Life is never dull for Birmingham City Council, but leader John Clancy suggests he has had ‘an interesting few months’ with the arrival of interim chief executive Stella Manzie, the departure of her predecessor and the election of the West Midlands mayor Andy Street.

‘We have been moving on. We’ve possibly turned a corner,’ he says. He cites the interim letter the council received from Ofsted, which said the council had made steady progress – albeit from a low base.