The Annual Council Meeting on Tuesday was more surreal than ever. We were back at the Town Hall Hendon following refurbishment; except that the works still had not been completed. Someone told me that the Town Hall resembled a building site on the previous Friday. Staff had worked all hours to make the Town Hall presentable for the Mayor making. Well done to the staff, but I for one would have been just as happy to have continued at Barnet House. Goodness knows what the cost to the Taxpayer is for all the overtime.

Outside the Town Hall a noisy protest was taking place. These were our residents complaining about the Conservative plans to cut the sheltered housing warden scheme. I chatted to some of them before going in to the Town Hall. Turns out the Conservative Councillors were ignoring them .None of the protestors were being allowed into the Town Hall. Admittance was by invitation only.

Whilst chatting to them I was moved on by a local panjandrum, who pointed out that the turf had just been laid and I was not to stand on it. More cost to the Council Tax Payer.

Truly admission was by invitation only; names were being checked off by an attendant at the front door to the Town Hall. In side the Council Chamber was packed. The Conservative Councillors wore robes. The Labour Group all sported red roses in their buttonholes. I tried in vain to discover what this was all about. Only later did someone suggest it was to commemorate something to do with Kier Hardie, the spiritual founder of the Labour Party. How he must be turning in his grave. As for the Liberal Democrat Group Cllr Susette Palmer looked resplendent in yellow, I sported a yellow tie and the rest well typically they had made their own decisions as to what to wear. .

We went through all the usual rigmarole of official swearing in, appointment of Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Chaplain Leader of Council, and Deputy Council Leader, Chairman of Committees etc. Nothing changed; as usual the Conservative grabbed all the key positions. And despite strong recommendations from a working group on scrutiny that opposition Members should chair scrutiny committees the Conservatives ignored it.

The new Mayor piled on fulsome praise to the Conservative Group. No divisions there he boasted they are united. He railed against bloggers; he damned them for undermining the democratic process. The newly appointed Deputy Leader sang the praises of her Leader, seems he can walk on water amongst other things. Such a display of harmony within the Conservative group brought tears to my eyes. As a neighbouring Councillor remarked “you need to have a heart of stone not to laugh “ By now the good and the great were ready to repair to the newly furnished committee rooms for refreshments. So my attempts to block a constitutional change which will take away many existing rights of Councillors to scrutinise policy were brushed a side. My complaint that members of the General Public had been barred from entry and that we were in danger of turning ourselves into a private club and had we not learned any thing from the goings on in Parliament were dismissed by Tories as a rant. An attempt by a Labour Councillor to raise an important issue to do with Councillors allowances was also swept aside, So much for openness and transparency.

The most memorable bit of the evening though was the Deputy Leader’s speech in support of the Leader of the Council. The tributes spilled out thick and fast, so fast did the words come out that the Deputy Leader fluffed her lines. Yes we really did hear her describe the Leader as “a respected comedian “. You could not make it up!