Jacob Williams https://jacobwilliams.com

At numerous points during Thursday’s meeting, the leader found himself trying to defend his decision to sack Cllr. Peter Stock from his position on the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Panel, who he replaced with Cllr. Steve Yelland.

Cllr. Adams pulled the plug on Cllr. Stock immediately following his resignation from the ruling party, the IPPG. The audacity with which the leader tries to explain it is something to behold.

Simply put, the intelligence-insulting excuse put forward by Cllr. Adams was that his decision to sack Cllr. Stock was based upon reasons outside of his control – that because Cllr. Stock had resigned as a member of the IPPG he was no longer eligible to serve on the panel and had to be replaced by an IPPG member.

Regular readers will know full well that this lame idea for an excuse has been off-limits long before Cllr. Stock was sacked. It was rendered impossible months ago when Cllr. Tessa Hodgson uncovered the fact that unaffiliated councillors are counting towards the contribution which gives the seat to Cllr. Adams to appoint in the first place, so there is absolutely no reason why Cllr. Stock’s resignation from the IPPG should have precluded his continuation on the Police and Crime Panel.

At the time he was unceremoniously sacked by Cllr. Adams he was – and remains at the moment – an ‘ugly’ (unaffiliated) councillor. There are even some strong reasons to suggest that, had the unaffiliated members not counted toward the formula of ‘independent’ councillors on the panel from the four councils within Dyfed-Powys, Cllr. Adams would only have one seat to appoint, rather than two.

At the previous council meeting where Cllr. Hodgson questioned the leader as to why he had overlooked appointing an ‘ugly’ to the PCP, Cllr. Adams explained that he had indeed given consideration to appointing an unaffiliated councillor, but he chose his (then) colleague Cllr. Stock due to his experience, among other qualities.

One can only assume that the weight Cllr. Adams initially gave to Cllr. Stock’s experience mysteriously vanished immediately upon his resignation from the IPPG. I’m not sure what comfort Cllr. Stock will be able take from deducing that, in the leader’s eyes, he’s seen as an ‘inexperienced’ ugly.

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 Summons for by-election

The official notice of the Burton by-election has been published by the returning officer, confirming that the polling day for the newly vacant seat following David Wildman’s departure will be on Thursday 11th April.

Prospective candidates have got until Wednesday 13th March to return completed nomination papers in order to get their name on the ballot paper. The Labour Party has been causing a bit of a stir in the ward by going out on weekend rallies, door-knocking for support. The fact that they haven’t yet selected their candidate appears to offer no embarrassment.

I understand the Conservatives also intend to contest the election, but my latest information is that they, too, have not yet chosen a candidate.

Plaid Cymru’s chances are slim to none. Which is good going for them, so they may try their luck.

Speculation has been rife as to whether or not Pembrokeshire’s biggest political party, the Independent Plus Political Group (IPG/IPPG) will be fielding a candidate of its own, or whether it will fall back on its classic trick of poaching the winner once his or her votes are securely in the bag.

A possible clue might be found in an endorsement given by the outgoing IPPG councillor, David Wildman, for Robert Summons. Don’t take my word for it, check out this snippet from the spring edition of Burton and Rosemarket’s ‘In Touch’ magazine:

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Party poopers

Reports are reaching me of the leader’s stag do pub-crawl over the weekend. From what I’m told, partakers in the leader’s last moments of pre-marital merriment ranged from cabinet colleagues to the council’s Chief Exec!

I’ve concluded either my invitation to this booze-up got lost in the post, or it’s still jammed in the printer!