Cornwall Dave to quit

Splashed all over the front page of yesterdays western morning news came the report that David Whalley Lib Dem leader of Cornwall county council is to stand down at the next election. It cited personal attacks against him as part of the reason but of course that wasn’t the real story.

I have met David on several occasions over the past few years, and whilst his and my Mum was still alive, we would often swap “Mum” stories whenever we met. This normally centred around the fact both his and my Mum still had quite grasped that we were in fact grownups (in my case in age only) and we would tell stories of food parcels and motherly advice with a smile on our faces!

Actually I like him a lot and like a number of long time members he has been a solid worker in the party, turning his part of the world (Bude) from a few members to a strong hold for Lib Dems.

Four years ago he took on the role as leader of the council and steered it through difficult times as Cornwall decided to move to a unitary authority. A move which remains controversial, and at times has been bitterly fought. Unsurprisingly David has bore the brunt of these attacks, added to by his style of management which hasn’t suited all in the council.

The last time I spoke to him he was planning to stand again, but had already made it clear that he didn’t plan to lead the new council should are party retain it after the elections.

His change of heart will be a great loss to the party and council. I hope he doesn’t also feel this marks the end of involvement in local politics. We continue to need voices from all aspects of our society in order to make politics work. The fact we may not always agree with them stops us being a meaningless glob spurting out the kind of incepted rubbish the other parties broadcast.

The real story should not be the effect of personal attacks on him, but that fact that he has for so long he has stood up and tried to effect real change in our society.

Standing for public office takes guts and is something an increasingly less amount of people are able or willing to do. I sure there would have been many things we would have disagreed on but at heart was his wish to serve his constituents and for that we should all thank him for his service.