New ‘non white’ council leaders: Zero
THIS isn’t a Labour rebellion but I did get two text messages – it’s not a rebellion, it’s just two text messages – from a couple of Camden Labour councillors about this tweet from their new leader Sarah Hayward from the Local Government Association’s conference in Birmingham.
New leaders mtg. 21 leaders. 4 under 40, 3 women, 0 non-white. #lgaconf12
— Sarah Hayward (@Sarah_Hayward) June 27, 2012
Sarah, of course, bulked up the encouraging north London bloc of women council leaders, which includes Claire Kober in Haringey and Catherine West in Islington, by claiming the prize job. The texters, however, noted that she did it by challenging a ‘non white’ leader and that the person who got most votes when the Labour party in Camden first sat down to choose a new leader was ‘non white’ and a ‘woman’.
None of this detracts from the argument that local government needs more diversity at leadership level, of course it does. More a mild hangover from the change at the top.
-is gender, sex and racial discrimination obvious in local authorities ?
– it is, as can be seen !
… council officers are also more likely to be middle aged white women ; as are those in receipt of service provision –
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