Further to my previous post here, the Unison Carmarthen website now has a video of the Council Leader's performance at the Chooselife event, here's a link; What does Meryl Gravell think about you? (Also now on You Tube; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM9HgN8SaL8 ) In common with other politicians who realise they have dropped a bit of a clanger, Cllr Gravell has now issued a 'press release'. She defends her 'rabble' remark by saying she was referring to a small minority from within the protestors who were abusive to clients and staff of the Centre - if this was the reason for her remark, perhaps she should have made that very clear in her speech; she was not clear, and it appears to be a general reference to the protestors. The next 'insult' of course came from Cllr Gravell herself, her "Mark and I" remarks about council staff (now popularly referred to as the 'Royal We') were not only crass but rather insulting and her 'explanation' in the press release is...er...a little contrived;
"There have also been reports on comments I made congratulating the hardworking staff at Chooselife. I did praise them for their dedication and for the fact that theirs is not a ‘9 to 5’ job. However this was not meant to reflect badly in any way on council staff. Members will know that I lose no opportunity to commend and congratulate our staff within the council"
It appears she has forgotten what she said - luckily we've got the video, here's a reminder of her actual words;
"We have nine thousand employees Mark and I, and if all nine thousand employees worked as hard as Alan, and were as enthusiastic as Alan is, my goodness we would not have a problem at all in the Council, but there we are, we are who we are!"
Remember, this wasn't in the Council Chamber but at a meeting attended by people from all walks of life - can you imagine what is said in the cloistered seclusion of the Chamber? No wonder they don't want anyone filming!
"There have also been reports on comments I made congratulating the hardworking staff at Chooselife. I did praise them for their dedication and for the fact that theirs is not a ‘9 to 5’ job. However this was not meant to reflect badly in any way on council staff. Members will know that I lose no opportunity to commend and congratulate our staff within the council"
It appears she has forgotten what she said - luckily we've got the video, here's a reminder of her actual words;
"We have nine thousand employees Mark and I, and if all nine thousand employees worked as hard as Alan, and were as enthusiastic as Alan is, my goodness we would not have a problem at all in the Council, but there we are, we are who we are!"
Remember, this wasn't in the Council Chamber but at a meeting attended by people from all walks of life - can you imagine what is said in the cloistered seclusion of the Chamber? No wonder they don't want anyone filming!
1 comment:
The other great quote of hers which springs to mind is when she lashed out at councillors who had been listening to parents worried about the closure of their children's schools. They were, she said, guilty of "extreme weakness".
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