As a strident critic of Matthew Offord, I suppose it is only fair to say that I think his decision to stand down as Deputy Leader of Barnet Council, to concentrate his activities on being the PPC for Hendon is a rather wise move. It also throws the spotlight on Mike Freer's increasingly frantic efforts to hang on to the wheels of power in Barnet Council, whilst being PPC for Finchley. When Freer decided to combine the two jobs, he claimed that Council
leaders don't actually do much, as the Council CEO does all the work.
In Freer's case this is an accurate statement, given that he's droppped the ball on several issues where a more hands on leader would have most surely got to grips. Examples of major cock ups on his watch include losing £27.4 million in Iceland, a multi million pound overrun on Aerodrome Road, Flat screen tellies for Council officers desks, a culture of jollies in America & the South of France for various Council officers at the taxpayers expense, purchase of obsolete laptops, many of which are currently now being stored at huge cost (whilst children at Barnet Schools are rationed for computer ICT time) and most embarrasingly, a leader listens programme which scheduled sessions in a Golders Green supermarket for a Saturday morning, thus snubbing the large local Orthodox Jewish community.
It is about time that the people of Barnet got a leader of the Council who was committed to the Council. It is clear that Mike Freer see's his future elsewhere. For those of us familiar with Football, we all know what happens when a manager announces he's leaving. The team stops performing.
Whether Matthew Offords decision to stand down was coloured by the fact that he realised the problems at Barnet were not helping him or whether he now thinks he has a chance of winning the seat which he didn't a year ago, I don't know. Either way he's set a rather good example for Mike Freer to follow. Given that with Labour's current problems, we seem likely to have a Tory Council for a while, can we at least have one which is vaguely competent.
"Hear, hear". I have still not forgiven Matthew Offord for presiding over uprooting trees in Hendon Park, whilst simultaneously erecting a 20 foot high Green Flag to show how "well the park was being managed.
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