The other mayor
The hyper-sensitive mayor is now devoting time to monitoring social media and blocking critics of him on Twitter.
The embattled Labour mayor (son of a migrant of humble background) who rose to the heights of elected mayor of a major city, is struggling. Accused of profligate spending and condoning race-related vandalism of cultural heritage, he only recently was re-elected with a reduced majority. He scours social media, cut by criticism. Gnawed by the suspicion that his incompetence might see even Labour colleagues turn their backs on him, he courts the mainstream press.
No, it is not Sadiq Khan but Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol. When an American publication profiled Rees, they played up his “improbable rise”. Hardly. All four constituencies of Bristol city are held by Labour, lesser populated neighbouring constituencies are Conservative. Labour hold thirty-seven of the city’s council seats, even after the 2021 election that decimated Labour. The city’s large number of students and ethnic minorities keep the Labour vote solid, even in bad years.
In short, a donkey with a red rosette would have won the Bristol mayoralty race.
Usually, a city council is led by a member selected by his or her colleagues. Elected mayors were a concession to local self-determination, made by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government in 2011. The first mayor of Bristol was an independent, who lost to Rees in 2016. Local residents, who have seen cuts to local services, are displeased at the rising costs of the mayoralty. The mayor and twelve staff cost the city residents £774,113 in 2019 (with £70,605 pay for the mayor). Not least was the £36.5m of taxpayers’ money sunk into Bristol Energy since 2015, principally decided by the mayor. Part of the loss-making business was sold for a pitiful £1.3m this year. The Liberal Democrat candidate in the 2021 local elections ran on the sole platform that, if elected, she would abolish the elected mayoralty.
Rees was criticised for permitting the Colston statue to be illegally toppled by a mob in June 2020, something he was unrepentant over. He was, at least, consistent. He had campaigned unsuccessfully for its removal, only to be stymied by the council and local residents. On 7 June 2020, Rees instructed the police commander not to prevent destruction of the century-old statue. That commander, Andy Bennett, was awarded the Queen’s Policing Medal by Alexander “Boris” Johnson, six months later.
The hyper-sensitive mayor is now devoting time to monitoring social media and blocking critics of him on Twitter. These include journalists and politicians. Nothing says competence and focus more than fretting over complaints. Truly, Marvin Rees is a mayor for our time.
