Randal Brew's ambitions proving heady

Mar 20 2009 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Post

Interesting to see Northfield Tory councillor Randal Brew putting himself about a bit now that his term as deputy lord mayor is coming to an end.

Brew turned up the other day to observe proceedings at the cabinet, as you would if you had nothing else to do.

Asked why he was there, he limply muttered something about not having been to a meeting for such a long time that the thought he would go along to see what was happening.

He is by now, presumably, as enlightened as the rest of us. That is to say, not at all.

Then, a couple of days later, Brew turned in an authoritarian performance at the regeneration scrutiny committee, sticking the knife into Be Birmingham, the city strategic partnership, which employs 35 members of staff and manages to blow £2.5million of council money each year.

An accountant by profession, Brew’s main interest appears to be finding ways to cut council spending – which immediately puts him at odds with Brum’s wet Tories who are more interested in inventing a pale shade of muncipal socialism than following Conservative ethics.

The obvious question is: does Brew think he is going to get a position of influence in the council’s ruling Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition following the annual Conservative group meeting in May, where committee chairmanships will be decided?

Surely the cabinet member for regeneration-lite, Neville Summerfield, is not going to be shunted to one side after less than two years in the job?

There are rumours about the position of regeneration scrutiny committee chairman Tim Huxtable, who some claim has fallen out of favour with the Tory high command in Birmingham.

And there is always the finance scrutiny committee, chaired by James Hutchings, the wettest of wets. Some of Hutchings’ colleagues might fancy the crusty-dry Brew as chairman instead.

Whatever happens, it seems unlikely that Coun Brew is going to be content with life on the backbenches.

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The reaction of several Tory councillors to news that Birmingham City Council might after all not spend millions of pounds setting up a municipal bank had shades of Norman Lamont singing in the bath when Britain crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

There is a real feeling of disquiet in the Conservative group about the bank proposal, which many regard as unnecessary and far too costly.

The issue has also highlighted the so-called mushroom syndrome – Tory backbenchers are kept in the dark by their leaders and fed on manure.

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A big thank you to the many friends of Mike Whitby, who have contacted me to confirm that the leader of Birmingham City Council celebrated his 61st birthday on February 9.

As I was saying last week, it’s a little difficult to see how this fits in with the great man’s claim to be “nowhere near 63”.