Thursday, 12th November, 2015
Pepper’s promotion and Pearl’s commotion
• CLLR. ROB SUMMONS RESIGNS FROM CABINET
• REPLACED BY CLLR. MYLES PEPPER
• CLLR. PEARL LLEWELLYN QUITS RULING IPPG
Monkton’s Cllr. Pearl Llewellyn has resigned her membership of the county council’s ruling IPPG party this afternoon, it has been confirmed.
The news won’t come as a complete surprise to council-watchers aware of Pearl’s increasing ill-feeling towards the authority’s ruling clique over recent months.
In a running joke dating back over a year, it’s been common knowledge in the Kremlin on Cleddau that the Monkton member has kept an unsigned resignation form on standby in her handbag – and today she’s finally taken the plunge.
Cllr. Llewellyn hasn’t yet prepared a statement, according to reliable sources, although her resignation is thought to be owed in large part to the ill-feeling towards the unpopular ruling group by her Monkton ward constituents.
The leader of council and the IPPG, Cllr. Jamie Adams, had commanded a wafer thin 31-29 majority prior to Cllr. Llewellyn’s move.
It remains to be seen whether Cllr. Adams will find a replacement, but another key development this week may have freed up a valuable council post which could play its part in enticing a reluctant floor-crosser.
Pearl’s resignation closely follows the announcement that Cllr. Rob Summons has stepped down from the cabinet.
The leader issued a press announcement to councillors yesterday saying that the member for Burton, who headed the cabinet’s planning portfolio, is to be replaced by Fishguard’s Cllr. Myles Pepper.
Cllr. Pepper, who has chaired the council’s planning committee since 2012, is “well versed in planning legislation” – according to the statement, that is – and has an “ability to contribute to debate” which the leader hopes “will serve the Cabinet well.”
That Cllr. Pepper accepted the leader’s promotion may come as a surprise, given that in September last year he was the only IPPG member to support an opposition-led motion of no confidence in Cllr. Adams.
The cabinet rank elevation will see Cllr. Pepper earn £29k – seven grand more than the planning committee chairmanship he vacates.
As to which councillor might fill the role, the committee’s vice-chair and formerly disgraced cabinet member Cllr. David Pugh is an early favourite to be awarded the £8k bonus, which will top up his basic councillor salary to £22k.
However the decision is one of the key council positions which is not in the leader’s gift to appoint, as it is up to full council to elect committee chairs. Cllr. Llewellyn – who hasn’t sat as a planning committee member in several years – is not thought to have an interest in the role, and will now sit as an unaffiliated member.
Following Cllr. Llewellyn’s resignation all eyes have turned to Cllr. Alison Lee, who was ejected from the Labour party when she accepted her own cabinet position last year, but drew short of joining the IPPG – instead becoming unaffiliated.
Several criticisms were levelled at Cllr. Lee when she took up the housing portfolio reins, among which was that she was an IPPG member in all but name. It was widely speculated that if the leader found himself without a majority, he could rely on signing up Cllr. Lee by threatening to withdraw her cabinet post.
Although a similar trick seemed to worked on Cllr. Sue Perkins, Cllr. Lee denied that she would be so susceptible, but this emerging real-life scenario is expected to put this pledge to the test.
If Cllr. Adams is unable to regain a majority and the position remains 30-30 split between his party and the opposition, he will lose out on one of the several national park seats that he distributes among his party members – worth £3,600 apiece.
Not only would the leader have the unenviable task of giving one of his party members the unwanted Christmas ‘gift’ of a minus £3.6k bonus, but his party will also lose its entitlement to a majority membership of all committees.
Should the position become worse, with further councillors decamping from the IPPG, the consequences will become more drastic – stay tuned!
Cllr. Llewellyn’s PCC’s website profile has already been updated
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“…her resignation is thought to be owed in large part to the ill-feeling towards the unpopular ruling group by her Monkton ward constituents.”
I must commend the residents of Monkton as they are obviously good judges of character about the IPPG.
Does that mean that voters in other IPPG held wards love the ruling group?
If they don’t, will they be deserting it as well?
Some good news at last.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a domino effect!
The smart money is on Sue Perkins defecting to Plaid Cymru, she hasn’t moved chairs for a while and she likes to keep on the move.
Like shuffling cards…I just wonder who holds the Aces…
Surprised at Andrew Lye bashing the IPPG, the very group his beloved Pembrokeshire Alliance considered going into coalition with not so long ago.
