Quango Queen’s royal hypocrisy

HEALTH Secretary Jeane Freeman has almost been in as many political parties as she has quangos. She is known as a woman of firm, forthright opinions, all of which can change depending on who her employer is at the time.

Ms Freeman, right, recently took to social media to condemn Labour for its now ditched policy of public private partnerships (PPP) to fund the building of new schools and hospitals. One 30-year contract costs the NHS £24 million a year, she fulminated.

But if waste gets her goat, hypocrisy makes her blood boil. ‘That’s a big part of this scandal,’ she said, ‘and Labour MSPs who pretend that doesn’t sit at their door.’

Unfortunately for her, some people in the Labour Party have long memories. They remember when she worked for Labour First Minister Jack McConnell. Some of them even keep old correspondence. So doubtless she was grateful when the Labour Campaign for Socialism unearthed a letter from one Jeane Freeman, head of the teachers and schools division in the Scottish Executive from 2001, offering councils revenue assistance for public private partnerships for ‘affordable’ and ‘value for money’ projects. That suggests many PPP projects sit at her door. Perhaps all the hard work she does has affected her memory. Ms Freeman was, after all, the Quango Queen who claimed payment for working 376 days in one year. Perhaps that is her kind of public private partnership that is ‘affordable’ and ‘value for money’.