Highland Council edging toward a new coalition?

I haven't yet seen this story online, or indeed in any other printed media than in the Nairn 'journal of record' The Nairnshire Telegraph (no online presence), but they report in their issue of Tuesday 1st July that a new coalition between the largest Independent 'grouping' and two of the other political groupings, the LibDems and Labour, may replace the collapsed Independent/SNP coalition.

A novel idea, apparently, is that the present Convener, Councillor Sandy Park, will more or less retain his title, but will hold the position jointly with local LibDem 'leader' Dr Michael Foxley.

The naivete of Sandy Park never ceases to amaze me; he is quoted several times in the article, but the most surreal quote attributed to him, out of a number of somewhat 'off the wall' remarks is certainly this one:

There was a question of who would be Convener. I was not prepared to give it up. Cllr Foxley will be the political administrative leader. I will chair the meetings and I will still be the face of the council. The only difference will be the political leader.

- although this one is probably at least as startling:

The independent group is now a solid group which will take the administration forward. I am now quite relaxed that we have the blend of people who can move forward.

In an editorial in the same issue, The Nairnshire Telegraph opines thus:

... And while Cllr Park may claim that his independents are now a more cohesive bunch, that boast is only as good as the next political test. Will their new partners find the independents as awkward and uncertain as the SNP appeared to have? And have the independents, in taking on the LibDems and Labour, not just leaped from the frying pan into the fire? The whole business of party politics via proportional representation was a LibDem wheeze to gain power and look how they made their play at the start of this council. Will this lot not be just as demanding as the outgoing Nationalists? ...

I think that is a pretty fair summing-up of the whole notion that a grouping of nominally-united Independents can ever form a cohesive force when confronted with a group with genuine political interests (however misguided, in my view) in common. I expect there will be more turbulence to come in the affairs of Highland Council!

Highland Council Independent/SNP coalition - falling apart?

It seems like it may be! The trouble is that the proposed budget is apparently SNP-led, despite the SNP having far fewer councillors than the Independent grouping (no sooner do I write this article than the link has been redirected to a blank page - perhaps the content of the article was just too explosive for the SNP-gauleiters who call the shots in Highland Council!). In any case here's what the summary article in Bloglines said:

Highland budget row shows split in coalition "Deep divisions in the independent-SNP coalition leading Highland Council were laid bare last night as two of its members called for the alliance to be disbanded ahead of group crisis talks today. A number of independent councillors are furious ..."

I hate to say 'I told you so', but here's what I wrote it when the post-election coalition was formed - see also the slightly later post here. As for the need for certain of the Independents to 'grow a backbone', as suggested by one of the other more-outspoken Independents on the Council, as quoted in the now-vanished article, well I wrote about the good judgement of one of those Independent councillors (the Convener, actually) here. He was a good butcher (he was my local butcher before his elevation to the Convenorship); whether he is a good politician is now far less open to doubt, I'm sorry to say.

'Comrades' announce plans to increase Highland tractor production over coming four years ...

... well, not quite, but you get the drift.

UPDATE: (Saturday 23JUN07 21.28 BST) Obviously I am not the only one who wonders just how 'Independent' Highland Council is now, with a policy document that reads like an SNP manifesto.

Nairn councillor confirmed as Highland Council Convener

Nairn 'Independent' Councillor Sandy Park has been confirmed as the new Convener of Highland Council with Jean Urquhart, an SNP Councillor representing Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh confirmed as Vice-Convener.

I wrote about the likelihood of these appointments a couple of days ago here.