A spin doctor was paid £800 a day to defend the disgraced council that failed to stop seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq being starved to death, says the Daily Mail. Terry Brownbill is said to have earned £113,000 for 141 days' work.
As well as the morality, there are questions over whether Birmingham Council's procedures for approving the contract were followed.
A Freedom of Information Act request to release details of Mr Brownbill's pay was refused "because it was claimed the details could damage his company". This is flagrantly against the spirit of FoI.
It would mean that any time a state body had overpaid for a service, it could refuse to disclose the information because it might damage the reputation of the provider that had milked it. A reasoning that could stop investigations of overpayment dead in their tracks.
If the Tories manage to scrape in, they are pledged to openness of contracts. Central and local government would have to disclose contracts like this on the web, for anyone to see, whether or not it damaged the reputation of the other party.
Meanwhile, by fighting accountable transparency Birmingham Council is putting itself in the dock.
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