Richard Baum

Last night I went to see Frost / Nixon, the Ron Howard film chronicling David Frost’s interviews with Richard Nixon in 1977.

At the end of the film the President expressed regret about Watergate and what happened thereafter. I won’t review the film, (suffice to say that I thought it was better than Benjamin Button!) but something that did cross my mind afterwards was the regret Nixon expressed at how his behaviour set a bad example for people thinking about entering public service.

I know that the film was dripping with historical inaccuracies, but the sentiment remains even if Nixon didn’t actually say it: The actions of elected office holders can and do influence those aspiring to office. I think it’s something we should all bear in mind, even in Bury.

This thought made me even more annoyed at the continuing games being played by the Conservative’s running Bury. I know that the Leader’s office at Bury Town Hall is about as far removed from the Oval Office at the White House as humanly possible, but the logic remains the same. Whilst every move that Cllr Bibby makes in Bury won’t make CNN, and whilst he can’t launch nuclear armageddon at the touch of a button, the Tories in Bury do still have the power to convey messages to the people of the Borough who might one day want to give some time to public service as a Councillor.

And what message are they giving out at the moment? Not a good one, in my book. It’s no global conspiracy, and there is no deep throat in a multi storey car park anywhere (no matter how much time I spend looking…), but the Bury Times is full of stories about the Tories restricting democracy, souring staff relations, and treating the power bestowed on them with quite a bit of contempt. Council meetings are full of Conservatives behaving like pantomime bad guys, flailing their arms about and sneering. And anyone on the outside looking in must think we’re all a bunch of lunatics.

Cllr Bibby’s no Richard Nixon. There’s nothing criminal going on, and I’d be very surprised (and worried!) if every conversation we had in the town hall was taped. But taking advantage of power at the expense of democracy is the same whether you’re President of the United States or Chairman of the Prestwich Model Railway Society. And it’s certainly the same if you’re a Council leader. And by telling the people of Bury that they can’t ask him questions any more, he’s taking advantage of that power. By ignoring scrutiny reports entirely, he’s taking advantage of that power. And by doing these things, he’s setting a bad example to the people of Bury.

Bury Council is very diverse, relatively speaking. On average, the English Councillor is a 58 year old white man. I’m all for 58 year old white men. My Dad’s one (well, he will be in July). We have plenty of them in the Council Chamber and that’s fine. But different people can bring different experiences and ideas to the table, and how can we best ensure that these people get involved?

The fact that the Council is so white and old and male isn’t because the voters are racist, sexist and ageist, even subconsciously. It’s because non-traditional people aren’t involved in local politics in anything like the numbers that the general population would suggest. Anyone deeply involved in local politics can get a seat on the Council before too long, because the pool of talent is pretty small. There just aren’t the people getting involved in the first place. Is the way we carry on helping with this?

It’s good to see that we in Bury have higher than average representation for women and councillors from ethnic minorities, and that our age profile includes three Councillors in their twenties and several more in their thirties.
It’s not enough though. The age profile is still too high, the groups too white and male.

How can we engage better with entire communities when “the Council” is made up of just a small part of them? That’s not to say that I can’t effectively advocate on behalf of an old woman, or that an old white person can’t represent the views of a young black person. Quality is more important than age or race or gender. But to really engage with harder to reach people, role models help, and too often they aren’t there.

In the film, Nixon realised how his conduct would have made these role-models even harder to find. Politics is public service. It’s about making communities better and improving people’s lives. He made it about corruption and lies. In Bury, being a Councillor is about getting involved for the good of communities. Cllr Bibby has made it more about getting involved for power and party political games. It’s a shame, because a more positive, open and inclusive Council, with good news about good conduct, rather than complaints about bad conduct, would encourage the next generation of Councillors to come out of the woodwork.

Rick