council properties.

Mrs Thatcher said once ‘Every Prime Minister needs a Willy.’ Sadly she didn't have an avuncular advisor like William Whitelaw to tell her when she was being paranoid, fanatical or silly.

She ended up paying £12.3m to Westminster Council for the pleasure of serving her constituents.

It's easy to dismiss characters like Neil Hamilton, Jonathan Aitken and Shirley Porter as corrupt and beyond the pale. Human character is more complex than that.

She was a woman trying to achieve something at a time when political brawling and a domineering style were in fashion. Hosken tells the tale in a gripping style. By the end of the book you feel nauseated by the whole saga – one Conservative councillor committed suicide and all the main characters ended up destroying their careers.

What lessons are there for a 21^st century Conservative Party to draw from this story?  Treat political office as a short-term contract. The job is to serve the constituents and provide basic care for the vulnerable, whatever party you belong to. There is no such thing as ‘saviour’ figures. Have perspective. Don’t demonise the opposition. The electorate has the right to make mistakes and boot you out. It’s then your job to work hard to convince them to have you back.

Dame Shirley could have played golf, instead she chose to do something in public life. She did change London for the better. Then she spoilt it all because she couldn’t face losing. And the stupidest thing of all was, she could have won on her record without abusing her powers.

Brian Jenner runs a blog on the subject of speechwriting.

Comments

[eugene]

I immigrated to Britain in 1992- Westminster Council looked after me very well although on the face of it, I would not look like a Tory voter at all. So, I have always been sceptical about the fit up Dame Porter received.

Labour councils for example, spend loads doing up council blocks (buying votes), Gordon Brown spends hard earned tax payers money so many teenagers can have a big booze/drugs up when they turn 18...they are all 'gerrymandering'techniques- I think she did little, if anything, wrong. Come to think of it, most policies from all parties are there to engineer a better electoral outcome for themselves.

[Tracey Fordington]

Hi Eugene,

Why don't you try reading the book? If you'd arrived in Westminster in 1987 instead of 1992...you would have been whisked off to a prefab next door to Barking Power station faster than you could say "I love Shirl!"

TR

[eugene]

No- I don't want to enrich someone making money out of other people's misfortunes. All I know is that the lady had to fork out £12 million for serving people, the guy who organised the fit up had beef with the Tories, a man committed suicide , the number of votes involved were (even Labour admit) far too insignificant to swing any ward and Westminster was a great place to live (which was not long after the lady left so she must have had something to do with it being great).

[eugene]

Apologies for the tone of that last post. It could seem somewhat agressive and rude.

I have always hung on three points about the whole Porter - Westminster story:

1. It could not have swung any ward. The Tories stated that that was NOT the intention either.

2. Most administrations have policies imposed on the entire community but actually promote only parts of the constituency, more often than not, to the benefit only of their own natural voters.

3. A suicide and a 12 million bill was completely disproportionate to the events.

Thanks.

[Adrian Sherman]

This book is a disgrace. What an earth did she actually do wrong? Keep Westminster a half-decent place to live? Labour 'gerrymander' up and down the country, but they never get prosecuted.

Besides, the vendetta against Lady Porter had more than a whiff of anti-Semitism behind it, not only from the usual left wing suspects but also from some local 'Tories'.

[Tracey Fordington]

O come on Eugene and Adrian!

In these days of moral and political realignment under David Cameron, we should take a leaf out of Neil Kinnock's book in 1986 when he courageously condemned the awful Derek Hatton and his equally repellant Militant handing out redundancy notices by mini cab to council workers. Stand by Shirley? Why?

If for some reason you think that Tories shouldn't condemn what should be condemned, may I just say to you, with all due respect-asbestos?

T

[hilary]

a bit of bluster was all she injected into the listless Westminster Council.Her only virtue appears to be that she could talk to anyone....apparently unfazed by the prostitutes of soho.Otherwise,an entirely unsavoury character emerges form this excellently written book.
Shirley ought to have been sent to prison.

[Graig]

Can only say, bring da Dame back!
Westminster misses Shirley!