THE outgoing leader of Camden Council, Sarah Hayward, was often said to run things with a decisively firm hand during her time in charge. But are we about to see an even harder taskmaster take the hot seat?

Batten down the hatches at Judd Street, for Samata Khatoon, the chief toastmaster who Labour chose to talk us through the baton change from Sarah to Georgia Gould at Wednesday’s annual council meeting, predicted a “tougher” leader would emerge.

To think some people tease Georgia – who from the outside comes across as a bit of a natural optimist – that she smiles too much for the difficult policy announcements that may lie ahead. Samata instead warned us all: “People ask me whether Sarah was tougher or whether Georgia will be tougher, I say Georgia will be much tougher than Sarah.”

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So there you ever go, if Paxman ever asks Georgia whether she’s tuff enough? Hell, yeah she’s tuff enough. Samata says.