REDBRIDGE Council's ruling cabinet dramatically transformed from Tory blue to Labour red and Lib Dem yellow.

Continuing Tory group bickering over who should be its leade led to disillusioned members failing to turn up and vote for this year's full council appointment of the cabinet.

This meant that the group lost its majority on the council, leaving the door wide open for Labour and Lib Dems to vote through their own councillors for the most important jobs in the council.

Seizing their temporary majority, the opposition voted themselves into key cabinet positions, with Labour leader Elaine Norman appointed new council leader and Lib Dem leader Hugh Cleaver sworn in as deputy leader.

Slamming the Tory back-biting, temporary leader Cllr Norman said: "We gave the Conservative group enough time to sort itself out and deliver an administration for this council but once again it has let Redbridge down.

"We have put forward this alternative administration in order to take the business of this council forward for the sake of the residents."

However, the new appointments are only expected to be short-lived until the Conservatives manage to sort out their differences and swing the majority vote back their way.

The drama unfolded in the council chamber on Tuesday night a meeting to replace last Thursday's full council meeting, which also degenerated into farce as a result of the disorganisation within the Tory ranks.

The Tory group has been split following its leadership battle between contenders councillors Alan Hughes and Allan Burgess, who was controversially sworn in on the toss of a coin.

When it emerged last week that the Tories did not have enough members to push through their own cabinet, the opposition groups told Mayor Arthur Leggatt they had not had time to study the agenda and the cabinet choices.

The meeting was adjourned to Tuesday night when a total of 24 councillors voted for the Labour/Lib Dem cabinet against 22 votes from the Conservatives, who did not have a full compliment of members.

The new deputy leader, Lib Dem leader Hugh Cleaver, said of the new cabinet: "It's a step we've taken reluctantly but we feel it's in the best interests of the council to bring things to a head. We hope that progress will now be made."

Commenting on his group's troubles, Conservative councillor Aaron Powell said after the meeting: "It is the people of Redbridge who elected us to run this borough and we'll be back running it very soon.

"The wishes of the borough of Redbridge have been overturned as a result of this. Some of the problem is due to squabbling and back-biting but we'll be back.

"We have a long summer holiday coming up and we will come back refreshed and take it on from there."

The cabinet changes

IN less than an hour on Tuesday night, the council's political make-up underwent a dramatic transformation.

As a result of in-fighting in the ranks of the Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems had a rare opportunity to show a chorus of disapproval by taking advantage of their temporary majority powers.

And until the Tories resolve their differences, unite as a group and vote in unison, Labour and the Lib Dems will be wielding the power in High Road, Ilford, on behalf of residents.

Here is how the cabinet looked under the Conservatives, compared with its new Lib/Lab coalition usurper:

  • Leader Cllr Allan Burgess
  • Environment and highways Cllr Morris Hickey
  • Social services and health Cllr Alan Hughes
  • Resources Cllr Linda Huggett
  • Housing Cllr Jim O'Shea
  • Education and lifelong learning Cllr Sue Nolan
  • Leisure and libraries Cllr Joyce Ryan
  • Planning policy and regulation Cllr Peter Goody
  • Regeneration and community Cllr Lee Scott
  • Customer services and Government Cllr Aaron Powell.

Toppled by:

  • Leader Cllr Elaine Norman (Lab)
  • Environment and highways Cllr Gary Staight (Lib Dem)
  • Social services and health Cllr Dev Sharma (Lab)
  • Resources Cllr Ian Bond (Lib Dem)
  • Housing Cllr Simon Green (Lab)
  • Education and lifelong learning Cllr Richard Newcombe (Lab)
  • Leisure and libraries Cllr Bob Littlewood (Lab)
  • Planning policy and regulation Cllr Alex Hilton (Lab)
  • Regeneration Cllr Muhammed Javed (Lab)
  • Customer services and deputy leader Hugh Cleaver (Lib Dem).