Breathtaking Hypocrisy

The news that the Prison Officers Association are seeking judicial review of the process by which the Ministry of Justice is tendering the operation of a further four prisons should serve to focus attention on Phil Wheatley, the recently departed head of NOMS. It seems that the POA are alleging somewhat understandably that the tendering process is hardly fair when G4S are likely to have benefited from Mr Wheatley's inside knowledge of the Prison Service. 

It raised quite a few eyebrows when news broke of Mr Wheatley's acceptance of a lucrative contract with G4S shortly after he handed in his notice at NOMS, but of course this sort of thing seems to be the way of a capitalist world. Why else would G4S employ him? I howled in sheer amazement when it was announced that the reason for scrapping plans to privatise the Air/Sea Rescue Service was that there was a suspicion that a former MOD employee may have given one of the bidders some inside information, OMG!  Until then I'd never even thought that just possibly someone could make a bob or two on the Stock Market by having a bit of inside information, FFS. 

The thing is it's the sheer hypocrisy of the man that gets me. When he was at NOMS he is quoted as saying  "Private prison operators have brought little innovation to the management of custody and that the gains, such as they are, have come from using fewer staff, paying lower wages and providing less employment protection for staff."

Obviously he doesn't think this now because he's a highly paid consultant to a private prison operator. To be honest, I'm used to this from politicians, but from a previously fairly highly regarded public servant I find it inexcusable. How does he sleep at night?