Councillor Robinson - “The time has come,” the walrus said, “to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings”

Well its seems there are a few people dancing around burning piles of books after yesterday’s tumultuous NCC council meeting.  At last I found out what this voting secret I have been asked about recently was all about!

To preface I received an email off the Labour Leader on the eve of the meeting outlining what they intended doing.  Well not exactly the specifics only the general intent, we intend doing something.  That was the first official notice I had of anything unusual taking place at yesterday’s meeting.

Short stepping to the meeting itself and probably the main crux of contention, the vote to suspend normal procedures and then a special motion brought.

As any viewer would have seen I asked about this suspension and what would any likely motions be.  Never got an answer to that one!

The vote was to suspend normal procedures and off down the rabbit hole we went.

Then we had a special motion proposed to get rid of Councillor Jackson as Leader of NCC.  What followed were callous and vicious personal attacks as what seemed to be old scores were settled and political points scored.

I reiterated the remarks made by the last Auditors of NCC in their resignation letter.

“The council operates within a highly charged environment and we have observed growing tension between the main political parties over the last few years.

Management has commented that the politics of the council can make it difficult to carry out their ‘day job’ and it is clear that the historical issues are still at the forefront of managements mind.”

I then suggested that looked at alongside the current situation it all makes a clarion call for more independent members in this council.

I again asked what happened if the current motion went through and again no answer.

“Curiouser and curiouser.”

The motion passed and council Jackson was out of his job as Leader.

For me it’s like they convicted the guy without any factual evidence or even, in fact, waiting for the results of the recently inaugurated investigations.   That’s just wrong in my view and there was precious little fairness on show as some were essentially gagged in their replies.

It was a very unedifying spectacle for anyone looking in trying to give a reasoned and balanced approach.

Had this been done after these investigations had reported and found evidence of wrong doing then fine but what happened was nothing more than inter-tribal rivalry of the worst kind.

Are there questions that need to be answered, of course there are and I’m as interested as anyone to find out the answers.  Was this the answer, no.   Has it hurt getting the answers, almost certainly!

Its then suggested that my and my colleagues Bedlington votes had been somehow bought with our Town Centre scheme.  We have been working on that for years to progress it and I have been working flat out since Covid hit to still enable a scheme and one which is achievable and better suits driving the town forward for the next few decades.  We put in for the “Boris fund” months ago so I’m not sure how all of that can be dependent on a vote no one knew about until yesterday.

Course I’m sure I’ll find out and probably by the people who achieved nothing for the town in their decades of tenure.

“Contrariwise,’ continued Tweedledee, ‘if it was so, it might be;

and if it were so, it would be;

but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”

View on Councillor Robinson's Blog