Dear editor,
Oh, the joy of reading Paul Hutchison’s delicious take-down of Tom Wootton’s pompous, disastrous tenure at the helm of our council.
Read: Opinion: Mr mayor, a Best Value inspection is embarrassing and the buck also stops with you
It’s long overdue that someone should point out the emperor is stark naked. Mr Wootton reminds me of the Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Mr Marinakis is delighted to take the credit when things are going well at his club, but is nowhere to be seen when events go pear-shaped.
Read: Government inspectors to examine Bedford Borough Council as financial pressures continue
He’ll gladly pose for photos with new signings and put his name to plans to redevelop the stadium, but his monicker was curiously absent from the announcements sacking three managers in the last six months.
If Mr Wootton had spent half as much time leading Bedford Borough Council as he has spent having his photo taken and issuing laughably partisan pronouncements, we might not be in the humiliating and shameful situation we now face, with central government rightly threatening to take over running our town.
Read: Councillors launch joint petition calling for Bedford Borough mayor to resign
Thank you for pointing out that Mr Wootton has been in office for very nearly three years.
For him to seek to wash his hands of the debacle unfolding in his administration is typical of his brazen arrogance and lack of personal accountability. His response to the Best Value inspection demonstrates he is wholly unfit for the office he occupies.
And thank you, too, for pointing out that most of the rest of our elected officials are little better.
Read: Bedford Borough mayor calls for CEO’s resignation over “systemic mismanagement” at council
If they, like Mr Wootton, continue to maintain that petty sniping and party-political self-justification are the way to resolve this crisis, then I fervently hope they all receive their comeuppance at the next election.
Every one of them should be ashamed of helping to run this Borough’s affairs into the ground.
Bedfordians, like most of the rest of the country, are sick to the eye teeth of being the playthings of inept, inadequate, self-aggrandising politicians.
Read: What happens if a council “goes bust”? Section 114 explained as Bedford faces financial pressure
Unless our councillors quickly face up to their responsibilities and change their ways, let the tsunami of electoral anger and revulsion wash them all away in May 2027.
Jonathan Westwood
Address withheld
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