Man sent to help Birmingham suggests staff 'will need permission to buy toilet paper'

Mr Collier was brought in by Michael Gove to oversee the recovery of the city's finances

The man conscripted into the army to save Birmingham City Council from virtual bankruptcy , he once told staff he had the power to require permission from them to buy toilet paper.

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities, called Max Koller CBE to retire after , as the Labour-run council plunged into financial crisis.

Mr Coller, a former chief executive of London's Hackney and Barnet councils, is seen as the government's best helper in fixing local authority problems.

Earlier this month Birmingham City Council was forced to pass a section 114 notice, meaning it must stop all new spending immediately, with limited exceptions.

Birmingham City Council statistics

One of Mr Coller's former colleagues said that when Hackney council was in the throes of Notice 114 in 2000, Mr Coller used an unorthodox analogy to explain how it entailed day-to-day costs for the council during his tenure.

Luke Akehurst, then leader of the council's Labor group, said Mr Collier, by way of illustration, told staff they would have to, for example, ask permission to buy toilet paper because it did not qualify as a statutory expense. /p>

Items such as stationery and office equipment would theoretically have been signed by him.

There was strong public dissatisfaction with Mr Koller's appointment, leading to protests that took to the streets. < /p>

The police were also called in to protect the town hall from arsonists when his first budget was announced.

Mr Koller, who describes his position at LinkedIn as a «sleeping volcano», said it was an easy decision to come out of retirement to regain power.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said: «You can't refuse from being able to sort things out in Birmingham.»

He added: «The only thing you don't have to worry about is why you're in trouble.

«If you're wasting your time looking around ago, you don't spend time improving services for people.»

«Ineffective and unaccountable»

Mr Gove is prepared to appoint a team of commissioners to take on the day-to-day work. The authority's day-to-day management after discovering the «scale of mismanagement» was greater than expected.

Announcing the intervention, he said last week: “Birmingham Council demonstrates an ineffective, ineffective and unaccountable government. It fails in its basic responsibilities.

“Where local leaders fail, residents become frustrated. This cannot continue.

“I can announce that I am writing to the council today to outline my proposal to intervene and appoint commissioners, and that I intend to launch a local investigation.

“I do not I take these decisions lightly, but we must protect the interests of Birmingham residents and taxpayers and provide reassurance to the sector.»

He described Mr Koller as an experienced local government professional and «the preferred candidate to lead the intervention, if the package of proposals is implemented.”