Mike Whitby faces serious revolt among Birmingham Tories

Apr 10 2009 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Post

Couldn’t help noticing a wry smile flickering across the face of Sir Albert Bore the other day.

Birmingham city council’s opposition Labour group leader was no doubt enjoying witnessing a serious party split – and for once not being on the receiving end.

The occasion was Tuesday’s full council meeting, when Tory city leader Mike Whitby was asked to comment on a revolt by Conservative councillors. What would the great man have to say about a quarter of the group publicly condemning his plan for a municipal bank and a good number of younger Tories opposing a “socialist protectionist” effort to force firms to buy vans from LDV?

He didn’t quite repeat Macmillan’s famous quip – a little local difficulty. Instead, Whitby insisted it was all part of democracy and the rich thread of philosophical debate that runs through the Conservative Party.

Yes, right, we believe you Mike.

For all the bluster, though, Whitby can’t disguise the fact that, after almost five years in power, he has to deal with the emergence of serious unrest among Tory backbenchers.

And it is not, as has been suggested, simply a rebellion led by young “boys” with more exuberance than common sense.

The bank refuseniks, for instance, include senior and influential councillors of the calibre of Peter Howard, Randal Brew and Margaret Waddington.

Ideally, Whitby would find some work for idle hands. A number of the younger rebels, for example, would benefit from a career path that included promotion to scrutiny committee chairmanships and in due course to the cabinet.

But Whitby’s hands are tied, partly by an obligation to offer a large proportion of the posts to his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and also an unwillingness to sack any of his Tory cabinet colleagues.

But something will have to give sooner or later, particularly if the Tory group grows in size again after next year’s council elections. If Whitby fails to act soon, he will regret it.

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Birmingham City Council’s latest wacky venture could just catch on.

Identity cards where the face of the holder is obscured are the perfect answer to civil liberty issues.

The cards, worn by staff in the housing department, feature the usual passport style photographs but with the odd addition of white line across the eyes.

This could be put down to a one-off technical glitch such as a faulty printer, but Iron Angle’s mole says the obscure ID cards have been issued for about six months now so it must be deliberate.

The official said: “It’s makes us look a bit like Zorro, only with a white mask. It has been raised several times, but people are told not to worry.

‘‘We are always telling tenants to check ID cards before letting people in, and then issue these. It’s barmy.”

Does housing chief John Lines have one of these cards, where the reds of his eyes are obscured?

I only asked.