LABOUR BATMAN HIRES ROBIN

ON the campaign trail for the election last year, former Cumbrian policeman David Allen – Labour’s candidate for Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner – told Facebook: “There’ll be no Jobs for the Boys on my watch.”

Mr Allen had been sharing his self-righteous indignation following a “jobs for the boys” hoo-ha at the Penrith-based office of the PF&CC.

It followed the appointment, by outgoing Tory crime commissioner, Peter McCall, of Conservative Cllr Mike Johnson, former leader of Allerdale Borough Council, to a part-time £23k job as deputy PF&CC.

Labour’s Markus Campbell-Savours, now an MP, had branded this a “blatantly political appointment”.

Fast forward to February 2025, and it has just crept out that the Crime Commissioner’s Office under Mr Allen has gone one better.

Last summer, it invented a full-time £50,000-a-year role of “Communications & Policy Manager” to its ever-growing roster of high-paid mouse-clickers.

With more than 40 candidates applying, which Boy could have got this Job, wondered a recent Freedom of Information request?

Er, young political whizz-kid Matthew Suddart, who served as a Labour Party right-hand man to Mr Allen throughout his election campaign, and was credited as chief architect of Mr Allen’s victory, despite his tender years.

Holy Coincidences, Batman!

Indeed, Mr Allen is among those making adoring tributes to Mr Suddart’s skills on the youngster’s LinkedIn page.

Mr Allen cooed: “Matthew was my Labour Party Organiser and agent for my election…he planned the campaign meticulously, ran it as you would a General Election and made sure that I, as the candidate with no previous political experience was in the right place, saying the right things, at all times. Matthew was amazing for someone of only 25 years of age and he had a business acumen and a head on his shoulders far in excess of this.”

We don’t doubt it.

Mr Suddart, who spent two years as a Labour Party Organiser, has a breath-taking and extensive CV, studded with references to Governmental internships, Student Union committee roles, as well as a vast 11 months in a Project & Policy role at a Council in Manchester.

A natural pick to be dictating policy in Cumbria’s PF&CC office.

Needless to say, for all his hard work, Mr Suddart will receive a fat & juicy public sector salary and pension that many 26-year-olds in Cumbria can only dream of.

Meanwhile, Cumbria’s crime commissioner, Mr Allen, plans to grow your Council Tax bill this year by making his share of the pie 4.5% bigger than it was last year!