From North Korea to Camden: staff at town hall told to address Labour councillor 'Dear Leader'
It is a term more commonly associated with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, but a Labour-run council in North London was forced to apologise today after staff were ordered to refer to its new head as Dear Leader.
The email was sent to all councillors at Camden Council by a junior administration worker.
The worker has been given a dressing down and told that Councillor Sarah Hayward does not need to be eulogised in such a manner, and that plain old Sarah will do.
The member of staff at Camden Council in north London, sent out a tersely-written email to staff after Miss Hayward took over as the new leader of the council last month.
The email, sent on June 12, stated: Dear All - Any correspondence to Councillor Hayward should be addressed to her as 'Dear Leader or 'Leader
Please inform all your staff.
The operation to keep the identity of the sender under wraps has all the hallmarks of an operation Kim Jong II would be proud of.
Cllr Hayward insisted she had no knowledge of the email at the time it was sent - and said she was quite happy being called Sarah.
She said: It was nothing to do with me and I have no idea what prompted it. I am happy to be called plain old Sarah or anything really as long as its not offensive.
I hope people are not treating it seriously. It was a well-intentioned mistake. Im not going into any naming and shaming though.
Posted by: 2012-06-21 |