FAVOURED government outsourcer Mitie has appointed yet another top Tory to its board, just as the firm faces more criticism.  

Mitie hired Salma Shah, a former special adviser to Sajid Javid, and put her on the board at the end of March.

Shah has no real experience of “facilities management” — businesses like Mitie — and has never sat on the board of a £2.5 billion turnover company before, but she does have strong connections to the Tory Party.

Just under half Mitie’s work is for public-sector employers including the NHS and government departments, running outsourced facilities management like cleaning, portering, security and maintenance. 

So they have a strong interest in hiring influential government “insiders.” Mitie is a favoured government contractor, but it is also facing increasing criticism.

In March the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into whether Mitie broke the law with “suspected anti-competitive conduct.” 

Mitie has a two-year contract to run the Derwentside immigration detention centre near Durham. 

It was bidding for longer, nine-year contracts to run immigration detention centres at both Derwentside and Heathrow but pulled out of the former because of Home Office rules that would stop firms winning both, to prevent dominance by single suppliers. 

The CMA is investigating if this is an anti-competitive fix, including reportedly raiding Mitie’s offices, although the firm says it expects to be “exonerated.”

Mitie’s role at Derwentside is more generally criticised because holding asylum-seekers in detention is in itself inhumane.

Even the Home Office own studies show supporting asylum-seekers in the community is more successful. 

Before Derwentside was opened, the numbers of female asylum-seekers in detention was dropping.

How Mitie’s staff treat asylum-seekers is also controversial. This February Mitie’s chief executive wrote to the Home Secretary to apologise because his firm had “let down the Home Office” after the Daily Mirror exposed racist messages in a WhatsApp group of Mitie “care and custody” staff, who escort migrants and run migrant detention centres.

The Mirror was passed the messages by a whistleblower who told the paper that “not all escorts have this callous, racist attitude but there is a culture of fear among staff around reporting ones who do.”

Last December government inspectors reported a “disturbing” event at Mitie’s Kent centre for asylum-seekers when untrained Mitie staff used “excessive” force on a self-harming 14-year-old: Mitie staff “kicked” him “with some force, before dragging him to the ground with one arm around his neck,” involving “repeated use of unauthorised and potentially dangerous techniques.” 

The event seems to have been caused by inexperienced staff who lacked the training — or the numbers — to deal with very vulnerable people, rather than prejudice on behalf of the Mitie workers. Mitie’s Kent centre deals with asylum-seekers who have recently crossed the Channel.

Outside of the asylum system, Mitie is facing other criticism. Also in December the Department for Business announced it was “naming and shaming businesses which failed to pay the minimum wage,” including Mitie, who failed to pay £17,893.98 to 91 workers. 

Mitie said that this was just a result of payroll miscalculations and that “HMRC accept this was a technical breach, so we are disappointed to have been included on this list.”

Mitie also has ongoing conflicts over pay in the NHS. As Morning Star readers know, Mitie’s cleaners and porters at St George’s Hospital in Tooting have been involved in quite long-running conflicts with the firm. 

The Mitie hospital staff, represented by the GMB union, won both a sick pay scheme and the arrival of £40 Christmas vouchers, which Mitie had promised but not delivered, this February. 

Mitie’s GMB members at St George’s have complained about further wage issues and are likely to be involved in other action, including strike action.

How can Mitie improve its position? By putting more Tories on the board. 

On March 29 Mitie made Salma Shah a director: Shah was special adviser to Sajid Javid when he was home secretary, leaving government in 2019. 

Shah, who currently works for lobbying company Portland, becomes the second leading Conservative on the Mitie board, as Tory Lord Baroness Couttie is already a director. 

Baroness Couttie, also known as Philippa Roe, was the Tory leader of Westminster Council for many years and an active Conservative representative in the House of Lords.

Mitie made it clear that Shah was hired to help it win more government contracts. Mitie’s chairman said: “Salma will bring additional public-sector expertise reflecting Mitie’s increased public-sector focus” while the firm emphasised her experience “working inside government.”

Shah does have Tory contacts, but she doesn’t have experience of running firms that make public services work. 

She started her career as a Tory press officer and went on to be a ministerial special adviser, specialising in media relations. Aside from working for the Tories, Shah has some experience as a TV producer and broadcast journalist.

Universal discredit

Chief executive of Universal Music Lucian Grainge tells interviewers he grew up loving the Clash and Sex Pistols. 

The Clash, in their single, White Man In Hammersmith Palais, joked about the emptiness of “only looking for fun” in a world dominated by increasingly right-wing politics and commercial values. 

Grainge seems to have taken one line from the song “turning rebellion into money” as career advice rather than the criticism it is supposed to be. 

Grainge has been signing bands for ages: his first signing was the Psychedelic Furs, his high-profile signings include Amy Winehouse. 

But Grainge wants to turn the rebellious, creative spirit of these artists into money: he steered Universal Music towards right-wing politics — under his lead Universal Music gave £80,000 to the Tories shortly after they won the 2010 election, Grainge became a “business ambassador” for David Cameron and was rewarded with a knightood. 

Now the latest Universal Music accounts reveal Grainge was paid £230 million in 2021 — a grotesque amount. 

Musicians have been really struggling during the pandemic, but in entertainment as in so many other areas, the money flows upwards to the uncreative suits.