 A NATIONAL health watchog is being urged to investigate allegations that the appointment of Sir Albert Bore to the £30,000 a year part-time job chairing a city hospital trust was a political fix. The 60-year-old city Labour leader got the nod from a four-strong University Hospital selection panel which included at least two of his friends and party supporters. The watchdog Monitor has been sent an official complaint by James Hutchings, a Tory city council member representative on the University Trust governing board. He claimed: "What went on is wrong and it stinks." The selection panel itself was chosen by the trust's retiring chairman John Charlton, a former councillor who was secretary to the city's Labour group when it was led by Sir Richard Knowles. And it was Sir Richard he turned to to chair the panel. Another member was Barbara Tassa, a member of the current city Labour group run by Sir Albert. A third was Prof David Cox, a Labour supporter who chairs the South Birmingham Hospital Group. Local pensioner Derek Hickson completed the numbers. Coun Hutchings has told the health watchdog: "I have no criticism for Sir Albert for whom I have great respect. He will have my full support and I wish him well. "Sir Richard Knowles and Coun Tassa should have stepped aside when they found Sir Albert was a candidate because their special relationship with him caused a conflict of interest." The appointment was eventually approved by the trust governors on a 27- 2 vote. Sir Albert currently receives £28,272 a year from city taxpayers for his work as a councillor and leader of the opposition. "I don't begrudge him this extra money," Coun Hutchings has told watchdog investigators. "But it should not have been arranged by his close colleagues." Sir Richard pointed out today that both he and Coun Tassa had been appointed to the selection panel three years ago when neither was a member of the city council. "If an official complaint has been made, I may have to be formally interviewed so I will not comment," he added.
| 
