Tunbridge Wells has a lame-duck Leader. Councillor Roy Bullock has lost a vote of confidence and the Conservative Group is meeting in January to elect a new Leader. As many as seven candidates have been mentioned and it may be that the Leader will stand. The new Leader will be voted for at the next full Council meeting in February.
The Cabinet has been one member short for some time. There is a vacancy for the Policy & Partnerships portfolio. The post was held by Cllr Frank Williams who has declined to say if he resigned or was pushed.
The Deputy-Leader of the Council has resigned.
All this at a time when the Council should be concentrating on where it will make cuts in next year's budget. Instead we have intrigue within the Conservative Group. One councillor, who is the chairman of the Conservative Group has been de-selected for supporting the Leader, another is under threat of expulsion/suspension from the Group.
The Borough of Tunbridge Wells is not being served by its Tory councillors who are more concerned with navel gazing and jockeying for position. Is it too much to hope that the electorate will give its thumbs down to this fiasco next May? I fear it is, if the Sherwood Ward by-election result is anything to go by.
The Borough is at a crossroads: will it go down the nostalgia route as the Aspic brigade wishes? Or will it go down the Modernisers route which believes that without change the Borough (and the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells in particular) will suffer major economic decline.
The irony is that the current Leader made the correct diagnosis but failed to communicate with the electorate. His downfall will play into the hands of the Aspic brigade unless the Conservative Group understands that policy and communication must not be conflated. Sadly the electorate sits on the touchline as the battle is fought out within the Conservative Group. Which route will the Borough go down after the Leadership election in February? Who knows, your guess is as good as mine.
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