Eric Pickles is a slime ball and has been for many years. At one time he was leader of the conservatives on Bradford Council where his red tape cutting included selling off all the old folks homes.
At the time, there had been a hung council, with the Tories having the same number of seats as Labour plus the Liberals. This meant that they could not vote anything drastic through. That was a position which suited the people of Bradford.
The post of Lord Mayor was by agreement between the three parties a non-political post which rotated between the parties and did not vote on any issues. At the meeting where the Mayorship was due to pass from a Tory to the Liberals, Pickles made his tories vote against the Liberal, giving a hung vote, and then made the outgoing Tory Mayor use a casting vote to vote himself back into office for a second term. He then continued to use the same casting vote to push though EVERY change not wanted by the people of Bradford.
He was rewarded by Thatcher by being given a safe Tory seat for the next general election.
His agenda then was to give away the public assets to Tory supporters. His agenda hasn't changed.
Quack!
GtD.