Opinion: The House of Cards is falling

​Yes, I clearly recall eight Labour councillors were suspended two years ago and two more chose not to appeal against their deselections this year. As group whip at the time, I confirm that it was torrid for the Labour group.

We paid a heavy price in May losing what were considered safe seats in Park ward. But I can assure you that there was no ‘toxic culture’ within the Labour group here in Peterborough. Of course, there were disagreements and differences of opinion and direction. As I wrote only last week, politics is an opinion business, and everyone is entitled to theirs.

But the revelations of Cllr Farooq, along with those who are either sitting as Independent or have defected to Peterborough First are clear signs that all is far from well within our administration. But why does it need to be so? Let me share a theory with you. I have said many times that our fair city doesn’t punch its weight, regionally or nationally. We are a city because we have a cathedral, but we still think like a market town. And we have been administered like a market town for years.

No longer the home of the “Young Lions” of Charles Swift, George Bradley and their ilk who had the vision to enable the city to grow and start to fulfil its potential as a new town in 70s. Since then, we appear to have slipped into becoming a sleepy backwater where the rhetoric is on growth, but the reality is piecemeal, ad hoc developments that lack cohesion and led us to the brink of bankruptcy.

Yet we are expected to be grateful to the Conservative party for giving us £48M (remember that fake cheque?) to develop the station quarter even though funding has dropped by over £60M since 2010. – cut by the Conservative government. Less than a year ago, we had to endure three different PMs in weeks. No election. No referral to the public as to whether this was acceptable to us, but mortgage rates soared as the economy tanked and to use the words of a former Peterborough Conservative MP we had to “Suck it up, whiner”.

But when you have sat on large majorities, largely unchallenged and unaccountable for 23 years, all appeared well. But, as the challenges come, locally and nationally, the wheels have clearly come off.

United the local Conservatives may have stood in the ‘easy’ years. They didn’t even bother to raise money from council tax because they thought we didn’t need to at the time. But divided and crumbling they now fall revealing allegations of a ‘toxic, bullying culture’. These are not my words but those of former Tory councillors who could take it no longer.

Absolute power, unchallenged for over two decades, is unhealthy. If you don’t believe me, ask any one of those who have said ‘enough is enough’.

Nationally, Boris Johnson, hard to believe he was our PM a year ago, isn’t it, and Nadine Dories, for whom our Peterborough MP was chief bag carrier, are now largely discredited with both knowing their political careers are over – for now. But that’s the beauty of democracy, isn’t it? We get a choice of whom to vote for. My advice, for what it’s worth, is think very carefully before casting yours next time around.