Playground politics lead to a mess

Published: 12 May, 2011

• CAMDEN Labour decided last week which 10 councillors should preside over Camden’s local government for the next 12 months by selecting its cabinet through a voting system that feels like a bizarre combination of those well-known children’s party games blind man’s buff and musical chairs.

But running Camden Council certainly isn’t a game for quarrelsome children, above all at a time when as a borough we are facing our greatest challenges in years because of the combined consequences of the global banking crisis and years of what The Economist called the Labour government’s “financial incontinence”.

So it is particularly shocking that when the last chair was pulled away Camden’s deputy leader Angela Mason, who brought a wealth of experience despite being a new councillor last May, was left standing without a seat at the cabinet table. 

Other talented councillors remain on the back benches while at this crucial time in the affairs of Camden the ruling cabinet looks like one of the most dysfunctional in decades.

As a former leader of the council I am shocked that behaviour more fitting in a school playground than in the corridors of power at the Town Hall has left the governance of Camden in such an appalling mess.

CLLR KEITH MOFFITT
Liberal Democrat
Leader of the Opposition