What leadership looks like : The Liverpool City Region Gang celebrate diversity by ordering a Chinese takeaway…..
My how we laughed at Leaky Towers at yesterday’s brouhaha and ballyhoo over the so called Devo Scouse Agreement launch.
As you can see from the agreement itself they seem to have ditched the cumbersome Liverpool City Region Combined Authority tag which appears to uphold our theory that this exercise has been nothing more than the Lord Mayor Joe’s Show all along.
Of course as casual observers of local political lunacy there was much to comment on – not least the curious local media coverage.
BBC1’s North West Tonight featured the obligatory appearance from Mayor Joe Anderson himself, the Lib Dem MP for Southport John “Who?” Pugh and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Greg Clark – who befitting someone who is the MP for Tunbridge Wells maintained a rictus grin throughout media proceedings which seemed to say :
” I’m a Conservative Get Me Out Of Here……and preferably First Class” .
Surprisingly there was no show on TV from our very own Power Boy Pip Davies – the chair of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
However judged by his erring and erming in the Wirral Globe video covering the Devolution Agreement launch this may have been a wise move on the part of his political aide, Martin Liptrot(sky) to pull his charge from further embarrassing exposure across the Northern Powerhouse region.Indeed it appears the video has since been pulled from the Globe website – as unless we we were hallucinating previously we now can’t seem to find it.
Even the relentlessly upbeat Power Boy Pip had to concede that the powers and funding devolved by central government to – let’s face it , Liverpool – was relatively pisspoor compared to the likes of the Manchester City Region.The agreement was not so much Northern Powerhouse as Northern Outhouse.
“This deal isn’t perfect, no deals ever are.” he whimpered.
Might this include sweetheart deals with whistleblowers who have the means to bring his political ambitions crashing down around him we ask ourselves?!.
However it must be said – oxymoron klaxon alert – that sensibly , central government have resisted moves to put police powers and health funding in the hands of a group of so-called Merseyside leaders who couldn’t even agree on a collective name (and now seem to have had it thrust upon them).We can only wonder which ones will throw their hats into the ring to contest the “Metro Mayor” election in 2017 – which is currently the most significant aspect of the Devolution Agreement?.Put it this way we won’t be offering any prizes for guessing!.
However we’ll give the last word to Wirral Lib Dem Councillor Phil Gilchrist who mixing his metaphors with a double entendre comments on the Devolution Agreement :
“This is a great opportunity, with strings attached. The strings and tools are now in our own hands.”
Judging by the motley crew pictured above no truer words have yet been spoken on the Devo Scouse debacle!.
Wirralleaks 
So the lunatics have finally taken over the asylum!
Funny handshakes all round.
I’d like to grab the fella on the far right of this image, embrace him and plant a kiss on his red rosy cheek assuring him, ‘this is a kiss of thanks and not one intended to frighten you,’ and furthermore, ‘relax and take comfort from my warm and manly embrace that’s intended to make you feel good about you’.
And why would I invade this fella’s space, sidle up to him, shove my fat face toward him, kiss him and cuddle him until he howled, ‘please stop you mad bastard!’
Because he’s looked into the camera lens and not bloody smiled, unlike the other sycophantic shiny, happy clappy fools who are. That’s why!
About time I say! I’ve no problem with the eight, the ecstatically happy smiling eight grinning their heads off if they’ve each got a share in a triple roll over an enormous Euro bloody Millions lottery win but spare me and my diazepam ale fuelled mind from having to view this wretchedly false image of rapturous joy and unbridled bloody happiness just because they’ve shovelled out yet more pigswill and undiluted dross that’ll only give comfort to those related to them who’s task it now is to paste this bastard of a picture into their dearest relatives scrapbook that they’ve lovingly kept since they first decided to help the bloody public and give us the benefit of their passion, their vision and their bloody unquenchable desire to take us all upon their journey toward the land of milk and honey.
Her Ladyship probably as underwhelmed as I am at this display. Male. Pale. & very very stale.
Her Ladyship says you’ve nailed it.
Great minds think alike….or fools never differ. Whatevs….I’m sure the sound of Her Ladyship’s tinkling laughter echoed around the Towers when she heard Joeskie’s comment that this event was as significant as Magna Carta. Rumour has it that, when he was asked where Magna Carta was signed, Joeskie replied…..at the bottom…..
So Joe is claiming the Liverpool City Region dogs-dinner ,sorry Devolution Agreement , is the most significant document in 800 years is he !.Perhaps The Venerable Joe was making reference to the political myth that the Magna Carta was about establishing personal liberties and autonomy when in fact it was about protecting a power elite of robber barons.In which case he is entirely correct to make the connection!.
Looks like a Liverpool Anschluss of Wirral then.
If Hoylake, West Kirby, Greasby & Frankby & Irby, Heswall and Pensby & Thingwall Councillors have any nous, they’ll be petitioning the Secretary of State to take West Wirral out of Liverpool and putting it in West Cheshire.
Cheshire West & Chester ain’t no bed of roses but might we suggest it would be better than being subject to the faux red rose of Mayor Joe!.
Pingback: Old Boy’s Network – No Girls Allowed | Wirralleaks