Leadership of the Conservative Group of Cheshire East Council will be a two man race when the vote is taken this weekend.
The Conservative Group will be asked for vote on Saturday, 17th March, for either Cllr Michael Jones, Cabinet Member for Resources and ward member for Bunbury, or Cllr Howard Murray, ward member for Poynton East and Pott Shrigley, as their leader.
Cllr David Brown, Performance and Capacity Portfolio Holder and ward member for Congleton East, put himself forward as a candidate last week but has since withdrawn his nomination for Leader for personal reasons. However, he has retained his nomination for Deputy Leader. The other candidates for Deputy Leader are Cllr Philip Hoyland, ward member for Poynton West and Adlington, and Cllr Rod Menlove, Environmental Services Portfolio Holder and ward member for Wilmslow East.
The winners of the Conservative Group's vote on Saturday will become Leader and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group immediately. The Leader and Deputy Leader of Cheshire East Council will be decided at the Cheshire East Council AGM in May and voted for by full council.
Cheshire East Council has 82 councillors in 52 wards. Given that the Conservatives have a large majority with 53 councillors, against 16 Labour, 4 Liberal Democrat and 10 Independent, or other, it is pretty much a given that the new Leaders of the Conservative Group will take over as Leader of Cheshire East Council when Cllr Wesley Fitzgerald steps down in May.
In a letter to his Conservative colleagues, Cllr Michael Jones said "I may be considered a newcomer to Local Government, but I bring with me a wide range of transferable skills in finance, business and urban planning that have served me well in my previous career and that have already proven their worth at Cheshire East."
He added "Complex financial issues require constant reciprocal dialogue and the ability to be both proactive and vision-led. I bring these same Leadership qualities to the Conservative Group including developing, motivating and being an integral part of an effective team – a strategy that ensured success when running my own international financial services business and has been invaluable in my role as a Magistrate here In Cheshire East."
Speaking about his leadership style Cllr Jones said "Many members have told me that we need greater group unity and civility. I agree - but believe that we can only attain unity by making members more actively connected to the decision implementation process.
"Cllr Fitzgerald provided the firm hand required to steer the newly formed Cheshire East Council through its first vulnerable years. However, I believe that now is the time to build on that foundation where strong leadership is accompanied by a wider sharing of policy decision-making across the Conservative Group; making better use of the diverse experience and skills-base of members and re-building Group cohesion and accountability. I believe that members should lead the Council - not be led by the Council.
"I will therefore be proactively supporting current work exploring hybrid models of Council Governance. I believe this is critical if we are to achieve better member engagement, better policies in all areas of Local Government and be more accountable to our electorate. It is in this context that if selected, I will be a 'hands on' Leader – involved in the practicalities of delivering high quality services for Cheshire East residents, listening to ideas, responding to challenging questions and driving through required change."
Unfortunately we have no further information from Cllr Howard Murray at this stage. He told me "I would be delighted to supply you with such detail - next week. Until I have given the same detail to all my colleagues on Saturday I consider it inappropriate to be presenting such information to the press."
