Daniel Cox finds new County Council seat

Deselected council leader gets a seat SHAUN LOWTHORPE 29 November 2008 11:06 Norfolk County Council leader Daniel Cox has secured a new seat formerly held by one of his predecessors. The Tory councillor, who was deselected from his Wymondham seat last month, has been chosen to contest the Humbleyard division, just outside Norwich, at next year's county council elections in June - should a poll go ahead. The seat was previously held by former council leader Alison King, and more recently by Judith Virgo, whom Mr Cox defeated for the job at a selection meeting on Thursday. Like Mrs King, the council leader has faced problems with recalcitrant Tories, including Breckland's Cliff Jordan, which is believed to be at the heart of his losing Wymondham. But Mr Jordan, who as chairman of the mid-Norfolk constituency oversaw the deselection of the leader, insisted that rules were properly followed and there was no plot. The decision sparked a row within the ruling Tory group at County Hall and claims that it was part of a putsch organised by districts upset at the county council's stance on the unitary issue. Other councillors who have also been deselected include fellow cabinet member John Gretton, Christopher Lloyd-Owen, Janice Eells, and David Rye. While another county councillor, Heather Bolt, is appealing the process after being offered a different seat - in Gaywood Central, a Labour stronghold. More recently there have been suggestions the controversial county farms issue has also added to the discord within the Tory group. Mr Cox was not available for comment last night, but in a separate move Mr Gretton confirmed he was appealing his selection process with Tory central office after losing a local appeal decision. Mr Gretton believes he has enough evidence to demonstrate the constituency has breached a series of selection guidelines, and the rules chosen have marginalised the views of local branches, which previously had a say in which candidate was picked. “I do not have any faith in what they have done because they have very deliberately sliced grassroots conservative democracy out of the picture,” he said. “What they are effectively saying to the local branches is that it is okay for you to raise money for us but you have got no influence over the political process.”