COUNCILLOR Terry Wheeler has had a bad week.
An uncomfortable performance at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee meeting saw him struggling to justify the council’s controversial stance on the very emotive subject of the EMD building.
As the relevant portfolio holder for regeneration it is his job to handle the tough politics of this tricky brief.
As an ineffective Q&A on the Olympics during a highly-charged North Chingford Community Council meeting last year demonstrated, Cllr Wheeler’s political style can often back-fire.
And there’s no doubt that his handling of probing questions on the future of the EMD from his fellow councillors was far from convincing.
He has also become the focal point for criticism over the council’s failure to develop the Arcade site.
But before he is written off for a lack of decisiveness and political skill, two things are worth bearing in mind.
Cllr Wheeler is understood to have came close to losing his job during the recent re-shuffle ushered in by the change in council leadership.
Sources told the Guardian that his standing in the Labour Group saved his skin and essentially forced the hand of new leader Cllr Chris Robbins.
Whatever the view of The McGuffin Film Society and others who yearn for the EMD to return to its former glory, Cllr Wheeler has strong support among his party colleagues which guarantees that, for the foreseeable future at least, he will remain in the post.
And perhaps more importantly, Cllr Wheeler does not act alone. He works closely with influential council officers and his Labour cabinet colleagues to formulate policy. It is simply his job to justify this approach to the public and handle the politics.
Although he will inevitably take the flak, he is not the only one pulling the strings.
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