£214,000-a-year salary and it’s all ‘because I’m worth it’

• FOR no rational reason I am prepared to offer supermodel Kate Moss an unconditional indulgence of her every whim when she purrs at me from the goggle box “... because I’m worth it”.
Not so John Foster, the town hall’s chief executive, when he set out his claim last week to be the “special one” worth £214,000 a year (Why I won’t give back £500,000 pay-off, March 19). Just about every line you quoted from his justification got me going but there were a couple which have propelled me to the laptop.
One was that about being a “very successful chief executive [at Wakefield Council]”.
History records events differently. The BBC News website reported on September 20, 2007, as follows: “Wakefield Council’s chief executive is to leave his job after the council paid out £1m to sacked workers and was criticised in a foster abuse case.” The report goes on to say the council he led had “failed” the children.

In his defence last week, Mr Foster makes out his departure there was the result of a personality clash with the leader of the council. No doubt this is true. But it would not be unreasonable to suggest there were performance issues which figured in the equation too, judging by the report.
Another of the chief executive’s lines which caught my attention was the breezy observation that “people who take the top jobs are a scarce commodity”. I read that as suggesting that chief executives are individuals of outstanding and rare talent.
Again, history tears the ground from beneath Mr Foster’s feet. His predecessor as head of the council was Helen Bailey. The circumstances of her appointment were the subject of a two-week forensic examination by the Standards Board for England, which was asked to intervene following a complaint about a potential breach of ethics.
What emerged from that examination provided much salacious copy for this newspaper at the time but I’ll simply report that Ms Bailey, then ensconced on a beach in the Caribbean, finally accepted the top job after numerous pleading mobile telephone calls made by the then leader of the council, Steve Hitchins.

The adjudication board heard evidence that Ms Bailey got the job even though recruitment specialist Veredus gave her a “D” rating and said she was “not recommended for further consideration, due to her lack of experience”. It was found entirely coincidental that she was an active member of the Liberal Democrats, the same party as Mr Hitchins.
I’ve no doubt that Mr Foster, who started his career in local government as a community worker, has many talents. But £214,000? Not even if he kitted himself out in cocktail dress, blond wig and lipstick would I suspend disbelief for a moment to think he was worth it.
MICHAEL REED
Milner Square, N1