If one was of a mind to join the IPPG, now is the time to negotiate the rate. A good negotiator would surely insist the ‘golden hello’ was extremely lucrative…people of Pembrokeshire keep your hands on your wallets!
So the transfer market reopens early in Pembrokeshire following Pearl the Girl’s welcome decision to resign from the ruling cabal.
However any potential floor crossers being attracted by whatever baubles may be dangled before them need to be wary of short term gain followed long by term pain as the 2017 council election is looming. Especially when the remaining s!!t hits the fan in the New Year!
Pearl of wisdom did not get back the chair of the committee she wanted, that may have more sway than the opinions of Monktonites.
Pearl is going to wear out the carpet in the next 18 months, but glad she found the keys to her handbag at long last.
I think I speak for all elected members when I say that the last three years have passed in a blink of an eye.
Local elections are not far off and It will be interesting to see how forgiving (or forgetful) Pearl’s electorate will be.
Who will be next to distance themselves from the IPG as that day draws nearer?
Caradoc Evans, eat your heart out!
Just over a week ago I laid down the challenge to see an IPPG bailout from the farmyard, but even I hadn’t thought that Pearl would become the diamond in the pack.
With Snoopdog Summons, the only councillor elected as an upfront IPPG member taking his tractor outside of the cabinet’s shed, was Pearl left with salt in her mouth over the peppering she has taken with Myles’ appointment?
A change in committee balance…more disgruntled pigs in the sty as the allowances become mixed with the swill…will more diamonds to fall off the gravy train?
Not the night of the long knives but certainly the beginning of the end. If Farmer Adams gets to Christmas it could be his last jingle although the imminent public meetings over the Haverfordwest school debate may need more than a conductor to calm the choristers.
More tea vicar? Or are you going to lay one more roll of Tarmac before it dries up?
Boy Oh Boy, Jon Boy – You may have predicted this but easy on the metaphors there! Remember, less is more sometimes.
On a serious note though – only In Pembrokeshire could a councillor support a vote of no confidence in the leader and later be asked to join the cabinet. Talk about sheer desperation to stay in power.
Jacob – stay strong when you are asked to defect.
Before anyone gets too excited, 31 councillors will have to form an administration of some sort. The so called rainbow alliance is hardly likely to materialise. The only realistic nuclei is the Labour group, who will have to do some serious deal making (like rounding up their defectors.)
This administration has a core philosophy of consequentialism, or “the end justifies the means”. Consequentialism has a number of flavours, but their favourite one is the common good, or for “the good of Pembrokeshire” as they like to phrase it. Some individuals in the group work “ego-consequentialism” – for their own good. The departed chief executive was a prime case of the latter.
The Pembroke Dock grants scheme is an example of consequentialism. Whatever went on was justified by the result of providing cheap housing.
An incentive for a new administration may be to direct the scrutiny committee to seriously get to the bottom of the Pembroke Dock grants scheme issue and those members who have “justified” the means. That won’t happen at the moment as those very same members currently control the administration, and their political survival depends on avoiding that.
Put another way, hands up those who have had enough of farmer Adams!
Timetraveller, I can see 122,400 hands in the air – the population of Pembrokeshire less a few lackeys still hanging around the farmyard where Farmer Adams holds court.
He must be contemplating shuffling the pitch fork he leans on into a more favourable position so he can fall on it gracefully before too many turn on him and stick it in his back.
Today has been a pearler without doubt. Roll on tomorrow to see what it brings.
Andrew Lye….give Jacob the credit he deserves on your FB alliance page!!!
How come councillors in PCC are allowed to slag them off yet normal employees get bullied and are scared to say anything negative about the VERY corrupt, vile organisation?
Cheers,
Simon (very ex-PCC and very much happier) Eastop.
The people of Pembrokeshire surely deserve something better than this. I do believe it was called “musical chairs” in my youth.
With major cuts still to come all we have is this squabbling and a desire of county councillors to maintain Pembrokeshire County Council.
Dyfed surely was not as bad as this.
How many myles has Jamie got before he reaches the end of the road?
Plain and simple, Pearl has jumped to give the impression to the electorate that she has some principles. She wants to be re-elected and has just taken an early mark to fool the voters into thinking she’s in it for them.
What’s the betting she’ll be among the first to try and get her snout back in the trough post election with the new alliance. Let’s hope her track record is remembered at election time.
