An explosive email obtained by the Nottingham Post suggests that a £870-a-day consultant paid by the taxpayer gave political advice to Labour councillors. Charles Walker reports...

AFTER consultant Harold Tinworth was awarded a £30,000 contract by Nottingham City Council, the authority was forced to reassure voters he was not employed to do political work for Labour.

But now documents obtained from the council under the Freedom of Information Act show that Mr Tinworth has provided political support to the council's Labour leader, Jon Collins, and his executive councillors.

His input has covered Labour's campaigning, communications and strategy in the build-up to the May poll, as well as council communications.

The consultant, who is paid by the taxpayer, receives £870 a day, including expenses, and his latest employment is for 25 days' work.

The contract, which began on August 1, states Mr Tinworth is employed to provide support and development for the leader of the council, Jon Collins, and his executive councillors. In particular, his job is to support senior councillors as they face significant public spending cuts.

However, concern was raised over the precise nature of Mr Tinworth's work last year, when the Post revealed that the tender he submitted to win the contract included an offer to assist Labour in the development of the party's manifesto ahead of the local elections in May.

As a result of the Post's story, the council issued a statement on September 30. It said: "The work commissioned [from Mr Tinworth] is purely for managerial and leadership development of executive councillors and is not related to any political work."

The e-mails and other documents now seen by the Post reveal a different story.

We now know Mr Tinworth and Mr Collins had a telephone conversation over the weekend of September 4 and 5 about an "away day" for Labour councillors, where political strategy was to be discussed.

That is after the contract had commenced and before the council statement was issued.

On Monday September 6, 2010, following their conversation, Mr Tinworth e-mailed Mr Collins, at what appears to be a council e-mail address as well as a personal one, with an agenda for an "away day".

The content is overtly political. The agenda includes:

Consideration of the latest draft of the Labour Party manifesto and campaign shape and position. It is clear Mr Tinworth and Mr Collins had discussed this since the e-mail refers to the Labour leader's comments that he would be writing both these documents that day.

Advice on how to position "Labour councillors and the Labour Council as STANDING UP [sic] for Nottingham". Mr Tinworth went further than simply outlining Labour's message in the run-up to the election.

He also anticipated discussion about what implications this positioning of Labour councillors would have for the city council's communications, which suggests there may have been co-ordination of Labour and council communications ahead of the May election. The city council is currently investigating whether there was any such coordination in advance of the last election in 2007.

A question whether it may be better for the council to spend less time minimising the impact of spending cuts on Nottingham residents, in order to campaign more effectively.

In relation to pressures from the budget review and cuts, he states: "The solution to the problemis to change the government asap."

The e-mail from Mr Tinworth to Mr Collins was copied to council officer Toni Price, an assistant to the council leader.

The away day, due to take place on the afternoon of September 23 in Nottingham, was organised by another council officer, Anna Coltman, whose job title is executive support officer.

Mr Tinworth was booked to attend the away day.

According to a schedule put together for him by a third council officer, Ann Chisholm, assistant to the Labour Group on the council, he was due to spend the afternoon with Mr Collins and his executive board of Labour councillors at the "away day". He was then to join them for dinner at iL Bertorelli, a smart Italian restaurant on Low Pavement in Nottingham.

Council officers even rang ahead and arranged for Mr Tinworth to be served his "special pasta" at the restaurant.

The council is already investigating whether a £20,000 publicity campaign for the council ahead of the 2007 local election was co-ordinated with one run by Labour, following a story in the Post last week.

City council chief executive Jane Todd said the council would now broaden the scope of its investigation.

She said: "The council is already in the initial stages of looking into the matters that have been previously raised. Consequently I will now take steps to widen the scope of that work to include this latest information."

Lib Dem councillor Tony Sutton said it seemed the city Labour party was "electioneering on the rates."

He said: "There is evidence to suggest this happened in 2007 and is happening now. How much worse can it get? Jon Collins appears prepared to use the public's money to get himself re-elected.

"It reveals a culture in which the leadership of the Labour Party in Nottingham put themselves and their own political interests first, and those of local, honest residents last."

Mr Tinworth and Mr Collins were contacted by the Nottingham Post, but did not provide a comment.

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