WHAT a move by “Shifty” Ifty Choudary the other day to shift his allegiance from Labour to the warm bosom that is The Mack’s Conservative administration at the Guildhall.
Nobody could have been more surprised than the people of Talavera where Shifty – doubtless with a heavy heart – had been pounding the pavements for Labour just two weeks earlier, presumably with the full intention of standing in the red corner if elected. Instead, he picked his moment a fortnight later on the steps of the Guildhall with The Mack and Mikey Ellis at his side to announce the way forward was suddenly, dare we say opportunistically, Tory.
Aufona was immediately on the blower to one or two Conservatives who were hardly popping the proverbial champagne corks, rather muttering about “defectors never adding very much to the party”. Take note Paleface and others...
Nothing, however, prepared us for “#thudgate”, the delicious moment when the mayor-to-be Les Marriott, described generously by one political opponent as a “gruff trade unionist” smacked the doors of the Guildhall into Shifty’s back, rather as Brutus stuck one in Julius Caesar’s shoulder blade. A breathless hour or two followed when Les went to ground and the Tories waited to see if he would apologise for an incident captured in glorious technicolour for the Chron’s website. The stand-off largely involved the Tories preparing to launch a visceral attack on Les unless a grovelling apology was forthcoming. It came, but it wasn’t grovelling. The whole thing was an “unintentional” accident, apparently. Which is a blessed relief.
Especially since Aufona was told there’s no love lost between the two after Labour colleagues chose Les for the 2013-14 mayoral gig over Shifty. Still, Shifty has the considerable consolation of being appointed as chairman of the Community Fund Advisory Panel. With his track record on land deals in Kingsthorpe, toilet to takeaway conversions in Daventry and pub to community centre projects in Thorplands, is Shifty the man to do this non-job?
So what next? Will Shifty’s son, Naz, who is Labour’s man in St David’s, follow the footsteps of his dad? They live in the same house after all, so one wonders what conversations are like at the dinner table each evening. “What’s The Mack up to today dad?” Or “Word of advice son, watch out for that Mayor Marriott.” Better still, come and join me on the Tories. It’ll be a great opportunity...”
PS: AT the High Sheriff’s dinner last week when the great and the good gathered at the Judge’s Lodgings for grub and speeches, the new incumbent jokingly suggested that a statue should be put up for Norman Hacker for all he has done for Northamptonshire. Someone rather important leaned over to our snout and whispered: “Mmm, that’ll be in Aufona next week”. And duly it is.
Cameron swivels a bit as Binners speaks out
MIDDLE England, and who knows masses of those alleged “swivel-eyed loons” that purportedly occupy the rank and file of the Conservative Party, tuned into Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday to hear Binners giving yet another impassioned critique of the Prime Minister who, just hours earlier, had been forced to hastily email Tory supporters telling them that, really, he loved and respected them. Binners had surfaced on Monday as the most vocal member of the PM’s awkward squad demanding – during a meeting of the Tory Party’s board – a full investigation into those immortal words allegedly uttered, although vehemently denied, by Lord Feldman, a friend of the PM. Mr Cameron was “disdainful” towards party volunteers, he said ahead of the meeting, which he then developed during the interview with Jim Naughtie on Tuesday, claiming the “coterie around David Cameron have got to have more control when they talk to the press”. All this was going on while the gay marriage debate was rumbling on uncomfortably in the background. Binners didn’t vote on that subject, unlike Peter “Sven” Bone and Philip Hollbone who voted against and Andrea Leadsom, who, if you can fathom this, voted both ways, effectively abstaining.
PS: A whole column folks without a single mention of UKIP, bar a cross-reference to today’s letters page.