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Cllr James Kempton |
£3,000 ‘patch-up’ bid fails to heal party split
The councillors in need of counselling
WARRING Lib Dems have undergone marriage guidance-style mediation in a bid to restore peace to their ranks, the Tribune can reveal.
Rocked by the news that finance chief Councillor Andrew Cornwell planned to resign in October, the Lib Dems used council funds to pay private consultant Geoff Norris, of Team Consultants, to soothe the tensions.
Mr Norris, who has worked with council chief executive John Foster in two other local authorities, held sessions with Cllr Cornwell and party leader Councillor James Kempton before bringing them together to ease their differences.
He was paid about £3,000 for his work with Islington Council, which included working with members of the leadership team on a number of issues.
But Mr Norris’s efforts failed and Cllr Cornwell has since resigned from the cabinet and left the Town Hall Lib Dem group while remaining a member of the national party.
Cllr Kempton said: “It’s clearly ironic that the man who’s against spending money on consultants has become the focus of attention of the consultants.”
He said Mr Norris was paid from council training budgets because the party split was a “leadership issue”. He added that since Cllr Cornwell resigned “any future mediation would be done through party political channels”, paid from Lib Dems budgets.
At last week’s full council meeting, the rebel councillor held his party to ransom four times when he voted with Labour, overturning the ruling party’s majority of one.
The Lib Dem administration was said to be “shell-shocked” this week after losing grip on the eight-year stranglehold it has had on power at the Town Hall.
Cllr Kempton said last night: “Andrew and [Green councillor] Katie Dawson are now in a position to hold both parties to ransom. Andrew refused to tell us in advance how he was going to vote or have any dialogue about it. I don’t think Katie would be happy in that position and I don’t think the people of Islington would be happy to have two councillors having that much power.
“To get a budget approved for the next year we’re going to have to work with other parties. We’re in uncharted waters but it reflects in many respects the electorate, which returned a Lib Dem administration with such a small majority.”
He added: “It’s my intention to run Islington as well as we have until it becomes impossible, which is not inevitable.”
Privately, Town Hall sources suggest there is an undercurrent of uncertainty among Lib Dems about the strength of Cllr Kempton’s position, with some speculating he may be ousted in the coming weeks.
Susanne Lamido, a high-ranking Lib Dem, wrote on her blog last week: “The Lib Dems will be trying to tactically force [Cllr Cornwell] to resign his seat, forcing a by-election which they presume they will win. The public perception at the moment is that it is being run by a wishy-washy executive with a leader who has no bite.”
Cllr Kempton said: “I don’t intend to stand down. If Andrew and the Labour Party want to remove me, the constitution would allow them to do that.”
Even before last week’s meeting began there was a buzz in the Town Hall corridors as councillors and their spin doctors desperately guessed which way the rogue councillor – who sat alone – would vote.
Responding to the chief whip’s report on changes to the executive following Cllr Cornwell’s resignation as finance chief last month, Labour councillor Phil Kelly told the meeting: “We’re in this position because the administration has fallen apart. While I pay tribute to the chief executive’s work, I’d also like to pay tribute to Andrew Cornwell with whom we’ve had serious disagreements but who has now found it possible to have his voice heard.”
Labour group leader Councillor Catherine West said: “It’s an exciting time on the council and a real victory for democracy. It’s an opportunity for us to strive to represent people as well as we can.” |
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