Following revelations about having made a huge profit on the sale of her tax payer assisted second home in London (see previous Salford Star article – click here), Hazel Blears has now declared that she is being paid £1000 a day as a `Strategic Advisor' for the private consultancy Juice Advisory Ltd.
Juice Advisory claims to bring "unrivalled experience in end-to-end policing and crime activity", and has recently launched a consortium to win privatised contracts from recently elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to help "deliver their manifesto commitments".
The company, led by former senior civil servant Andrew Morley, has also worked as a sub-contractor for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), advising its Ministry of Interior on "partnership working". The UAE record on human rights leaves a lot to be desired, with a Wikipedia entry noting that "The government restricts freedom of speech and freedom of the press…The UAE has not signed most international human-rights and labour-rights treaties".
Only last month the Guardian reported on a current trial of dissidents "where consistent accounts have emerged from the defendants of torture by beating, sleep deprivation and threats of sexual violence."
For her £1000 a day deal, Hazel Blears will work for four days a year `strategically advising' Juice Advisory, which aims to "make an impact in the policing, crime and justice sector".
Given that Hazel Blears currently sits on Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, and is a former Police and Counter Terrorism Minister, people might say that the Salford MP is cashing in on her roles in public office…
Other interesting Hazel Blears Info…
• Last November, Hazel Blears went on a trip to a conference in Kosovo worth £1,103.39, paid for by the Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). The roundtable conference was held, according to the Kosovar Centre Security Studies which hosted the weekend, as "a step towards the consolidation of the system of classification of information, access to public documents, and protection of personal data in Kosovo"…Given the `lack of access to public documents' here in Salford (see previous article) perhaps Hazel should spend her time examining accountability on her own doorstep…
• Last June, the Salford MP was paid £500 for a speech on Significant Developments in Alzheimer's Disease. In her declaration of the fee to Parliament, Hazel Blears said that the payment was for "6 hours preparation and presentation". Which works out at £83.33 per hour – a lot more than Salford Council's recent `generous' awarding of a £7.45 Living Wage for its employees.
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(3).jpeg)
.png)
(1).JPG)
