Wednesday 11 May 2011

You couldn't make it up… unless you're a Tory

This is an intriguing little tale:

Sir Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP, had a very curious tale to tell in the Commons just now. Raising a point of order, he said that he had received a letter from Number 10 signed by a fake official (a Mrs E Adams). He said he wrote to David Cameron at the request of a constituent and received a reply from 10 Downing Street signed "Mrs E Adams, direct communications unit" saying the letter had been diverted for a response from a minister in the Treasury. According to the Press Association, Kaufman then told MPs what happened when he tried to follow the matter up with Mrs E Adams.
I therefore telephoned Mrs Adams to ask why that diversion had taken place. I was first of all put on to somebody in the correspondence unit who told me that Mrs Adams did not speak on the telephone. I then said that since she had written to me I assumed that she was capable of speaking to me on the telephone. I was then put on to somebody who described themselves as head of the correspondence unit who said that Mrs Adams did not exist but was a computer generated name - and presumably also a computer-generated bogus signature as well ... What extraordinary events are taking place in 10 Downing Street whereby they send letters from somebody who doesn't exist and expect one to accept this.

Perhaps Paul Uppal is a virtual MP. It all fits: the inactivity, the speak-your-weight 'ideas'…
He did find time to regale the Sutton Coldfield Tories after a slap-up feed on:

Paul Uppal MP spoke about his time as a ‘new boy’ at Westminster.

How I wish I'd been a fly on that wall. Would any guests care to share Mr. Uppal's pearls of wisdom?

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