Communities secretary, Hazel Blears, is under ferocious attack from one of her own MPs over the splitting of Cheshire CC. Two leading Liverpool councillors are up before the Standards Board for England as the Capital of Culture plays host to an unintended drama. And Manchester has a Tory councillor at last… well, sort of. Gwyneth Dunwoody, the longest-serving female MP, is a woman with a reputation for speaking her mind. So, when she says about the move to create East and West Cheshire – ‘I have rarely seen a decision taken with so little respect for the interests of the average voter' – we had better pay attention. The Cheshire decision was delayed a week after other unitaries. Rumour has it that Ms Blears needed the extra time to break the resistance of both the Treasury and Mrs Dunwoody, who believes the new councils will run out of reserves. In September, I referred to the breakdown in relations between Liverpool council leader, Warren Bradley, and the chief executive of the Capital of Culture Company, Jason Harborow. The latter has now left with a handsome payoff, while the Standards Board investigates whether Cllr Bradley and former leader, Mike Storey, conspired to remove him. This is familiar territory for Cllr Storey. Two years ago he had to resign the leadership over his role in the departure of former chief executive, Sir David Henshaw. Meanwhile, the opening of the city's new arena provided a great start to Liverpool 2008. Perhaps creative director, Phil Redmond, is right – ‘Scousers often have a row about who sits where before having a great party!' And the Tories have a councillor in Manchester for the first time in 12 years, but only because a Lib Dem has defected. I asked David Cameron if this would stop the taunting about a Tory-free zone. ‘No. Now they'll say you've only got one!' was the realistic reply.
