Alan Mak, a lawyer and Tory MP candidate, is embroiled in a political scrap over claims he lied in his CV about being a department head at Clifford Chance.
Mak is the Conservative candidate for the seat of Havant. His CV was leaked by Political Scrapbook who accused Mak of being just a little bit economical with the actualité. John Perry, the UKIP candidate for Havant, has also jumped on the Mak bashing bandwagon as he fumes at details on Mak's CV which he says are "at best, misleading".
A main point of contention is that Mak claimed that he was a "department head" at Clifford Chance. While some reading that statement might not unreasonably assume Mak would have been in charge of an entire department, the reality was that the position involved Mak as an associate heading "the UK arm of an EU-wide practice". Which smacks a bit of the school milk monitor calling himself the Head of Dairy distribution.
Mak is hardly alone in adding a bit of colour to his CV, although as a prospective MP he should have been particularly careful. He told RollOnFriday that he feels that the mud being slung at him is from UKIP resorting to "dirty tricks because they are losing the arguments" and he claims that "Political Scrapbook is a Labour-supporting gossip blog that regularly attacks Conservative MPs and candidates".
The fuss is likely to be academic given that Havant is a safe Tory seat: Ladbrokes have 1-100 on for Mak to win it. David Cameron has also put his oar in, as he reportedly said "[Insert name] Alan Mak will be an outstanding local MP and a strong national voice for [insert constituency] Havant."
Tip Off ROF
Mak is the Conservative candidate for the seat of Havant. His CV was leaked by Political Scrapbook who accused Mak of being just a little bit economical with the actualité. John Perry, the UKIP candidate for Havant, has also jumped on the Mak bashing bandwagon as he fumes at details on Mak's CV which he says are "at best, misleading".
A main point of contention is that Mak claimed that he was a "department head" at Clifford Chance. While some reading that statement might not unreasonably assume Mak would have been in charge of an entire department, the reality was that the position involved Mak as an associate heading "the UK arm of an EU-wide practice". Which smacks a bit of the school milk monitor calling himself the Head of Dairy distribution.
Mak is hardly alone in adding a bit of colour to his CV, although as a prospective MP he should have been particularly careful. He told RollOnFriday that he feels that the mud being slung at him is from UKIP resorting to "dirty tricks because they are losing the arguments" and he claims that "Political Scrapbook is a Labour-supporting gossip blog that regularly attacks Conservative MPs and candidates".
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The Havant constituency hustings. How it might have looked. |
The fuss is likely to be academic given that Havant is a safe Tory seat: Ladbrokes have 1-100 on for Mak to win it. David Cameron has also put his oar in, as he reportedly said "[Insert name] Alan Mak will be an outstanding local MP and a strong national voice for [insert constituency] Havant."
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Nice to know prospective MPs still have time to read & comment on rollonfriday! Taking tips from your Party Chairman on how to manage your online profile? :-)
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So it's incorrect for Alan to describe himself as a department head or as a lawyer at CC (though he was legally qualified).
It's also highly questionable for him to claim he co-founded the Clofford Chance Foundation - that was an idea knocking around for a while (to integrate all the firm's CSR) and was led by a partner I know.
What I knew of him was as a trainee and his reputation was very poor - though I genuinely don't know if he lacked talent or was just too busy with political stuff (he made sure everyone knew how involved he was with the Tory party and how well regarded he was with Central Office). He was arranging meetings between senior partners at CC and Tories even as a trainee.
He briefly qualified into the Banking team (50X) and the rumour was that he was given a job on orders from the Managing Partner because he was doing so much to hook the firm up with the Tory leadership but I don't know that firsthand. A few months in, budget was found to employ him in the Public Policy team and he was moved there and got paid to do what he was spending his time doing anyway - lobbying and Tory party stuff.
Anyone who overlapped with him at CC can verify this.
He was very unpopular at CC so I would expect a former colleague is the one who leaked this information about him.