Mike Whitby's style too much to bear for Birmingham's backbench Tories
Life must have seemed pretty sweet for Mike Whitby in the early afternoon of Thursday, April 16.
He’d enjoyed a convivial lunch wining and dining the Jamaican High Commissioner in an attempt to sell Birmingham as an Olympic Games training venue – all part of his Global City with a Local Heart initiative.
As he strolled along the committee corridor in the Council House, holding hands with his wife Gaynor, a smiling Whitby had not a care in the world.
Exchanging banter with journalists, the council leader explained that he had to dash as he was off to London to catch an evening performance by the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
On the other side of the corridor wall in the main committee room, however, there was an altogether darker mood.
Furious scrutiny committee members complained about being snubbed by Whitby, who was supposed to have attended to explain why he wanted to lend Warwickshire County Cricket Club £20 million toward the cost of improving Edgbaston.
The deal, to which Whitby gave his personal backing, began to unravel when the planning committee refused to grant approval and a scrutiny committee ordered the cabinet to reconsider the loan.
Pressure on the council leader grew when an analysis of the club’s finances by Deloitte raised serious doubts about the accuracy of the business case.
None of the scrutiny committee members were more angry than veteran Tory councillor John Alden, who branded the council leader’s conduct an “absolute disgrace”, adding that there was little point in having scrutiny committees if the council’s executive could simply do as it wished.
This was the episode, according to supporters of Randal Brew, the Northfield Tory challenging Whitby for leadership of the Conservative group and the council, that finally broke the camel’s back.
Brew’s intervention is the culmination of a number of events over the past two years, starting with announcements about the £193 million Library of Birmingham which is to be built in Centenary Square. Backbenchers were angry at being “kept in the dark” over such an important decision.
Further examples of Coun Whitby’s apparent failure to keep grassroots Tories informed followed with proposals for an £80 million Olympic swimming pool and then, just before Christmas last year, the disclosure that the council was to bring back the municipal bank at a cost of £200 million.
The bank issue prompted furious Tory councillors, including Brew, to write to the Birmingham Post complaining that such a venture would be a waste of money. It was the first sign in public of increasing strain between the council leader and his backbenchers.
A stormy Conservative group meeting saw the rebels becoming increasingly confident, demanding the establishment of a 1922 Committee to improve backbench links with the leadership. Whitby was told in no uncertain terms that he