Malcolm, by your comments you imply that nothing has actually changed, only the terminology. If you have a pigsty, you raise pigs; you may raise one batch, but they will be sold and you will yet more pigs…but the pigsty remains.
I think you will find that Dyfed had all the same problems that we see today. The problem is not the organisation, but those that make up the organisation. If that mentality will not change, we will keep on with the same outcome.
All we can hope is that the pigsty is cleaned regularly, so that the stench is kept to a minimum.
Flashbang, are you suggesting that Pearl the Girl is joining the Pembrokeshire Alliance? If so, the future is looking dimmer!
As quoted in his PCC press release (propaganda) on the resignation from the Cabinet of Rob Summons, the Leader says: “Rob brought tenacity and focus to his role – attributes which the Authority will continue to benefit from, I am pleased to say.”
With an epilogue like that Farmer Adams is banking on his former cabinet member staying loyal as the only true IPPG member who stood under the ‘banner’ before the electorate.
Flashbang, it is my understanding that Pearl has no intention of standing again!
Whilst admitting to not having read the Williams report, I do remember Dyfed as being a rather large county, heavily biased towards its south-east corner (Carmarthen-Llanelli).
Representation has been weak in Pembrokeshire, it was more or less hijacked at birth, so will larger wards produce more talent in council? I doubt it, but Pembrokeshire members will be more focussed on resisting domination from that more socialist minded corner and thus having less time to squabble with each other.
It will also be less prone to clever and manipulative senior officers, even if only because the scale of such activity will attract more attention.
At least Dyfed was more responsibly managed, no council Porsches in the car park. The new authority should find some of the more creative way things were managed in Pembrokeshire unacceptable, so that will be an improvement – we hope!
If I am not mistaken the election arrangements for Pearl’s Monkton ward will probably be changed by the boundary commission. They suggested a system supported by the Conservative party and Pembrokeshire County Council that many town wards be combined to elect multiple councillors (see http://gov.wales/docs/lgbcw/publications/electoralreviews/141125pembsfinalreporten.pdf).
This way you can get councillors who do not get the majority of the votes back into office, whilst in the mainly rural areas the one vote one candidate system survives.
I might be getting cynical but any election system where a “democratic” vote has a different value and outcome depending on where you live is at best suspicious.
Why did Snoopdog Summons take the early bath?
Commenting to the Western Telegraph, Pearl reassures those questiong whether her departure from the unpopular ruling IPPG has anything to do with her electoral prospects, saying she won’t be standing again. We’ll see!
Clive, I understand it’s due to ill health.
Would that be that the people of Monkton are sick of her? Who in their right minds would vote for any IPPG member in the next election when all their opponent has to ask is: Who gave BPJ a Porsche and paid him off before any inquiry could happen?
A piece in the Milford Murcury shows that Cllr Simon Hancock is now calling himself Doctor Simon Hancock.
Quick, nurse! The screens!
I’m surprised no-one has ventured an opinion on Cllr Pepper’s suitability to head the cabinet’s planning portfolio. Ah, but we are wise to be respectful!
Of course, three years chairing the planning committee is not to be overlooked, nor yet, as our seasoned “leader” assures us, is the spicy art aficionado’s ability to contribute to debate! And contribute he did.
He failed to declare an interest in a traffic consultation close to his home, and despite claiming to have the best interests of his constituents at heart, he was deemed to have fallen foul of the code of conduct by the Public Service Ombudsman.
But we should rest assured. Having been censured and reformed after a little training to discourage him from repeating using his position as a councillor to create an advantage for himself again, Cllr Pepper must be ideally suited for a seat in cabinet, especially a seat requiring complete impartiality.
Galf, a doctorate from Cardiff University I believe.
As you are aware David, there are several universities in Cardiff which claim to be a Cardiff University.
Perhaps you could inform us which university Cllr Hancock studied at to obtain his Doctorate, was it the real Cardiff University or one of several Mickey Mouse universities located in the capital city?
Malcolm, a Google search turns up the LinkedIn profile of a “Dr Simon Hancock” listed as a Pembrokeshire cabinet member who achieved a “Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)” in “Modern Welsh History” between 2009 and 2015 at Cardiff University. How dare you question it!
I note that the study of philosophy relates to the general and fundamental nature of reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
I was of the belief that all a county councillor needed was common sense, how lucky we are in Pembrokeshire to have a man with such a knowledge base!