I saw a picture the other day of a newly-elected councillor refusing to shake the hand of a fellow councillor.
My colleagues were shocked, I was amused at their reaction.
Local elections promote people within our own communities into very powerful jobs.
Not well-paid jobs, which is possibly part of the problem, but powerful all the same.
People overnight – without qualification or particular merit in any field – “take charge” of the direction of the local authority.
A postman could become head of roads, a housewife head of social care – no experience is necessary.
After the run to the election line is over, the race is on for the big jobs, and with it the big money.
‘Posturing, promoting and holding nerve’
What we are witnessing in the days since the election is posturing, promoting and holding nerve. Not only to secure a place in the decision-making administration, but to take a firm grasp of the many other payments that councillors are entitled to, if they sit on external boards.
Councillors earn a measly £18,000. That is for a job that is often 10 hours a day every day of the week. You are on call any time you step over the threshold of your front door.
Extra payments are made for those who take on the role of leader, leader of the opposition, spokesperson roles. These payments vary, and are at the discretion of the leader, but for some it can mean an extra £20,000 in the pay packet.
On top of that, there are payments for joining the board of a national park for example, or another group such as valuation boards, health boards. And with these jobs come expenses that are not necessarily scrutinised by the public.
When it comes to money, councillors are all equal, but some are more equal than others.
What we are witnessing is a real life Game of Thrones, with the power hungry clasping onto a deal that will seal the fate of their life for the next five years.
And, those who are needed to make up the numbers to make the administration secure can ask almost anything. Two extra jobs, deputy leadership, a cushie wee side hustle that will bring them something to keep the wolves from the door.
In all my decades in politics and journalism, I have never known someone in local government to use this time to negotiate for something for the community.
‘Jobs needed to make ends meet’
I was lucky enough to be at the Argyll and Bute Council election count last Friday. The stage was set for a new broom giving a big sweep, with lots of long-term councillors bowing out, and even a few being voted out.
It seemed that my presence at the press table was a magnet for people to make seriously interesting comments right behind me.
Never has an ear strained more to hear a conversation, since Lady Whistledown took her notepad out from underneath her Bridgerton floorboards.
In my hearing, one independent councillor called himself the “kingmaker”. I asked him what he meant. He said he needed the money. The councillor’s basic salary was not enough and he needed to make ends meet.
Asked if that would shift his opinion on fundamental issues, such as Scottish independence – if it meant a seat at the big table – he smiled and declined to comment. Strange, for a man once deeply rooted on one side of the independence campaign.
Right now, all the political parties are struggling with whom they should get into bed with. And when they do slip under those rainbow coloured sheets – the people they arrived with, those in their political group, may be very unhappy about missing out on a seat. Lots of people need to be happy to make any administration work.
But, and feel free to correct me on this one, there is one party in particular that councillors are finding it particularly difficult to form an allegiance with – due to the party shenanigans from down south.
So watch closely, and let’s see where the allegiances lie over the coming days and weeks.
It is all to play for, if you like that kind of thing, and need it to make ends meet.
Louise Glen is the Press & Journal’s live news reporter in Oban. She was a councillor on Argyll and Bute Council from 2011 to 2014.
