Yes, Leader?

A belated comment on the council meeting of 6 April, where Mike Freer gave a desperate-sounding and demagogic performance to defend his own role in the shortcomings exposed by the Icelandic banking affair.

Labour put a motion that said:

Council notes the failures highlighted in the scrutiny working group report on deposits in Icelandic Banks.

Council believes that the role of Cabinet Member for Resources is too large to be combined with the role of Leader of the Council, and asks the Leader to consider separating the roles, and revise Cabinet portfolios and the Leader’s scheme of delegation accordingly.

Mike Freer, of course, is both Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources.

His line throughout the recent scandals has been that it is the politician's job to decide policy and staff's role to carry it out - in this case, staff did not carry out the policy. The opposition objects that Freer ought to know what's going on and that if he doesn't, he isn't doing his job properly.

It really makes you wonder how he would ever cope as a governmental minister, should he ever reach that exalted (?) position. The Sir Humphreys of this world would run rings around him.