All we need now is some resignations!

WITH politics in almost constant turmoil, it seems some at County Hall are regretting missing out on the action.

Labour councillor Roger Truelove joked at a full council meeting that KCC was failing in its duty to make politics more exciting.

“We have no resignations, no leadership battles, no knives being stabbed in the back,” he complained.

Somewhere on the backbenches came the cry “Not yet!”.

Sadly, Off The Record was unable to identify who uttered it.

We don’t yet know whether the five east Kent councils discussing plans for a merged “super district” will grasp the nettle.

One thing that will be crucial is whether a compelling business case can be made for transforming the five into one.

Perhaps inevitably, the councils are appointing external experts to do it for them and draw up this business case. The cost? That’ll be £20,000. For each council.

And taxpayers’ cash has already been spent on the predictable “workshops” - three so far - which were organised by consultants Grant Thornton and Bevan Brittan.

This led to the “Statement of Intent” in which the gang of five said merger “merits further serious consideration.”

Are grammar schools on the way back? A lot of Conservatives fervently hope so and they may have grounds for optimism.

Under a new Prime minister who went to a grammar school rather than Eton and an education secretary who is the first in history to have gone to a state school, supporters are optimistic the current ban may be lifted.

If the block is lifted, it could be used by the PM as a symbol of her commitment to enhance social mobility - and put her on the same page as Kent County Council, which has recently agreed an action plan to make it easier for poorer bright children to access grammar schools.

It might, on the surface, not appear to be good news that KCC has spent £2,242,993 on so-called exit pacakges for departing staff in 2015-16. But before you get overly agitated, we should point out that it is more than £2m less than the 2014-15 figure of £4,240,819m.

It is always interesting - well, for Off The Record it is - to discover what assets councils own and how much they are worth. Kent County Council has an air raid warden’s shelter at Dover according to its latest statement of accounts but sadly its value is not listed. FOLLOW Paul on Twitter @PaulOnPolitics for breaking news and gossip.