Fiona Bulmer - a voice in the wilderness

Spare a thought for Councillor Fiona Bulmer.Three weeks ago she looked likely to take over as leader of Barnet Council. She had the numbers, she had the credibility and she had some new ideas. Although a member of Mike Freers cabinet, she wasn't closely associated with his biggest cock ups and had proven herself a competent administrator in the education portfolio, one area where Barnet has done well.

The trouble was that Fi Fi underestimated the lengths to which Lynne Hillan would go to get the job. Deals were done, cabinet positions with juicy allowances were offered and when the votes were cast, Hillan was in and Fi Fi had to take "The Long Walk".

Now as regular Barnet Eye readers will know, the Barnet Conservatives have more leeks than a St Davids day parade. A strange list has reached "The Barnet Eye" containing the likely shape of Fiona Bulmers proposed cabinet, to take the Tories into the 2010 election. Having seen the list, I now realise that Jack Cohen, Leader of the Barnet Lib Dems has the one character that all good leaders need. He's lucky. Instead of facing a broadly balanced and competent team, he's facing one there purely because they dobbed their vote for Hillan and are collecting the rewards for their support.

News reaches the Barnet Eye of the possibility of two well organised independent candidates standing against certain high profile Conservatives in seats considered safe. Since I've been a Lib Dem candidate, I've lost count of the number of people who've said to me "I've always voted Tory/Labour in the past but I'll be voting Lib Dems this time." The reason? The Labour voters are disillusioned with Gordon Brown and his government and the Tory voters are furious about Sheltered Housing wardens and the Icelandic fiasco. As the election looms, voters who are fed up often switch back to their default party. Had the Tories elected Bulmer, this would have been a much easier decision. As it is Hillan is in charge and the warden fiasco will roll on and on, eroding their support and undermining their credibility.

I wonder exactly what thoughts will go through Fiona Bulmers mind, if as I expect the Tories in Barnet do extraordinarily badly, whilst nationally they do quite well?