A not-so clean sweep

Enough has been said about the “New Partnership” and spirit of cooperation proffered by Mr.

Jones, when within 15 minutes of becoming Council Leader, he refused a motion by Councillor Jorgensen promptly giving his ‘yellow brigade” membership to 30 Groups/Outside Bodies giving way not once. A clean sweep you could say.

What is not so clean is Mr. Jones’ bold announcement that he wrote to Michael Gove on May 26, but plagiarising the words of John Halsall, previous Conservative leader who beat Clive to it, writing to Gove on January 5.

I have read both letters.

Cllr Jones’ is shorter but he uses most of the salient points of John Halsall ie ‘National planning policy has lost … and ‘The government must step away from a mathematical…’ being just two to include in this letter.

I thought this ‘new dynamic Partnership’ of LDs, Labour and two Independents would pen their own ideas but no. What is more alarming and concerning is that Clive went on record straight after election day inviting people to donate to his cause of getting rid of John Redwood ‘once and for all’ and yet we read in the news release that he “wishes to create a united front with Sir John, Theresa May, Matt Rodda and James Sunderland, which would be a strong cross-party team”. Isn’t he lucky that Sir John is honourable enough to agree to meet with someone who denigrates him?

Not so lucky is the inclusion of the Independents, one of whom is an armchair councillor rarely stepping outside his door to meet residents. He would rather use his time writing copious letters to the Wokingham Today, so be warned WT! Actually I sat in front of him at the Annual Meeting and had to ask someone “who is that?”

In my year as a Councillor I have never seen nor met him in the Chamber. Very strange.

Even stranger is Cllr Jones’ continued patronising manner in all that he writes . In his “Voting for Change” he pretends the LDs are willing to be more inclusive, yet swiftly denigrates the Conservatives ‘for sadly not understanding how Overview & Scrutiny works’. I was on this committee for a year and my colleagues and I totally understood.

CJ’s ‘new approach’ is to alarm the electorate by making aspersions that social reform costs ‘before long will be eye-wateringly enormously costly’ and ‘no plan was left to address the costs which would clearly bankrupt the council’ paving the way for his potential failure to be blamed on the Conservatives. Clive Jones calls for ‘time for grown up politics’ – can’t say his behaviour is very adult.

Cllr Jackie Rance, Conservative councillor for Shinfield South, Wokingham Borough Council