COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Coun George Duggins has named some councillors loyal to former leader Ann Lucas in his cabinet



The top roles at Coventry City Council have been reshuffled after the ruling Labour group elected a new leader.

Coun George Duggins has selected his new cabinet and it includes some shock choices - including three councillors traditionally loyal to former leader Ann Lucas.

The biggest surprise is the switch of former cabinet member for business, Coun Kevin Maton, to the role of cabinet member for education. He replaces Coun David Kershaw who had played a major role in turning around the performance of primary schools in the city.

Another Lucas loyalist, Coun Ed Ruane, is set to stay on in the role of cabinet member for children’s services. However, his long-term future might still hang in the balance and could be decided by the outcome of an upcoming Ofsted report.

Coun Faye Abbott, who also favoured Coun Lucas, will retain a cabinet position in the role of adult services.

Elsewhere, former leader Coun John Mutton - who was in charge when Coun Duggins was deputy leader - has been appointed to the role of cabinet member for finance. He replaces Coun Damian Gannon who decided to step down to focus on his academic work.

Public services, one of the biggest portfolios on the council, will be headed up by Coun Jayne Innes who replaces Coun Rachel Lancaster - Coun Lucas’s closest ally.

The new cabinet member for business is Coun Jim O’Boyle who has been a long-time supporter of Coun Duggins.

The community development portfolio will be headed up by Coun Linda Bigham.

It is understood policing and equalities issues will continue to be managed by deputy council leader Coun Abdul Khan.

The health remit will be continued by current cabinet member Coun Kamran Caan.

One party source told the Telegraph the decision to appoint three Lucas loyalists to the cabinet could have been to avoid that faction of the Labour group taking control of the important scrutiny positions on the council. The move would help avoid the potential for the new leader to be undermined.

Coun Duggins told the Telegraph: "What we have is a very talented able cabinet and we tried to ensure we have the best possible line up of councillors.

"Clearly with a group as talented as ours we could have chosen two or three cabinets, but we can only choose eight people."