Nature abhors a vacuum

They say that nature abhors a vacuum. And when you take the big beasts out of a jungle, one of two things happen: either some new big beasts come along to take their place, or the whole ecology is upset and eventually there's a wholesale extinction.

So it is at County Hall. We got official confirmation yesterday that the new cabinet will consist of five Liberal Democrats and five Independents. Weekend “leaks” of a 4-4-2 “coalition” involving places for Labour and Mebyon Kernow turned out to be mischievously wrong.

The reason for that, of course, is not just that Labour and MK view the Liberal Democrats with the sort of trust that a rabbit views a large snake. The main reason is that the general election, now less than two years away, is a far more important prize - so prepare yourself for months of headlines in which everything that goes wrong with the council will be the fault of the Lib Dems.

The new cabinet has no place for St Day and Lanner Independent councillor Mark Kaczmarek, whose stewardship of the housing brief for most of the past four years was notable for his attempts to bring empty homes back into use. His apparent willingness to use the council's compulsory purchase powers ruffled many feathers among his erstwhile Conservative cabinet colleagues, but Mark was as quietly effective on the fourth floor as he could be colourfully noisy in the chamber. He will be missed.

Another big beast voted out of the jungle is the children's services' portfolio holder, and another Independent, councillor Neil Burden. It is worth remembering that when he took over the brief, the children's department was so chaotic that it had to be put into “special measures” and run by a former Whitehall advisor. It is perhaps too easy to forget how bad things were: for many months, Cornwall's reputation for children's services was so poor that no-one could be hired to take the job as director.

Neil is another councillor who knew his way around local government and wasn't afraid to throw his weight around a bit in the cause of getting things done - and his role in the recently confirmed improvement in children's services deserves recognition.

The real winners in this new cabinet line-up are the senior officials. The lack of a clear political direction means the corporate directors can now do pretty much what they like. For the time being, at least, they are the new big beasts in the jungle.