Thursday 8 December 2011

Bob Bayford is voted out by a 28/26 vote

I believe the candidates for leader are Bob Bayford and Clive Hart.


This suggests a sort of confused arrogance on the part of the local Conservative group, to put up the same man for leadership candidate who has just been voted out as leader.

Clive Hart is now the new leader of the council.  



I am hoping that at the very least we will get some sort of continuity for a while.


It would have been 28/27 if Simon Moores had been there, councillor Tom King obstained. 


Not really sure what difference having a Labour council will make, perhaps an end to night flights, possibly some sort of cabinet representation for Ramsgate.

One thing I can say in Clive Hart’s favour is that he does respond to my emails.



I am not really sure what sort of a leader Bob was, my personal opinion was a bit on the lazy side, or I would have had more from him in the way of replies.


What amazes my is the ineptitude of the Conservative group in putting him up as candidate immediately after him losing a confidence vote, it suggests a complete lack of aptitude for managing a council with no overall majority.

Unless I suppose they were so certain that they were going to lose that they didn’t bother putting anyone else up.

Politically I am very much a floating voter, so I can assure readers that a TDC labour administration will get just as hard a time from me as the Conservative ones have.


I suppose the main question is, will this be better or worse for Thanet? The other question is will the Labour group be better at getting the wishes of local people pressed above the wishes of the senior council officers, most of whom live outside Thanet.

24 comments:

  1. Heaven helps us for what follows is likely to be like travelling on a rudderless ship in a storm. Let's hope the snake Worrow is pleased with himself, but then I suppose more fool the Tories for giving him a safe seat in the first place.

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  2. More like loyalty to their chosen leader. It was, after all, not the people of Thanet that voted Bayford out but Labour councillors supported by a turncoat and an independent.

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  3. That should make your day, Michael. Whatever will you blog about now.

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  4. Thanet District Council has a new leader, Councillor Clive Hart. A vote took place earlier this evening which resulted in Councillor Hart winning 28 votes, with the previous leader Councillor Bob Bayford receiving 26 votes. Newly Independent Councillor John Worrow, who quit the Conservative Party last week voted against his former leader and voted in favour of Councillor Hart. Fellow Independent Councillor Jack Cohen, also voted for Councillor Hart, whilst Councillor Bob Grove voted for Councillor Bayford and Councillor Tom King abstained.

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  5. The was from Isle of Thanet Gazette via Facebook.

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  6. Let's hope that Hart realises there's a Thanet outside Margate, unlike the last lot.

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  7. Outgoing leader Bob Bayford was the first to congratulate the new leader of Thanet District Council Clive Hart. Councillor Hart thanked Councillor Bayford for his efforts. Read more on this story in Tuesday's Thanet Times, get in touch and let us know your views!

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  8. You cant blame Worrow or the independents. The blame is solely on the tory leadership who took their eye off the ball and allowed this to happen.
    Bob Bayford and others have cost themselves and their collegues somethink like £350,000 in extra council allowances over the life of the council.

    Labour will be rubbing their hands at their windfall and I am sure wont make the same political cockup.

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  9. It only takes one of Labour's overweight and aging councillors to have a thrombie and it is game on. Just don't hold your breath on this situation seeing out the term of this council.

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  10. Wrong 21;17 you can blame Worrow. He was elected as a Tory and ratted on those people who put him in office. The independents are free agents able to honestly vote as they see fit.

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  11. oh dear, poor simes. i bet he's gutted there wasn't a direct flight to Manston!

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  12. 21.17, any councillor thats in it for the money should not be in the position.

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  13. No night flights!

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  14. 21.17 I think what happens is that councillors for the most part tend to start out thinking pretty much the same, but over a period of time come to rely on their allowances.

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  15. The Conservatives only had the leadership originally due to the independent support and Labour could have had the leadership anyway if they had supported them, so I don't think either party has an overwhelming mandate. It's a pity the two major parties can't work together more for the benefit of the local people when the split of power is so close. There goes that flying pig...

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  16. Ding dong the witch is dead. Great news methinks. The Tories must be a bit on the thick side putting up the very person who had got them into this mess. If Cap'n Bob had been a bit less of an autocrat he might still have been there now. I agree that CH is a better listener. Now, we get to find out if he is also a good leader.

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  17. What's the chances of getting Pleasurama site finished on time now?
    The Museum open for the Summer now?

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  18. K G Bird, a bit hard to say really, the change of leadership may throw the officers into more disarray than before.

    With Pleasurama I would say as quite a few Labour councillors live in Ramsgate, they must have a fairly realistic view, both of the lack of progress and the condition of the cliff façade, I would also guess that a fair few of them understand more about the flood risk problem. I would hope they would be in a position to get a flood risk assessment for the site, before any serious money is spent there.

    I think that until the advice of EA is acted upon, the development will be to a lesser or greater extent blighted and developing without carrying out the basic and relatively inexpensive safety assessment recommended by the most informed national organisation foolhardy.

    With the maritime museum I would say if a Labour council can’t get it open, then the Ramsgate councillors will have problems getting re-elected.

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  19. How soon before Ken Gregory crosses back across the floor?

    Nobody likes to be on the losing side now, do they..........

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  20. 21.17 - you can blame Worrow! You clearly don't know him - I wish my fellow Birchington voters had never let him in. He loves to bandstand and take credit for stuff, but he doesn't really do anything...oh,apart from putting on a rubbish event at Minnis, which was a nightmare for the residents. How much is this parking thing going to cost us all on our rates - cos there's no money in the pot in most councils and definitely not here!!!

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  21. Even more anonymous comments on the Thanet blogs than usual today...

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  22. THE NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES! It's pity they can't sort out the Isle.

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  23. I am surprised that news of all this was not mentioned this morning on R4's Today programme nor on The Daily Politics, perhaps it will be covered on Newsnight. I just wish they would all stop playing politics and get on and actually do something to help Thanet,rather than themselves. It is redolent of the Clogthorpe District Council.

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Comments, since I started writing this blog in 2007 the way the internet works has changed a lot, comments and dialogue here were once viable in an open and anonymous sense. Now if you comment here I will only allow the comment if it seems to make sense and be related to what the post is about. I link the majority of my posts to the main local Facebook groups and to my Facebook account, “Michael Child” I guess the main Ramsgate Facebook group is We Love Ramsgate. For the most part the comments and dialogue related to the posts here goes on there. As for the rest of it, well this blog handles images better than Facebook, which is why I don’t post directly to my Facebook account, although if I take a lot of photos I am so lazy that I paste them directly from my camera card to my bookshop website and put a link on this blog.