The race to replace Leader
AS DAVID SIMPSON prepares to bid farewell to leading Pembrokeshire County Council, the search for a new leader begins.
Last year, the Conservatives and IPG ensured Cllr Simpson remained Leader for another year after making a complete mess of a confidence vote in him.
As Cllr Jacob Williams observed acidly at the time, the confidence motion had no substance, and no suggestion was made that Cllr Simpson had done anything in the preceding year to justify it.
If the unaffiliated members, Plaid, Labour, and the LibDems, maintain a united front, the IPG faces continuing in the wilderness, able to wound but not strike the killer blow.
As things stand, guerrilla warfare on key committees, waged in tandem with the Conservative Group, serves the IPG well. Not obliged to come up with a single idea of their own, the largest opposition group can simply continue carping from the sidelines and playing procedural games to slow down Council business.
It’s what the IPG experienced in the dog days of their last administration when they mismanaged a series of avoidable debacles. In fairness to the IPG, poor advice from several senior officers did not
help them and left them open to being outflanked by the few councillors who bothered reading key papers, such as Mike Stoddart and Jacob Williams.
While the officer cadre is stronger now than it was, recent personal attacks on senior officers’ integrity and impartiality could leave the authority casting around to replace senior staff while trying to establish a new leader’s authority.
However, with many witnesses to the IPG’s prolonged collapse now off the Council, new councillors with short memories, thick hides, or who rejoice in their ignorance give the IPG hope.
The
Group is position.
Conservative in a difficult
A Conservative candidate would not command enough votes to be elected Leader. Therefore, the Conservatives must back either an IPG or an unaffiliated candidate for the role.
Both approaches are challenging and could leave the Group in a worse position.
You can’t see the Conservatives falling behind Huw Murphy again, and the talent vacuum on the IPG benches - both Jamie Adams and John Davies have ruled themselves out - means there are few credible alternatives.
While you can never say never, you can’t see the Conservatives swinging in to back veteran councillor Brian Hall or intellectual