Ousted West Midlands fire chief Oliver Lee calls for urgent overhaul in first interview

Former Royal Marine colonel Oliver Lee speaks out as the Home Office and regulators pledge investigations

The former chief of West Midlands Fire Service has called for an urgent overhaul of the way the emergency service is governed after being ousted in dramatic fashion. In his first interview since his departure, Oliver Lee says the councillors who oversee the service are not equipped or able to properly scrutinise affairs.

He has also described for the first time the 'crisis' of morale he discovered when he toured the region's fire stations and offices this year, with staff breaking down in tears as they shared concerns. Mr Lee also revealed that he was formally suspended for publicly slating then authority chair Greg Brackenridge on one of a series of controversial posts he put up on LinkedIn, the business social media channel, and in an exchange of messages.

Mr Lee's damning assessment of the state of the high profile service, the second biggest in the country, comes amid urgent inquiries launched by the Home Office and regulators. In his first interview since being publicly stood down from his high profile role, he also addressed claims of 'silent briefings' now seeking to undermine his brief but action-packed tenure.

READ MORE: West Midlands fire chief 'terminated' hours after withdrawing resignation

He says these include attempts to paint him as someone affiliated to the Far Right in a bid to undermine his tenure, stating: "I am certainly not. I am left leaning and led a social inclusion charity for six years after leaving the Royal Marines."

It comes amid claims he has not sufficiently silenced critics of his predecessor Wayne Brown, who died tragically earlier this year. Mr Brown was the first black chief fire officer in the country. He had faced a barrage of claims and allegations about his conduct, including that he had lied about having an MBA, prior to his death.

The full interview is available ad-free on the newsletter 'Inside Birmingham with Jane Haynes' - it is free to read.

On his concerns around the fire authority governance, Mr Lee said: "We have an authority overseeing this vital service of 1,900 people who are wholly inexperienced to do so. They largely lack the financial knowledge, the understanding of the service, or the time, to hold the service properly to account," he said.

“There is little robust challenge, and the chair tends to dominate proceedings....few incisive questions are asked," he claimed. A rapid overhaul of the entire governance structure is needed, he said.

He says he discovered early into his tenure 'financial predictions that differed wildly from reality', triggering his suspension of the service's most senior finance official. That decision was later subject to a damning Section 5 report from the authority's legal monitoring officer, Satinder Sahota, alleging he had committed an unlawful breach of the service's Constitution when he did so. It was among a series of disagreements between the men.

Mr Lee, originally from Birmingham, was a decorated war hero who brought all his men safely home from the killing fields of Afghanistan, an unprecedented feat, during an 18 year military career. He was the Marines' youngest ever colonel at the time.

His military service and subsequent career as a CEO meant he was seen as the the ideal candidate to lead the troubled 1,900 strong West Midlands Fire Service into a new era as it recovered from the sudden death of his predecessor Wayne Brown.

But after a tumultuous seven months and an extraordinary public spat with his erstwhile bosses at the Fire Authority, Mr Lee resigned last week. He sought to retract his resignation at the 11th hour but this was rejected and his original resignation was accepted on Monday. (October 14).

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The governing Fire Authority’s chairman, Greg Brackenridge, has also gone. He quit after he became embroiled in a row over claims he exaggerated his short military service as a Royal Marine - ironically by claiming to have served in the same commando unit that Lee had led.

Cllr Brackenridge, who sits on Wolverhampton Council, has been suspended by the Labour Party. He is the husband of Wolverhampton North East MP Sureena Brackenridge, and the whole affair has caused embarrassment and questions inside the regional party.

Mr Lee, speaking earlier this week, said: “This was my fourth time taking on an organisation of this scale (as CEO) and there are things I seek to hear about very quickly. I want straightforward information including what are its key performance indicators, how is it performing, how is it doing financially, what are its rates of sickness, long term absence, how many mental health first aiders does it have, what do staff feel about the service?”

According to Mr Lee ‘little of this was available.’ Fire Authority members were largely ignorant of information. “There had not been a staff survey done, no proper staff engagement, and the service could not answer requests for basic information."

A team of 15 councillors from seven councils, supplemented by Simon Foster, the police and crime commissioner, make up the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority, guided by statutory officers. They are drawn from among the councillors who sit on councils across the region.

In exchange for sitting on the Fire Authority, they receive an annual allowance, of around £4,000. The chair, until recently Cllr Brackenridge, draws a special responsibility allowance of close to £25k.

While turmoil swirls within the service, the public should see no impact, acting fire chief Simon Barry said. The termination of Mr Lee's contract had caused 'disappointment and sadness', he said, and as a result senior leaders had visited stations this week.

"We have been checking in with staff, and there is a sense of sadness over Oliver’s departure. But people are also getting on with their jobs; they have never lost sight of that through all of this. I asked staff if I could honestly tell the Home Office that whatever was going on around the authority, the service was working as normal, and they agreed, that was the commitment from stations. The service the public see will be no different,” he added.

We have reached out to the leading members of the Authority to discuss the crisis, wihout response. We have approached the fire service for comment.