An even more unbalanced cabinet
Before the council meeting on Wednesday evening (19 July), Kensington Society had expressed a wish that the new council leader, Elizabeth Campbell, should select a new cabinet that better represented the borough’s population spread, as 50% of the existing cabinet’s 11 members represented Chelsea wards, although Chelsea has only 20% of the borough’s population.
The before (left) and after (right) of cabinet strategy: There is now only one cabinet member from any of the wards north of Old Brompton Road. There is, however, no ward where all its councillors sit in the cabinet anymore.
However, when she presented her “senior leadership team” – as she prefers to call it – the cabinet became even more unbalanced: of the now 8 members, 70% represent Chelsea wards and only 30% are from Kensington wards, although Kensington has 80% of the population, 78% of the area of RBKC and 73% of the Conservative councillors.
It is, of course, possible that the cabinet eventually will grow to the same size it had before, and that Kensington then will be better represented. Time will tell.
Four of the members also sat in the the old cabinet, while four are new. Among the new, David Lindsay (Norland) is the only cabinet member representing any of the 12 wards north of Old Brompton Road.
This is makeup of the new “senior leadership team”, which has two deputy leaders and a new range of portfolios/roles:
In the old cabinet, half of the members came from Kensington wards, now less than one third…
Elizabeth Campbell (Royal Hospital): Leader
Kim Taylor-Smith (Stanley): Deputy leader with responsibility for the Grenfell response and housing
Will Pascall (Stanley): Deputy leader with responsibility for all other borough services
David Lindsay (Norland): Corporate Services
Mary Weale (Brompton and Hans Town): Communities
Emma Will (Royal Hospital): Family Services and Education
Charles Williams (Redcliffe): Adult Social Care and Health
Gerard Hargreaves (Chelsea Riverside): Chief whip
Published 2017-07-21
