Opinion: With a firm eye on the future

Our previous leader has left rather large, and highly decorated, shoes for me to fill. I can’t compete with his sartorial elegance but I can say a huge thank you to him the chance to work alongside him for the past five years.

Those of you who know me will be aware that I am a lifelong Labour voter. My first campaign, pushing leaflets through letterboxes for MP Charles Morris in Manchester, was at the tender age of nine. I love elections. My nan, as she was known to us, let me stay up late because I had neat handwriting and helped her and my brothers write out the polling cards at election time, long before they were printed. Yes, I am that old.

Whilst my work took me away from political activism for many years, I have never lost my love for campaigning. I re-joined the Labour party in 2016 due to a variety of events and people encouraging me back into politics where I have been ever since.

I stood in Dogsthorpe in 2018. Even though there had not been a Labour councillor in the ward since 1980, Shaz convinced me to stand. He also said to me: “It’s no fun in opposition, Dennis”.

As the delight of winning wore off, Shaz and I set about working towards making Labour electable again in our city. Thanks largely to him and colleagues, we showed to both officers and directors that we were ready to do business with. And that is where we are today, to such an extent that I have been overwhelmed by the support that I have received from my fellow councillors of all political hues, voters and many outside the political arena. Who knows? They may even start to share my passion for politics, people, and Peterborough.

So, where am I, as group leader wanting to go? I am a devout Manchester City supporter, and my aim is to be the Pep Guardiola of the Labour Group, striving to be the best, never accepting that second best is anywhere good enough for Peterborough. I may have re-invented myself more times than Madonna (I do wish I’d said David Bowie) but I want to continue in my role as a ‘servant leader’.

The people of Dogsthorpe have taken me to their hearts and I am so proud of my ward. My aim is simply to lead my party to administer the council. It will be an administration of all talents that recognise, as I do in Dogsthorpe, that our duty is as public servants. Being a councillor, or an MP for that matter, isn’t a means to an end, it is an end in itself; to serve the public.

I will continue to raise the bar for me, my party and for the aspirations of Peterborough.

I want to see ‘high tech’ companies wanting to move to Peterborough, employing home grown, high skilled staff, paying higher wages that we spend in our city to regenerate it. How about apprenticeships to upskill people of all ages and abilities to take advantage of the jobs on offer as Peterborough did in times past? I want to see a much-improved arts and leisure offer for everyone.

Failure means we do not serve the needs of the more affluent or those most in need.

It is no fun in opposition. But, with the help of my fellow councillors, we will raise the bar and see Peterborough punching its weight in the world.