Pressure growing on Vera Baird amid cover-up allegations

Ian Lavery pictured with former Arch Chief Executive Peter McIntyre. McIntyre used Arch to purchase his own house at a loss to the council. He was also appointed to the board of Ashington Football Club while Lavery was Chairman.

Dame Vera Baird is facing growing pressure following another exclusive report in a national newspaper. The report criticises a meeting she held in private with senior Labour figures her force was supposed to be investigating on allegations of corruption.

The Times reported today that former Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird failed to properly declare a meeting with Labour chiefs who had been reported to the police. This has led to some people accusing her of covering up the meeting in case she was accused of political interference in a police investigation.

Labour's national party chairman Ian Lavery met with Vera Baird and the former 'leader' of Northumberland County Council Grant Davey, who could also have been implicated in investigations that the police force were due to conduct. Northumbria Police dropped investigations in March 2019.

The development company Arch made significant payments including a house to Labour spin doctor Graham Harper (who had previously been convicted of fraud) and the company also bought its Chief Executive's house at a loss to the. Arch was recently dissolved by Northumberland County Council who fully owned the company.

Although Northumbria Police records show that a meeting took place between Vera Baird, Ian Lavery MP and Ronnie Campbell MP, the records omitted to include that Grant Davey also attended the meeting. Davey was a close personal friend of Graham Harper, securing him a job at a charity of which he was a trustee and he later tried to force Blyth Town Council to create a role for Harper after the charity went bankrupt.

Northumbria Police instructed the council to withhold certain publications from the public domain while their investigations took place, but there is no evidence that interviews ever took place. When a report into Arch was made public it revealed that the council spent over £22,000 on hospitality at Ashington Football Club while Lavery was chairman. Despite this, Labour blogs (widely believed to be authored by Berwick town clerk Gareth Davies) defend council money being spent on bar bills. Arch also spent £2.32 million on a contract with a firm employing Lavery's son and brother despite failures in the tendering process.

Vera Baird has previously denied interfering in a police investigation for political gain but the nature of the meeting remains unclear.