Voice of the Valley editor Rick Everitt has been elected as leader of the Labour Group and de facto leader of the opposition on Thanet Council. Labour has 20 seats to 25 held by the Conservatives.
Everitt said in a statement: 'It’s an honour to have been elected leader of such a talented group of new and experienced councillors. We have a manifesto which is full of good ideas for improving the lives of the people of Thanet and this will guide us in how we deal with the issues we will face in the coming years.'
The Rickster has been a thorn in the side of Roland Duchatlet who has made sarcastic references to Everitt in his statements. In Duchatelet's view, Everitt is a disgruntled ex-employee.
Concerns have been expressed that the Rickster's new municipal duties will diminish the time he has to edit and produce Voice of the Valley. However, hard pressed contributors think that they will simply be asked to produce more copy more quickly.
The news has renewed speculation about Everitt's middle name. Candidates are required to declare their full names on ballot papers. One candidate in my ward had to reveal that her middle name was that of the shop her family owns. But when he stood as the Labour and Roland Out candidate in the Newington Ward, Everitt simply listed himself as 'Rick'.
There are three possibilities. One is that the Rickster does not have a middle name. When US president Harry Truman was sworn in, he was mistakenly given a middle name of 'Shipp', his mother's maiden name. In fact his middle name was the letter 'S'.
Another possibility is that his middle name is 'Charlton' as in 'Rodney Charlton Trotter'.
It has been the subject of some discussion at the River Ale House and jokesters have suggested 'Marmaduke'. It is likely that will remain an unresolved mystery.
Turns out that in his role as election agent, Everitt declared his name as 'Richard John'. A prosaic end to the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment