Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘I’LL LOSE’
Leader expects to be ousted in vote
City council leader Rob Thomas admits his days in the top job are numbered as rebel party members line up to vote him out. The Gazette revealed last week that colleagues have tabled a vote of no-confidence in the Conservative group chairman and hope to replace him with Cllr Ben Fitter-harding. And he says he expects to be ousted as group leader at a crunch meeting of Tory councillors in 11 days.
“From the messages I’ve been receiving, it’s starting to look like a foregone conclusion,” said Cllr Thomas, who described a challenge to his £30,000-a-year position amid the coronavirus pandemic as “sheer insanity”. Others have criticised the timing of the vote, fearing in-party squabbling at a time of crisis will not go down well with the public.
But seven Conservative councillors have signed a motion of no confidence in Cllr Thomas, which has been presented to the group secretary.
They are Herne Bay members Joe Howes, Jeanette Stockley, Ian Stockley, David Thomas and Anne Dekker, as well as Barbara Flack and Ben Fitter-harding, who is tipped to become the new leader.
Cllr Thomas said: “I’m staggered by the number of messages I’ve had from other members saying they can’t support me, but who have never previously raised an issue and, in some cases, have thanked me. “But if I am replaced, I believe I still have a lot to give to the community as both a city and a county councillor, which is all I ever wanted to achieve.” The extraordinary meeting of the Tory group is due to be held at 7pm on Monday, June 8, at the Toyko Tea Rooms bar in Canterbury, if social distancing rules allow.
Today (Thursday) the council’s new emergency Covid-19 committee is due to meet at 5pm, which Cllr Fitter-harding says he expects to be chairing.
But even if Cllr Thomas is replaced as group leader, as expected, he will remain leader of the council until a new chairman of its policy and resources committee is appointed, which would require a further separate meeting of the full council. Cllr Thomas has a word of warning for his potential successor.
“I am afraid the council is going to have to make some very unpopular decisions in the forthcoming months because of the state of our budget and revenues as a result of coronavirus,” he said. “I was prepared for that challenge, but the new leader should not expect to be winning any popularity prizes.”
‘From the messages I’ve been receiving, it’s starting to look like a foregone conclusion’