Alec Jackson and Derick Newiss both thought that the Chairman of the Conservative Party, the Hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar, Eric Pickles would have been milking the system. It would appear from the Daily Telegraph that he has not, unlike the majority of our MP's, been making excessive expense claims. Eric 'Claimed mortgage interest of less than £250 a month and a service charge of £750 a year for a flat in east London. One of the lower claimers. Stopped using the additional costs allowance to run a second home when made Party Chairman'.

We are not related!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-50

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Denis,

Please refer to my last posting on this subject and listen to his own admission that he couldn't travel the 37 miles to his home address !!??!!

He hasn't a clue as to how the mere mortals live and work

Pity he hasn't got a proper job and working life, n'est-ce pas??

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1950/55

Current location (optional) local

Have a look at my posting of the 25th of January,Denis, and you'll see what a spiffing chap the Hon. Member is.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

He was on the Telly again tonight - he does his cause or our school no good.

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Well that's all right, because he never darkened the doors of KBGS. He wasn't up to it, academically.

He might not do his cause or our school any good Terry, but he can make me smile. Did you see the piece in yesterdays Telegraph?
'The beautiful friendship between the M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose and the Tories was put under some strain yesterday by Eric Pickles. The Tory Chairman announced on his Twitter page that he always gets his shirts from the high street retailer. Only he missed out the letter 'r' in the word shirts, which hardly made for the kind of ringing endorsememt Sir Stuart would have welcomed. 'I claim mis-tweet of the day,' said Pickles, after hurriedly taking down the offending post. The 'r' is always important in 'shirts.'

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945 - 50

Current location (optional) Norfolk UK

We used to say it takes one to know one!!!!!!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

A few more people the size of Eric, and Keighley might still have a textile industry

Whilst my politics have generally moved to the right in the last few years, I really cannot bring myself to vote conservative whilst that fellow is the party chairman.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Can't understand why there are so many 'posts' about 'fatty Pickles' when he NEVER attended KBGS!

He should be deleted - from everywhre!

The same comment applies to 'Campbell'!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 59-66

Current location (optional) Embsay

Is nowhere sacred?

Is this "maiden" a harbinger of the unqualified, uninvited future intrusion by proponents of the Big Society into where they have no passport and therefore are unwelcome?

Is this the Big Society? Or Big Brother? Open government?

Come clean, Kate. You do your cause little good.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

During the time it took me to post mine above, Earnshaw's posting was altered.
Is this Pickles' spin?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Now they have gone altogether.

What is she playing at? Clearly using the "59 minute" rule.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Can anyone furnish us with the gist of what was said?
I don't know. I nip out for an early doors pint, and all sorts of skullduggery has taken place.

Eric Pickles is not part of the current Con/Lib negotiating team. But william Hague is.

A message -purporting to be from Catherine Earnshaw of Thrushcross Grange - appeared. Simply it said that when you point the finger, three fingers are pointing at you. Also some quip about eagles soaring and sparrows. It seemed like a gloating intervention by a non-kbgs poster who was making capital for EP,( consequent upon the General Election "result"?)
I posted a reaction - only to find Catherine Earnshaw had changed her first posting. By the time I had registered a reaction - both Earnshaw postings had gone.
Wuthering Heights? Blithering cheek!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Catherine Earnshaw was the name of the "heroine" in Wuthering Heights - somebody were 'avin' thee on Heathcliffe.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

In Thursday's 'Times',showing a list of new cabinet ministers, a 'little known fact' concerning Eric was that 'as a teenage Red, he was given Leon Trotsky's 'History of the Russian Revolution' as a present for his 14th birthday!! How did it all go wrong, Eric?? Perhaps the Local Government Ministry position with a salary of £137,294(less the 5% reduction)- might give us a clue.
Looking back at the Election and the TV coverage on Parliament Green, wouldn't it have been interesting to see both Eric Pickles and Alistair Campbell together, a couple of 'likely lads from Keighley, being interviewed by someone like Dimbleby, eh? That might have been worth watching!!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Must agree with Dave Baldwin.
Can't Pickles be liquidated ... from the website, that is.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

I agree Shaun, who cares? Even if his name is Pickles!!!!

For all you Eric Pickles fans, have a look at Keighley News online today. Just having my weekly catch up and the item about HIPS being canned caught my eye. The video runs a minute or so and up pops Eric Pickles, my first look at the man.Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland, NZ

The Wikipedia article now says Pickles attended Greenhead School in brackets "state comprehensive".Just to give him street cred I suppose. What is clear in all this is that the great EP never ever attended Keighley Boys' Grammar School. More to the point before he became a full-time politician does anyone know what he did for a living?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1940-48

Current location (optional) Epsom

I read a very recent newspaper column (possibly in the Bradford T&A) in which Eric was alleged to have attended "Greenhead Grammar School" - journalistic licence I assume as, during Eric's schooldays, Greenhead would have been an exclusively girls' school, wouldn't it?
After trumpeting his ministerial appointment, the article went on to describe Eric's metamorphosis from
active membership of an ardent Labour supporting family into the lovable character we recognise today. There may have been a reference to his past employment Tom, but I'm unsure, having "mislaid" the article.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Dudley, West Midlands

Eric was one of the age such that he was one of the first intake of boys at Greenhead, in the same way that girls started at Oakbank. He went to the Tech first. He is a bit younger than us Brian.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Were the two mixed-gender "grammar" schools still selective or not at that time? My recollection of Keighley's secondary education system since 1965, when I left Oakbank, is vague to say the least.
Seeing Eric today, and having being made aware of our relative ages, makes me feel considerably better anyway Brian!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Dudley, West Midlands

If you have been listening to BBC Wireless 4 this week, you will have enjoyed wall-to-wall Pickles. His latest appearance is on "Question Time" (radio) tonight. He is fast becoming an amusing wit - approved by the audience - although he did say on "Today" that the interpretation of another speaker about "garden grabbing" was "bloody stu..... oh I nearly sweared then", Nice one Eric, you've nearly succeeded to the Prescott crown already.I have noted that he has slowed down his delivery and deepened his tones - a la Thatcher. More fun to come.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00sss54

The subject of this week's Radio 4 Profile is Eric Pickles.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

A rather extensive profile?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Eric Pickles, former cabinet minister for local government, has a new job working for a Yorkshire offal tycoon whose animal by-products business has been repeatedly fined for safety and environmental breaches.
Brentwood MP Pickles is earning £40,000 a year on top of his MP's salary to sit on the board of Halifax-based Leo Group, according to the latest register of MP's interests.The group has a history of spills,accidents and safety breaches, on one occasion being fined £300,000 plus £150,000 costs.
An ex-government minister and current MP might be useful to Leo's board as ity deals with these regulations and licensing matters, but what Pickles' constituents get from him working for the offal firm is less obvious.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Time to change the nomen-clutter.
No longer EPMP, he is Sir Eric Pickles (SERPS - Thank the Lord for Barbara Castle, we old boys cry)
And clutching a new Excalibur, thither chucked by David Cameron, he becomes the "government's designated anti-corruption champion".
You don't get qualifications like that at KBGS.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Nirvana

Honours exist to massage the egos of those insecure enough to need them, and to create an impression that they are more important than those who genuinely care.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate