The 19-year old leader of Warwickshire County Council strode confidently on to the steps of Shire Hall this week and predicted that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were finished.
This seemed a slightly odd claim given that he had been elected leader in a 23-23 tied vote against a Liberal Democrat, the Reform chair of the council using his casting vote.
My confidence in his ability to lead the cash strapped council was not enhanced when he proposed spending £190k on special political assistants to come up with new ideas. He said that council officials has not responded to a challenge to come up with fresh ideas, but their job is to implement the plans of the political leadership. Evidently these do not exist.
In addition local councils are effectively agents for implementing existing legislation and government policies. Thus, county councils may assess individual SEND cases differently, but they have to have an effective SEND policy - which costs a large part of their budget along with adult social care.
Leaving aside the fact that a general election is three or four years away (despite the predictions from the Goodwin Sands that Labour will somehow spontaneously combust), the Lib Dems seem to be holding their own in local by-elections while the record of Reform is patchy, losing some seats they have had to defend.
As for the Conservatives, their still have a brand. At some point they will decide that Kemi Kaze is not the answer and will opt either to appeal to Reform voters and appoint Generic (who knows how to do a Tik Tok stunt) or decide to be a One Nation party again and elect James Not So Cleverley (whose appeal is that he is sold rather than clever).
Or they get Penny Mordaunt back and she could point both ways. In any event they are not finished.
BTW, I have one thing in common with Councilllor Finch. Anyone who can work out what it is will win a small prize (yet to be determined).
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