Hello readers — Last week, a drawn-out drama resolved itself in Huddersfield, finally giving Kirklees Council a leader. Things had been looking perilous; after two months of stalemate between the Reform and Green candidates, there had been talk of resorting to bringing in an unelected government commissioner to take over.
But, after a dramatic change in stance from the Tories, Reform’s leader Sarah Wood (she of the “we don’t understand the constitution” viral fame) is now at the helm. For our Wednesday piece, Mia goes behind the scenes of the campaigning and wrangling that gave us this result.
Under the ornate, vaulted ceiling of the debating chamber at Huddersfield Town Hall, a stalemate has finally been broken after three attempts. Andrew Cooper, Green Party group leader and rugged veteran of local politics, has spent the last two months holding together a coalition to try and prevent what’s just happened. But at the last minute, he’s been thwarted by a placid brunette, sitting across the chamber from him.
Councillor Sarah Wood has certainly seen a change of fortunes. Just two months earlier, the leader of the Reform group — and now this entire council — found herself a national laughing stock after she stood up in this very hall on 20 May and confessed that she, along with her 28 party colleagues, were almost completely ignorant of council procedures.
“[We] don’t understand the constitution,” said the chartered engineer at the time. “We don’t understand the standing orders.” Now she’s in charge of all of it, commanding a £467 million budget and overseeing public services for almost half a million people.
To Wood’s right is the kingmaker: Councillor John Taylor, leader of the nine-strong Conservative Group. As Greens and Reform group leaders both vied for overall leadership of Kirklees council in an increasingly drawn-out battle, Taylor’s band of Tories held the deciding votes. And just a few days before the climactic meeting, he was on the phone to me, expressing his disdain for any of the options in front of him.
“Neither of those groups represent the values and the type of politics us Conservatives stand for,” he said. “Both of them can be quite divisive.” Two previous votes for leader in May ended with no resolution after Taylor and his Tories sat on their hands.
But now he’s finally made his choice, backing Wood. What changed?
'We will surely not agree on anything'
The 7 May local elections that made Wood a councillor were nationally a Reform jamboree. In formerly Labour-helmed Kirklees, the party was totally wiped out: from 23 representatives to zero.
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