Merrick Cockell now spends little time on his duties at the Town Hall, for which we taxpayers pay him nearly £70,000 for a 2 day a week. The rest of his time is spent at the LGA, where he collects a further £53,000. He has no other declared income source, so is desperate to cling on like a limpet.
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| Cockells and Limpets |
This is a dangerous situation for local democracy and specifically for residents, councillors and officers of the Borough.
Last night the following comment was posted: it is highly relevant and seems to emanate from within the Council Member's Room......
Anonymous said...
Dearest Dame. We love you and admire you for all you have done in the name of the Sacred Borough. We do not wish to cause you the slightest offence for you are greatly revered and respected. But may we suggest in admonishing us on speculating about the succession to our Blessed Leader you are being just a little sanctimonious. Our great Conservative Councillors as they sit in their member’s room calculating their special responsibility allowances, graciously bestowed upon them by Blessed Leader, talk about little else other than how Blessed Leader can be helped on his way to a better place, where all Blessed Leaders (or most of them) have gone before him.
Dear Dame, abandoning the silly language, something like 90 per cent of the Council and a lot of the senior officers just can’t wait for this to happen. You have to admire his thick skin even if you don’t admire anything else about him.
He can't go until Baroness Hanham stands down from her job in the Department of Communities and Local Government. Then he may be elevated to succeed her. But let us not forget that Mr. Greenhalgh is lurking out there somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course Stephen Greenhalgh is fit for the purpose....
ReplyDeleteAll of this anti Cockell chatter on the Hornet is straw blowing in the wind. Teflon Man is oblivious to hint, nudge, and blatant truth.
ReplyDeleteHe just needs to be blown out of the water
The Hornet's focus has to be the Conservative backbenchers in Hornton Street who alone are responsible for the current state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteThe Leadership of K&C is their gift. And they have allowed themselves to be bought off.
A pathetic and corrupt bunch of men and women
The Dame's headline of "Cockell Refuses To Step Down" is an outrage. K&C is not some Arab dictatorship - it is a democracy.
ReplyDeleteConservative councillors decide who the Leader should be, and they formally vote in May of every year to select one.
The idea of Cockell deciding to stay or go is an abomination
Wake up, Dame
This pathetic man has reduced himself to a role of clinging to SRA's.
ReplyDeleteCockell's visit to Jarrow last week is a clear insight into how he sees himself. "My Borough of five square miles" A visiting potentate from the prosperous South of England who drips pearls of wisdom on the disadvantaged North of England.
Such a condescending little prick puffed up with his own importance
It is hard to understand why the Conservative backbenches in K&C have not come to the view that the time is overdue for Leadership change in Hornton Street.
ReplyDeleteThe lessons of history will be familiar to them. The temptation to overstay. The hunger for power and status. The fear of afterlife. But democrats need to get to grips with these issues and take decisions that are in the best interest of residents.
The marginal stuff can be difficult. But there is such a clear cut case of leadership crisis in Hornton Street that even the most kindhearted Tory souls should be responding to the call for action
The idea that Cllr Cockell should announce that he "intends to stay" as Leader of K&C is worrying. The decision has nothing to do with him. It is up to the Conservative Group of councillors to decide.
ReplyDeleteCllr Cockell would do well to remember this
Lord Kensington, you have a quaint belief in logic. Of course Cockell knows that he depends on the vote of the Conservative Group. That is why he has developed a patronage system over the last 14 years and has bought them off.
ReplyDeleteIts just that he has got a little careless with words in recent years - convinced of his omnipotence
Is it time to have an elected Mayor in Kensington and Chelsea? A complete break with the past?
ReplyDelete