THE tragi-comedy of politics in Doncaster is moving into its final act. Another play is being written, with the prospect of better players. Martin Winter, the directly-elected Mayor drummed out of the Labour Party last year (“self-expelled”, in the official jargon) is going, after Schools Secretary Ed Balls sent in a hit team to overhaul the council’s “inadequate” children’s services.
Inadequate is putting it mildly. Seven child deaths have rocked the town’s reputation and Winter’s announcement that he will not seek a third term of office this year is about the least that could have been expected. Not that he is willing to accept any personal responsibility for the scandal, blaming other councillors for allowing “politics to get in the way of service delivery”.
Winter’s departure should open the way for a resumption of normal public life in Donny, although some might hesitate before putting a bet on that. Labour has made an excellent choice, Sandra Holland, to pick up the banner wrested from Winter’s hands – he having been banned from the party for at least five years.
Holland, a local woman and councillor for Conisborough, has held virtually every position in the local constituency. She has spent five years as parliamentary aide to Caroline Flint, which is forgivable, and is a graduate of the Institute of Personnel Management, which is slightly less so, if my “human resources management” daughter is anything to go by. Still, she was also a full-time official for Unison in the region, so that trumps any shortcomings.
The main opposition could come either from the Tories (who once held the Doncaster seat) or the independents, who have a strong representation on the council. Having failed to draft my old mate Rodney Bickerstaffe for the job, I wish her well. Even in a difficult year for Labour, she looks the right candidate to pull things round.
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COUNTING their chickens? The Tories up ’ere have opened a political poultry farm. They’re so confident of winning seats in Yorkshire that they’re swapping congratulations 14 months ahead of the general election.
Janice Small, spin-doctor for David Davis in his pointless by-election last year, had no sooner been adopted for Mike Wood’s marginal Batley and Spen constituency than she had a rapturous, backslapping message on the ConservativeHome website from one Antony Calvert.
That can’t be the Antony Calvert who was adopted for Ed Balls’ Morley and Outwood seat next door only a couple of weeks ago? Yes, it can. “Best of luck to you, Janet”, he oozed. “I play tennis in Batley regularly and I know of a boatload of people who are absolutely fed up with Labour.” Well, jolly hockey sticks – or tennis racquets, at any rate.
Calvert is not a man to sell himself short, either. He’s the self-appointed apostle of “beer and sandwiches Conservatism” – whatever that might be. He promises Balls a rough and tough fight, warns of “red rosette Labour shock troops” descending on the constituency and brags: “This seat, like many in suburban Britain, is very winnable.” Rhetoric apart, there is also the small matter of Balls’ notional majority in this redrawn constituency of 8,669, which would require a swing of more than 10 per cent to defeat him.
Morley & Outwood and Batley & Spen are just two of the eight Tory target seats in West Yorkshire. They also have their sights on Colne Valley, Calder Valley, Bradford West, Dewsbury, Halifax, Leeds North-West (a Liberal Democrat gain from Labour in 2005), Keighley, and Elmet and Rothwell.
In Dewsbury, the original Tory prospective parliamentary candidate, Kevin Hollinrake, quit last October to devote his entire time – understandably – to the Hunter Property Group estate agency he heads. Despite this being the hometown of Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi, David Cameron’s people chose Simon Reevell, a white, ex-British Army, middle-class lawyer from Beverley in East Yorkshire, to replace him. Shahid Malik’s seat now includes rural Denby Dale and Kirkburton, has a notional majority of only 3,999 and is perilously vulnerable to a swing of only 4.5 per cent.
Kris Hopkins, the candidate for Keighley, likes having his picture taken with chef Jamie Oliver. Another former army man, he records his service in Northern Ireland, Kenya and Germany without saying what rank he achieved. Perhaps he only made captain, like his erstwhile leader Iain Duncan Smith. In the better regiments, an officer who only gets that far is known as a Rupert. Don’t ask me why.
Anyway, Hopkins took a degree in communications and culture at Leeds University before lecturing in “media theory” (whatever that is) and becoming leader of Bradford Metropolitan Council. He condemns the unofficial strikes by refinery construction workers last month as “illegal” (they were not) and seems as unreconstructed a Thatcherite as you’re likely to find in these parts, which is saying something.
Oh, look, I’ve run out of space. More of this next time.
