Off the Record

We have become accustomed to the culture of “team building” in public organisations who send their staff out to build rafts from matchsticks or abseil down a perilous cliff face.

But they don’t always go down well with those left behind to man the fort. Off The Record hears there was some disgruntlement at County Hall when staff working in the business services centre were sent off for “essential training” for a day. It turned out to be paintballing in north Kent.

One worker took to KCC’s intranet to vent their anger asking why paintballing was considered essential “when people are at risk of losing jobs and we are having to find cost savings.”

Back came a response which defended the decision, saying that “in this instance, it was felt important for the teams to get out of their working environment and do something different to the day job.”

Kent has not featured highly in the Labour leadership campaign to date but did receive a rather lowkey visit from contender Owen Smith last week.

The usual “meet and greet” with a largely disinterested public took place in a shopping precinct where Mr Smith dropped in on a greengrocer and bought some apples and plums, from the Garden of England, obviously. Perhaps aware of the PR pitfalls and jokes about banana skins, Mr Smith declined to buy any.“I am definitely not buying any of them,” he said.

With the departure of Nigel Farage as leader, the successor could be someone who has strong connections with Kent. Diane James – installed as favourite by the bookies – is a former pupil at Rochester Grammar School.

Follow Paul on Twitter @ PaulOnPolitics for all Kent’s political news and gossip