Honours list knighted disqualified Labour councillor

The Labour peer, Lord Harris blogs on the knighthood for Steve Bubb, the Chief Executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations.

He says:

I first knew Steve when we were both involved in the Young Fabians in the 1970s. However, we were also the Chief Whips of our respective London Boroughs, Haringey and Lambeth, from 1982 to 1986 and were inevitably at the centre of the campaign against rate-capping -the attack on local authorities by the then Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher.

It is an irony therefore that, as another Conservative Government again imposes massive cuts on local councils, Margaret Thatcher’s successor, David Cameron, has honoured Steve, who was, of course, one
of the Lambeth Councillors who ended up being surcharged and disqualified from office for defying the central government. Incentivising dissent?

Of course the honour comes from The Queen not David Cameron and a committee - rather than David Cameron was responsible for the nominations. My wider concern is that honours should be going to those who have made a special contribution in providing unpaid voluntary and charitable work. They seem to end up going to an elite of bureaucrats in the voluntary and charity "sectors" - Chief Executives already rewarded with six figure salaries.

Bubb's role seems to be as their shop steward. His group appears to have plenty  of money for PR and lobbying. It has a section on "Cuts Watch." Does Bubb still live in agitprop land going on dems with "Fight the cuts" banners?

> For New Year's Day Sir Stephen called for a new tax on banks to fund charities.