Break a leg

Arriving in the meeting slightly later than I had intended, I found myself sat right at the back of the enlarged committee room, with the only few spare seats next to me. A few moments later I was joined by there by Labour top men, Steve Foulkes, Phil Davies and George Davies. It felt a bit like being at a (very weird) gig waiting for the band to come on, with plenty of banter, and a few jokes about how the cabinet meetings ran more smoothly under their control after there was a slight delay to the proceedings.

Then Jeff Green walked up from the far end of the room, and although it was noisy and I couldn't hear the entire exchange, appeared to be asking his Labour counterparts whether they wanted to speak - particularly, I imagine, on the academies item which Phil Davies in particular had been very involved as former cabinet member for children's services.

They declined the offer, and Cllr Foulkes appeared to wish Cllr Green good luck, saying "break a leg". But as the Conservative leader - who was, after all, about to chaIr the first Tory led cabinet in Wirral for 24 years - started to say thanks, with a big grin Steve Foulkes added: "No, I mean it - break a leg."

There was a micro-pause before the laughter which followed on both sides, before Cllr Green left to return to chair the meeting, which I thought went pretty smoothly.

But that brief exchange showed that beneath the bonhomie between members of different parties - which sometimes makes people think they's all in it together - there is a real rivalry which can also be bitter. Anyone who saw the suspicious glances cast around the Civic Hall during the recent election counts, heard some of the comments made against the other parties and politicians, would be left in no doubt about this.

Anyway, during the subsequent cabinet meeting Cllr Green made several attempts to pay tribute to some of the work done by the previous administration, which is probably the politic thing to do. He is after all now working with the Lib Dems in the current coalition, but these same councillors had previously supported the Labour-led administration before joing the Con-Lib-Dem "Progressive Partnership".

NB
Just as the cabinet meeting reached that point when "press and public" are excluded and they consider exempt reports (items that could, for example prejudice negotiations with private businesses, or are about individuals) council leader Jeff Green said there was at least one report which had been put in that category which he believed could be considered in public and he would be seeking to ensure this and other reports were only made exempt from public scrutiny where absolutely necessary.

This was good to hear as it has been something which has bugged me for years. Wirral Council is not alone in this, but it does seem authorities have an inclination to hide some things they don't want the public to know behind these exemptions.

Fortunately, there are usually people who will find a way to ensure these reports do see the light of day, but hopefully this will be less necessary in future.