Meet Stefan Mullard-Toal. Our interest in Stefan was piqued whilst trying to find a constituency address for our local MP. Chris Vince is claiming £1140 a month expenses for the rental of an office, and we were trying to ascertain who that office was owned by, to ensure a local councillor/employee wasn’t getting a kick-back as such. We’ve still not found an address, if anyone has an address please feel free to send the details to whistleblower@the-harlow-sentinel.com
We happened across Stefan’s LinkedIn profile, where he makes it known he is the Chief of Staff for one Chris Vince MP, Harlow. The name rang a bell of course as he is the current councillor for the Netteswell ward in Harlow. Interestingly, Stefan has indicated on his LikedIn Profile that he is no longer a councillor of this ward, not since April of 2023 in fact according to his LinkedIn profile, this is definitely not an oversight, or a profile that’s not been updated recently due to the fact he has his most recent employment on LinkedIn.
So far, so good. Almost. Why has Stefan not added his current role as councillor to his profile on LinkedIn? More importantly though he has not declared his employment with Chris Vince MP on his Register of Member’s Interests , this is a breach of the Localism Act of 2011. Stefan has also not declared his salary as Chief of Staff for Chris Vince MP in his Register of Interests. Why not? This is also a breach of the Localism Act of 2011.
Stefan has indicated on his LinkedIn profile that he works full time in his capacity as Chief of Staff, when does he actually get time to be a councillor exactly? Well, that’s the issue of course, if you look at his attendance record on the council website, he has failed to attend 43% of all meetings he was expected to be at, and we assume will be drawing his full allowance from the taxpayer. (For both jobs!)
Stefan, we think it’s time for you to stand down as the Nettesswell ward councillor and give your attention to your full time job. What say you?
UPDATE: It has also come to our attention that Chris Vince has not declared on his staff’s register of interests that Stefan is employed by the council. We will be reporting both to for breaches of the Localism Act of 2011 and the Council’s Code of Conduct in Stefan’s case and will be reporting Chris Vince to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
UPDATE: Following official complaints made by The Harlow Sentinel, we’re pleased to report that Stefan has updated both his register of interests at the council and at Parliament. Whether any disciplinary measures have been taken or not, we do not know. Small victories are better than none.