The reactions to Councillor Marcella Head’s defection from the Tories to the Lib Dems have been interesting and varied.

First of all there is the local Tory website which, a whole week later, is still listing her as my Conservative councillor in Broadfield South. They seem to have either forgotten that they have a website, or they are pouring their energies into responding to the media. The leader of the council, Bob Lanzer, says in the Crawley Observer:

Of course it is disappointing but at the end of the day people have to do what they think is right in the interests of what they believe. I am sure decision making will continue to be effected on an informed basis and I think that any group of three members would seek to use their power in a responsible way.

In the Crawley News he says:

It changes the nature of decision making somewhat because there is no part with an overall majority. But the position of this administration is still the same at the moment. The Lib Dems have said they are more prepared to look at the reality of the housing situation than Labour are.

The issue is partly that when this sort of thing happens a political party can increase its representation without using a single ballot box

So the nature of decision making has changed but remains the same.

The other Tory response was a letter published in both papers from Claire Denman, the deputy leader of the Tory group which says how open, fair-minded and democratic the Tory group is. So much so that its hard to believe someone could be unhappy with it. For some reason that old quote about the lady protesting too much springs to mind. The letter continues with comments about how constructive and positive the Tory group’s relationship is with the Lib dems compared to the Labour group.

I expect we will see plenty more examples of such blatant public flirtations from the Tory group directed towards the Lib Dems in the next few months. All parties are keeping it very low-key at the moment but the truth is that the three Lib Dem councillors do now hold the balance of power, and in some ways have more influence than either of the other groups. Marcella says as much when she says that “The Labour group can’t put anything through without us and the the Conservative group can’t put anything through without us.” Add to that the fact that the Lib Dems now have a fairly detailed knowledge of the internal discussions of the Tory group and it really does put them in the driving seat.

The papers’ own reactions seem to be quite neutral at the moment. They agree its a big thing, and take some pleasure from having real news to report, but neither have actually said whether they think it is a good thing or a bad thing.

The Crawley Observer are more pleased with their supposedly “spookily accurate” prediction of this event back in July when they ran a story headlined “True blue or yellow” over photographs of Marcella Head and her erstwhile colleague Alan Quirk. The story was, if I remember rightly, not using yellow in its Lib Dem sense but in the cowardice sense after both councillors spoke out against the Tory stance on housing but were conveniently absent from the meeting where their votes could have defeated the council. I can’t quite see how calling Marcella a chicken was predicting she would jump ship, which whether you approve of it or not you have to admit takes some courage. They did put the word ‘predicted’ in single quotes though, so thats all right then.

The Labour party reaction was the most baffling. I can only hope she was cruelly mis-quoted by the Crawley News when the group leader, Brenda Smith said:

Bob Lanzer’s claim of strong leadership came from not having any effective opposition. We can all be a strong leader if we don’t take into account any other views. He will now be forced to listen.

I’m not sure I like the idea of the opposition leader saying there is no effective opposition. The Labour group has 16 members. That is more than any opposition group has ever had in Crawley. I hope that statement will be explained some time. I agree that if you have a majority, however small, you can force through your own policies without making any concessions, no matter how unpopular they are with the opposition, but we have seen how that won’t work if the same policies are also unpopular with enough of your own party. Does that make strong leadership though? It sounds more like bullying.

But I am saving the best til last. The most interesting quote from all the coverage was this one from Marcella, from the Crawley Observer:

Cllr Head said she has received a positive reaction from residents and two Tory councillors. She said “it is very encouraging. I have had a response from two members wishing me well and one actually saying I am only jealous because I wish I had done it before you.”

So does that mean that there is at least one more councillor who is treating Tory group meetings as a departure lounge? That means they would have to gain two seats next year just to be sure of having the majority they managed to get last year. It would be unfair to speculate who might be intending to leave next – but we all have our own suspicions.

meanwhile Bob Lanzer says there is no crisis in the Tory party… I can remember during my time in the town hall a very public resignation from the Tories. In that case the councillor resigned from the whole council and not just the party. Back then the Tory group had about 8 or 9 members and at least 3 were unhappy there. I had thought that a change of leader might improve matters, but Bob’s honeymoon period as leader is obviously over now.

Or…. were those comments just Lib Dem mind games? I’m sure we will find out soon enough.