TIME to bid an early farewell to a few Tories – and the odd grandee among them – whose careers are coming to an end after deciding not to stand in May.
Obviously Ben Smith’s off (Barbados, keep up, we did that one last month), but so are a few others who have featured in these pages over the years (no, not you Gonzo). They do include the splendidly posh Rupert Reichold, whose taxi trips to meetings from his rural idyll near Oundle have been a joy to behold. And what about Carolyn Maxted, the first councillor to be caught (allegedly) dozing on camera during a County Hall webcast? And how could we forget Bob Seery, the former transport supremo who, in 2009, advocated without a hint of irony that helicopters would be the way forward for getting about in Northamptonshire. Or Chris Malpas, possibly the first person to be elected to office having once flogged the odd bit of exotic hardware from his shop.
It’s adieu too to Veteran (with a big V) Don Edwards, who will finally be leaving the municipal stage at the grand old age of somewhere near that of when Winston Churchill finished as Prime Minister (he was 80). And at the other end of the age divide, a fond farewell to the relatively youthful Andrew Langley who, if memory serves, Aufona once tipped as a successor to Binners (in the days before The Mack, obviously).
Most saddening of all, however, is the imminent departure of Gina Ogden OBE, formerly known as Shirley King. It’s probably fair to say Gina/Shirley (we never did get to the bottom of that one) is leaving after decades of service to the county. Luckily, Norman Hacker and his friends had the good sense a few years back to commission a £1,500 portrait of Gina/Shirley that will take pride of place for generations to come. Possibly her finest entry in the nine years of this diary – and definitely one for which the phrase “You couldn’t make it up” applies – came in 2008 when she was found guilty by a standards board inquiry of sending insulting emails to one of her constituents. Undeterred, fearless Gina/Shirley popped up again 24 hours later as a new recruit for the Northamptonshire Police Authority’s standards committee, charged with investigating cases of inappropriate conduct. As we said, you couldn’t...
TREMENDOUS news to see xSPcTCxMP(Ind) become xSPcTCxMP (IndGREEN). Yes Tony has gone Green, thus ending those mutterings that, one day, he would eventually return to the bosom of the Labour Party. Expect added vigour this re-election campaign.
PS: INTERESTING to see Andrea Leadsom opposing a(nother) Tesco Express opening, this time in Camp Hill. Unlike party colleague Binners who is happy to open them, once saying Tesco’s great for competition. Like those newsagents selling fags he has campaigned so hard for in the past...