CRUMBRIA: 29.6.2o26
LABOUR’s wannabe Mayor in Crumbria – David Allen – did a self-promotional round on the BBC sofa yesterday – but his remarks about the police and fire regime have left Tory opponents spitting feathers.
Mr Allen, a former high-ranking Plod, casually told the cameras that he had “inherited a “shambles” when he took over the office of Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in May 2024.
Some viewers may have formed the impression that, before Mr Allen descended from above on a Labour-shaped cloud, services here were a total basket case.
(Allen is in campaigning mode because he loses his £68,000 PF&CC number next year. To replace it, he wants the highly-desirable job of Cumbria Mayor. Average salary: £90,000.)
Not every telly watcher fell for his matey Cumbrian blarney.
Least of all Peter McCall – the former Army colonel and Cumbria’s first PF&CC (2016-2024).
In a riposte, the Colonel who represented the Tories, has accused his Labour successor of, er, “aggressively blowing his own trumpet” and of levelling an “unwarranted slur” on front-line plod and civilian staff.
“Mr Allen did not inherit a disaster; he walked into one of the highest performing regional forces in England and Wales,” thundered the Colonel in a missive to the local rags.
In a final harrumph, he signed off: “Policing is a team sport: It is not all about Mr Allen.”
Mr Allen, who as recently as this month told his Facebook fans: “I don’t really do politics!” uploaded a video after his TV interview to say: “Good to be on the BBC Politics North sofa!”
For what it’s worth, the Chronic sees all this back and forth like Telly Savalas and Yul Bryner fighting over the afro comb.
It’s as clear as balls on a bulldog that police and fire services shouldn’t be a political post or heaped on the slim shoulders of one person.
Call us old-fashioned, but we thought that was the job of our Chief Constable on £181,000 and our Chief Fire Officer on £136,000.
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