Axed councillor’s Lib-Dem rant at Liverpool Council

Mar 26 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

A TIRADE of criticism damning the leadership of Liverpool council was circulated by a deselected Lib-Dem member yesterday.

In a leaked email seen by the Daily Post, Cllr Kevin Firth attacked his former party leader for adopting an “aggressive” style that is stifling debate.

He rebuked the remainder of the party for having “cult-like blind faith” in the leadership and said they were in danger of “falling into complete and utter group-think”.

Cllr Warren Bradley, leader of the city council and Lib-Dem party head, told the Daily Post he thought Cllr Firth was looking for a scapegoat.

He added his “passion” for Liverpool could have been misinterpreted as aggression, but vowed he would not change how he approached the job.

Cllr Firth, who had held his Old Swan seat for 10 years, was deselected on Thursday at a meeting of the West Derby and Wavertree Lib-Dem association.

He opened the email with a disclaimer saying he was not writing out of bitterness, but rather “to concentrate the group’s collective mind on remedying the deficiencies in leadership and delivery that I believe are the root cause of our current electoral decay”.

He continued: “It is clear to me that disagreement with the leadership of the Liberal Democrat group is really not tolerated – unless you know about the skeletons within the closets.

“I believe that much of our group is now in danger of falling into complete and utter group-think, where every slight dissent, real or imagined, could result in political retribution being visited on the dissenter.”

Cllr Firth claims he was deselected after criticising Cllr Bradley’s handling of the Mathew Street debacle.

Cllr Bradley said he spoke to Cllr Firth on Thursday and again over the weekend.

He said: “I tried to console him. It’s never easy when you are deselected.

“But I don’t think I had any bearing on his deselection.

“I can understand where Kevin is coming from – he’s looking to scapegoat and as leader, I become the scapegoat.”

Cllr Firth claimed that after he expressed his concerns about the cancellation of the festival, Cllr Bradley “launched into what I can only describe as an aggressive rant”.

He added: “I was shocked at the nature of his response to other members of our group, and made my feelings very clear.

“In my opinion such an aggressive response was entirely unnecessary and inappropriate, and ill befits a Liberal Democrat leader.”

Cllr Bradley defended his style.

He said: “As leader of the council, believe it or not, you are allowed an opinion.

“When Kevin has come forward with mad cap ideas, I say they are mad cap ideas.”

Cllr Bradley added he was well known for his passion for the job.

“I will not take the passion out of the way I lead the council or the way I believe this city needs to go.

“If passion is aggression, then I am guilty of the charge – but I see passion as progress.”

Cllr Firth’s email was sent to Liverpool’s Liberal Democrat councillors – including Cllr Bradley – and to the party’s national president, Simon Hughes.

Its subject read “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish”, a reference to the fourth book in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series of novels.

The phrase is the message left by the dolphins when they departed earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspatial express route.

benschofield