Jacob Williams
Friday, 29th September, 2023

Fair crack of the whip

Fair crack of the whip

The first agenda item at Pembrokeshire County Council’s education scrutiny committee meeting last week may have caused some head scratching.

Members were tasked with electing their vice-chair for the “ensuing” municipal year, which began in May.

The committee’s chair, Cllr. Huw Murphy (Independent Political Group (IPG)) neglected to inform webcast viewers why this election – which also took place at the committee’s June meeting – was being re-run.

On that occasion Haverfordwest councillor Anji Tinley (IPG) was declared to have beaten Tenby member Sam Skyrme-Blackhall (independent of any political group) by eight votes to six.

But the council’s lawyers only later realised this election had been of no effect.

This was because two committee members had been allowed to take part in the vote unlawfully, both co-opted lay members.

Compounding the breach, one of them had even seconded Cllr. Tinley’s nomination.

Top barrister Nigel Giffin KC is said to have confirmed the inevitable – that, since the two co-optees’ voting rights extend exclusively to “education functions,” their participation in the committee’s vice-chairmanship election in May rendered that vote null and void.

So, three months later, the same two candidates of the 2022 intake faced a rematch, in an election whose only participants were democratically-elected councillors.

Of note, Cllr. Maureen Bowen (Labour, Pembroke Dock Bush) was the only switcher – this time around voting for Cllr. Skyrme-Blackhall, having voted in May for Cllr. Tinley.

Just before casting her vote, Bowen lamented how “…it’s such a disappointment that this is happening, and we have to have another vote – but Skyrme-Blackhall has my vote this time.”

All members of the IPG and Tory opposition groups voted for Cllr. Tinley, but on a full turnout of thirteen councillors, Cllr. Skyrme-Blackhall bagged the rest of the votes to scrape the vice-chairmanship 7-6.

Several sources present in County Hall’s chamber concur that Cllr. Tinley didn’t take the result well.

An agitated Anji was heard commenting aloud that it was “a disgrace,” and seen mimicking the action of thrashing with a cane whilst suggesting councillors had been “whipped.”

Given how Cllr. Bowen’s vote is the only one which changed since the flawed May contest – and that her switch dictated the outcome – it’s easy to guess where the runner-up’s finger was pointing.

This is quite interesting because, whether she knows it or not, Cllr. Tinley could be making a rather serious allegation.

Section 78 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, titled “Prohibition of whipped votes & declaration of party whips,” states in its first paragraph:

(1) A member of an overview and scrutiny committee must not vote on a question at a meeting of the committee if, before the meeting, the member has been given a party whip relating to the question (a “prohibited party whip”).

It goes on to say:

(6) If the decision of a question by an overview and scrutiny committee is materially affected by a breach of this section, the decision is to be treated as if it had not been made.

The assumption must be that Cllr. Murphy either didn’t consider that Cllr. Tinley’s assessment stood up to scrutiny, or he wasn’t aware of his sweeping powers – as he didn’t invoke the fifth paragraph.

It seems wide open to abuse, actually, but it nonetheless states:

(5) It is for the person chairing a meeting of an overview and scrutiny committee to determine whether a member of the committee has been given a prohibited party whip in relation to the meeting.

A deeper delve into these rules suggests that, in discerning whether a councillor has been whipped, they must have been placed under more than just an expectation of how they should vote – they must also be “likely to” be “liable to disciplinary action by the political group which gives the instruction.”

Any suggestion that Cllr. Bowen’s consequential change of mind was the result of improper pressure by her Labour party’s whip – on threat of punishment, no less – surely comes up against a high hurdle.

But perhaps the bigger obstacle to proving such an accusation is the fact that the Labour group’s party whip is, er, Cllr. Maureen Bowen!

Farewell, Keanjo

I was sad to learn of the death, in December last year, of my blog’s regular commenter, Keanjo.

He wasn’t a constituent but lived nearby, and I don’t think we ever knowingly met. However he corresponded through comments on this blog with me and many others more than enough to leave an impression.

He made 434 approved comments between July 2012 and his last, in May 2022.

I’m sure he’d be the first to joke how this blog can ill afford the loss of a loyal, long-time contributor.

He passed at the age of ninety – so a great innings, and I can only thank him for putting in such dedication throughout his twilight years!

Farewell, Keanjo.


5 Comments...

  • Martin Lewis

    An interesting post Jacob. Where would we be without the likes of (the very few) councillors such as yourself who take the time to actually read the rules governing the machinations of local authorities. The last sentence re Bowen being the Labour whip made me laugh out loud!

    I remember Keanjo’s regular comments on your blog, as well as on the Western Telegraph website. I can only hope for such longevity. RIP.

  • Sorry to hear about Keanjo.

    His comments were one of the few reasons for logging on to this website – an oasis of common sense in an otherwise barren landscape…

  • Martin Lewis

    *cough* I beg your pardon Cllr Stoddart *cough*

  • Martin, you’ve reminded me how, many years ago, a lady commented on here, calling me and Jacob out for our attitudes towards each other.

    It was so long ago that I’ve forgotten the finer points, but it no doubt followed an instance of Jacob referring to me as the “Old Duffer”, or me calling him the “Young Whippersnapper/Upstart.”

    She suggested that we should be working together to attack the powers that be, rather than knocking lumps out of each other – little did she know!

  • Mike, that comment will stick long in my memory, too!

    I’ve managed to track it down. It was by a lady called Lesley, a council-watcher from Carmarthenshire, and in a remarkable coincidence she posted it exactly ten years ago today.

    It’s the first comment on my blogpost at this link, and it reads as follows:

    “I regularly read your blog and that of Old Grumpy and it strikes me that you are both doing sterling work in keeping your fellow councillors on their toes. So stop this silly sniping at each other lads – the two of you in co-operation would be an even more formidable force for good. I just wish that we had some councillors like you in Carmarthenshire.”

    It’s worth reading it in context – as it not only drew replies from me and thee, but from many others, some who either pretended they weren’t weren’t in on the joke, or who genuinely weren’t.

    Indeed, you even followed it up with a post on your old (prehistoric) blog! (See: Best of enemies.)

    Good memories!

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