A New Mayor, Leader and Cabinet

Two and a half weeks after the election comes the Annual Meeting of Stockton Council.  There have been discussions galore over the intervening time, ranging from whether this or that coalition can be sustainable to who should represent Stockton Council on community bodies in the borough.  Most things were agreed before the meeting and needed to be confirmed today but there were some on which agreement hadn't been reached so there were votes to be taken.
Now Stockton Council has a new leader, Cllr Bob Cook, who appointed his Cabinet of Labour and IBIS members and took the opportunity of that majority to ensure that scrutiny will probably not be as effective as in recent years by putting Labour chairs of most committees in charge of challenging Labour cabinet members and allocating positions to some who were only elected a fortnight ago and have yet to experience scrutiny in Stockton Council. 
Outside of party politics we had the installation of the new mayor.  Colin Leckonby retired after a very busy year in which he became probably the first mayor of anywhere in the UK to compete in a River Rat Race.  His successor is Paul Baker who represents Newtown ward.  Speeches were made, flowers were presented and kind words were said all round.  A buffet lunch provided by Tees Cuisine gave the opportunity to mingle and meet some of the new councillors, as well as to congratulate the new mayor.  And all a lot more economically and conveniently than the venues that were originally suggested.