26 May (Part 1) - Four more years
The main reason for choosing the Council meeting over the Oval was to be able
to photograph the new faces. The only real purpose of the first Full Council is to elect a
new Mayor which went
exactly as predicted yesterday.
And even that is a fraud.
On
approaching the Chamber with the intention of installing myself in the best
position for photography I was told I could not go there as those spaces were
reserved for friends of the new Mayor. That works only because the appointment
of the Mayor is a fix and his election a sham. As the Labour Leader pointed out
later, in democratic boroughs, the Mayorality is occasionally shared between the
parties. However Bexley continues to be a one woman dictatorship.
With the main reason for attending thwarted even before entering the Chamber I
was not in the best of moods and it was not improved by being told that Agendas
were not provided for Members of the Public.
Has that become legal now that they are available on the web?
I responded in a bad tempered manner which seemed to be appropriate at the time
but within a couple of minutes was provided with a copy. Perhaps I owe the lady
who ran off to fetch it an apology.
While the friends of the Mayor had the benefit of the raised seats, the plebs
were confined to the out of the way flat ones which aren’t even ideal for
photographing bald patches.
Things got better after that. A friendly chat with the new Cabinet Member for
Education, Richard Diment who informed me that Gareth Bacon was not the only MP
to be campaigning against the ULEZ extension but as yet I have not seen the
Louie French equivalent. Then there was a youthful looking Andy Dourmoush and a very smartly attired June Slaughter.
Right, that’s three political careers ruined within the space of one paragraph. What next?
After the two timing (†) Mayor James Hunt made his entrance and parked his
backside, Labour Leader Stefano Borella put forward the name of long serving
Councillor Daniel Francis for Mayor which is of course well into lead balloon territory
for the party which won 47% of the vote on the 5th of May rather than Labour’s derisory 41%.
Councillor Leaf put forward the name of one time Liberal Nick O’Hare for Mayor which provided a
good excuse for me to mentally switch off and browse the web for ten minutes and five
seconds. I know almost nothing of Councillor O’Hare but as he was seconded by
Councillor Slaughter who said he was a thoroughly good bloke I have to assume he must be.
With Councillor Nick O’Hare duly elected as Mayor it was a surprise to see newly
elected Councillor for Dartford Rags Sandu chosen as his Deputy; but perhaps not
so surprising as discovering that the equally new Felix Di Netimah was the Conservatives’ new Whip.
Following the formalities conducted by Chief Executive Jacky Belton and the thanks given
to the outgoing Mayor, what little Council business there was to conduct was begun.
† That’s two years of cake eating. Text messages said I had missed “a crap game”
of cricket and a Council meeting may have been more entertaining. Not a totally wasted evening then.