The strange story of the murky mayor of Worcester

And now for another municipal horror story. Earlier this month, Worcester City Council elected a new mayor. This is usually a quiet matter. Like almost all English towns and cities, Worcester operates a parliamentary system of government. The political party (or coalition of parties) with a majority elects a cabinet and a leader of the council, who is a sort of prime minister. The mayor is therefore not the executive leader, but rather a regal figurehead, responsible for promoting good causes, visiting local events, and generally representing all that is worthy in the City. Being a mayor is regarded as an honour and an envied reward for good service. As a result, the job is shared around and a new mayor is elected each year, usually from the most long-serving councillors. After election, the mayor is inaugurated in his or her robes and chain of office at a special service at the Cathedral.

Until this year’s May elections, Worcester City Council was controlled by the Labour Party with the support of two Liberal Democrat and one Green Party councillors. One of the Liberal Democrats was defeated in the election by the Conservative Party, with the result that the new Council had 17 Conservative, 16 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Green. The last three parties came to an agreement to maintain the Labour leadership of the Council for the annual general meeting on 3 June. But to (almost) everyone’s surprise a Labour councillor, Alan Amos, defected from his Party to become an ‘independent’, voted to give power to the Conservatives, and was elected Mayor. This all smacked of a deal, in which Amos had abandoned his party in exchange for the mayor’s robes. The local paper, the Worcester News, began referring to him as the ‘murky mayor’. To make matters worse, he announced that he would not attend the mayoral inauguration service at the Cathedral because he had booked a holiday for that date.

This is not the first time that Amos has switched parties. In 1978, he was elected as a Conservative councillor in the Borough of Enfield near London. Nine years later, he advanced to became Conservative MP for the Constituency of Hexham in the far North of England. Amos was notable in Parliament for his extreme right-wing statements, including advocacy of flogging criminals and his opposition to abortion. All fell apart just before the 1992 general election, when he was arrested and cautioned by the police for an act of alleged indecency on Hampstead Heath. His local Conservative Association deselected him, and his Parliamentary career ended. An approach to the Conservatives in Enfield was rejected, and he joined the Labour Party. In 2002, he was elected as Labour councillor in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. He lost his seat at the next local election in 2006, but reappeared only two years later as the successful Labour councillor in the Warndon Ward of the City of Worcester. He was later also elected as a county councillor.

Amos’ transition to Labour was accompanied by an apparent change in political beliefs. These now were on the extreme left and republican. On a television programme on the monarchy, he shouted that the Queen was responsible for “this nation’s dreadful decline”. She was “head of a rotten, class- ridden, corrupt social and political environment”, and the royal family were “parasites and hypocrites”.  As a Worcester City councillor, he proposed that the City be twinned with Gaza. It will be interesting to see whether Amos will now become an extreme independent.

In the meantime, there have been two other examples of murkiness in Worcestershire politics. The Conservative deputy leader of Wychavon District Council, Councillor Judy Pearce, has also been elected (in May 2014) as a district councillor in South Devon, 185 miles from her other council post. South Devon does indeed seem to be her main place of residence, although she does rent a flat in Wychavon. Her Wychavon work includes chairing the committee that has prepared the appalling South Worcestershire Development Plan. This proposes to cover large areas of the County with new houses - a fate Pearce has escaped by moving to South Devon.

The final murkiness is more mundane. Dave Small was elected as a UKIP councillor in Redditch at the May elections, but resigned after six days. His party had disowned him for bringing the party into disrepute, after it was revealed that he had posted comments on his website that were allegedly racist and homophobic. Small was 81 years old at the time of his election, and does not seem to have had any previous experience of public service (apart from editing a football fanzine called ‘Zulu’, named after a hooligan gang which supports Birmingham City Football Club). UKIP councillors and MEPs have a reputation for being expelled or resigning from the party, but Small’s six days must be the current record.

These cases of murky politics could be seen as a disease of politicians. But outright opportunists, chancers, and people with antediluvian opinions exist in all occupations. So do people who fiddle their expenses. In these respects, politicians are probably typical of those who elect them. But I suspect most people wish our leaders to be more capable, honest and public-spirited than the average citizen. If we are to achieve this, then more people must take some interest in their community and be prepared to serve it. After all, how many people In Redditch knew about Dave Small before his election, had any idea of his opinions or even what UKIP stands for beyond its policy of blaming the European Union for all the ills of our society.   

Read also: The Dark Heart of Suburbia