ARROGANCE OF A BRAZEN BARONESS
Has she no shame? Commonwealth chief STILL denies she splashed the public cash on her Mayfair mansion as we reveal ...
BARONESS Scotland, who is facing damaging allegations of cronyism and misusing public money, recruited her sister to advise on the lavish renovation of her Mayfair mansion.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Hazel Scotland-Williamson ‘inspected’ the grace-and-favour home on April 4 – the day the Labour peer took over as Commonwealth Secretary-General.
‘I told her what my view was. I just gave her my view of what I thought of it,’ said Mrs Scotland-Williamson, who admits having a ‘huge interest’ in interior design.
But she insisted she was not ‘paid a penny’ by the Commonwealth.
Two separate sources have claimed Hazel Scotland-Williamson, 56, was directly ‘involved’ in the renovation. One said: ‘Hazel went to inspect the house to determine what uplifts were necessary.’
Her role emerged during an investigation by this newspaper, which today publishes a series of startling new revelations about Baroness Scotland’s conduct since she became the Commonwealth’s political leader.
We can reveal that criticism of Baroness Scotland is mounting among diplomats across the world, alongside calls from British MPs for a Commons probe of her use of public funds. We also reveal that Baroness Scotland:
Infuriated Commonwealth officials by mocking her Indian predecessor in a speech to more than 200 staff;
Reportedly tried to sack her three deputies, said to be ‘extremely unhappy’ with her abrasiveness;
Faced humiliation when a report prepared by her ‘partner in crime’ Lord Patel, who was paid £415,000 in consultancy fees, was rejected by the Commonwealth’s board of governors;
Hired a friend of Lord Patel on an estimated six-figure salary – leaving the Secretariat in the unprecedented position of having two media directors.
Last night, a senior Indian official said his government was ‘shocked’ to learn of Baroness Scotland’s outburst suggesting nobody had heard of predecessor Kamalesh Sharma.
‘The Indian side is obviously not very happy with her attitude to blaming everything done by her predecessor,’ said the official.
‘What is going on in the Commonwealth Secretariat is not up to the mark and there is an immediate need for a course correction. We will be watching the budget very closely.’
Baroness Scotland – who has denied extravagant spending on the Mayfair mansion, despite admitting that the bill for the renovations would hit £330,000 – said she had yet to set foot in the six-storey property.
But leaked documents indicate that the former Cabinet Minister requested
She recruited her own sister to advise on £330,000 renovations
marble furniture, £100-per-roll wallpaper, £5,000 to refurbish a safe and a particular brand of paint which is said to have inflated the bill by £33,000.
A spreadsheet also contains an uncosted fee for a ‘chandelier hanging from skylight dropping down into staircase and illuminating the top three floors’.
Mrs Scotland-Williamson prominently features a section headed ‘Chandeliers’ on her page on Pinterest, the social networking site popular with interior designers.
In contrast to Baroness Scotland’s profligacy, one of her predecessors, Sir Don McKinnon, Secretary-General from 2000 to 2008, said he reduced costs during a refurbishment while he was in the Mayfair mansion by ‘recycling carpets’.
He said: ‘I just saw the cash register going over and over. Someone said to me afterwards, “If you thought you were going to refurbish a house in Mayfair at £100 a square foot you were joking”. Well, we came in at just under £100 a square foot.’
Of Baroness Scotland’s lavish spending he said yesterday: ‘I see these things, and I’m worried for the sake of the Commonwealth.’ And referring to one of the Commonwealth’s smallest member states, he added: ‘It’s very hard to stand up in front of the prime minister of Tuvalu and say we’ve just blown your cheque on one small item.’ Mrs Scotland-Wil- liamson said she went to the Mayfair mansion without her sister ‘to have a look’ adding: ‘I am her sister and I went to see where it was she was going to be living. I have a huge interest in interiors... I love china and glass. We all do.’
A whistleblower claimed Baroness Scotland also ‘wanted to bring in her sister Hazel to work in her office [at the Secretariat] but she was strongly advised against this by the organisation and by others’.
Previously, Mrs Scotland-Williamson worked for her sister at the House of Lords and is said to have worked on her campaign during last year’s run- up to the Secretary-General election. Mrs Scotland-Williamson said she discussed working for her sister at the Secretariat before she was elected but said she had already seen the ‘rules’ and added: ‘I pointed out that... it was not possible for me to work for her [at the Secretariat].’
Last night the Commonwealth Secretariat said: ‘The Secretary-General’s sister has never been paid by nor has she worked for the Secretariat.’
Meanwhile a highly-placed Royal source has told this newspaper that the Queen has been ‘embarrassed’ by reports of Baroness Scotland’s behaviour. Inevitably, she will be further dismayed to learn that Scotland ‘belittled’ Mr Sharma, who was Secretary-General between 2008 and 2016 and who was said to have enjoyed a warm relationship with Her Majesty. In front of her entire staff, Scotland suggested that, unlike her, Mr Sharma was an anonymous figure.
In film of the speech seen by the MoS, she recalled a conversation with one of the leaders of the World Bank shortly before she was elected and added: ‘He said to me, “You know, Patricia, it’s fantastic that you are going to lead the Commonwealth Secretariat but tell me, who is the Secretary-General now?”.
‘And I said, “Oh. I’m sure you know.” And he said, “Sunny? Dominic?” I said, “No.” And then I told him who the Secretary-General was. And he said, “But when did he become the Secretary-General?”’
According to the website Caribbean News Now, at a meeting of the board of governors on October 10, Baroness Scotland faced strong opposition from African countries, supported by Asia, over the ‘perceived abuse of her authority’.
In particular, the board rejected her proposal to dismiss her three deputy secretaries-general who were believed to have been upset by her abrasive conduct. Their removal, said the website, would ‘leave her and her cronies in her private office in full charge’. The board also rejected her friend Lord Patel’s plans to reorganise the Secretariat pending ‘further and better particulars’.
The Secretariat said last night: ‘We have no standing in the meetings of the board of governors and executive committee except for Secretariat support. We are therefore in no position to divulge their agenda or the discussions which will take place or have taken place.’
Baroness Scotland – dubbed Baroness Brazen – has previously complained about her £160,000 salary, describing it as meaningless. In a videoed speech to the Secretariat’s staff, she said: ‘If I wanted money, this is not it. Trust me, this is not it.’
Earlier this year, the MoS revealed Lord Patel was awarded the lucrative contract to recommend efficiency savings among Baroness Scotland’s staff, days after she took office.
But it now transpires she also hired one of his friends, former BBC journalist Barnie Choudhury, as the Commonwealth’s director of communications – even though someone else was doing the same job.
A source claimed: ‘There were secret meetings to decide how to explain it away to the media.’
But the Secretariat rejected this allegation, saying the appointment ‘conforms to all Commonwealth human resource processes, as have all other appointments since the Secretary-General took up her post’. Additional reporting: Stephen d’Antal in Auckland, Sanjay Jha in New Delhi and Stephanie Condron in London
She mocked previous chief in speech joking about her £160k salary
She’s humiliated after crony’s £415,000 report is rejected by her Board