And so at the reconvened Colchester City Council AGM on Wednesday evening, to absolutely no one’s surprise, a Tory/Lib Dem coalition was voted in. Fancy that.

The sums were always going to suggest this would happen, even if some of the political ideology and personal grievances would have wanted otherwise.

My attention was firmly focused on my own three local Lib Dem councillors. Would they be prepared to prop up a Tory administration?

The answer came with a named vote. I’m not sure who called for a named vote, but it usually signifies someone is keen to put the voting intentions on the record for future political gain.

Two Lib Dems locally voted for the Tory coalition, one against. The one that voted against is the one that has the most to lose. He’s the golden boy around here. He also made a point of saying in his speech he could not only not support the Tory administration, but he would also step back from his cabinet position as a matter of principle. Well done you, etc.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out locally. Vote Lib Dem, get Tory?

Elsewhere, some of the speeches were full of the usual bullshit about “let’s keep politics out of this”. This is usually a thinly veiled code for “I don’t agree with you and I’m going to try and shut you down”.

It pretty much means fuck all anyway. Colchester Council is now nothing but a ghost council as it limps towards devolution.

The council has one task, and one task only: and that is to dismantle itself ahead of the larger unitary authority.

Democracy is bloody brilliant, innit.

I’ve been thinking about the Colchester City Council coalition fuck up. Make no mistake, this is a right old balls up that has no easy way of being resolved.

The bonkers election by thirds system of local governance doesn’t help. It just means that when you have new politics and a multi-party format coming into play, then the old structure struggles even more than a more traditional four-yearly cycle.

With so few seats up for election each time, a complete change, as is the case back in Lambeth, is almost impossible. The system was designed for incremental changes, with the old three-party structure only being able to form a new administration and take control if there was a momentous shift in the electorate.

What we now have, with a multi-party system in the Town Hall, coupled with the three Labour splitters, is something of a right old cock up.

I’m rather pleased, to be honest. The Lib Dems and Labour took this for granted for too long. There was almost a sense of entitlement that they could rely upon each other, or even some random Green support to bail them out with a rainbow coalition.

I’ve absolutely no love for the Colchester Tories. In the 16 years I’ve been living here, they have consistently held the largest number of seats. They’ve been locked out of power for all but one of those years. This doesn’t feel right.

Throw into the equation, to add a little extra confusion, are the five new Reform Councillors. It seems that they are too extreme for the Tories to consider forming a coalition with.

Which leaves us with a right old mix of different political parties that have varying levels of agreement, but are unable to work together to form one consensus administration.

The Labour splitters are key to all of this. Sure, they have their reasons. These may - or may not - be the reasons given to the local paper. They bemoan the lack of funding for their own particular wards. The local Labour Party, like most local Labour parties, is dripping deep in bitterness and factionalism.

All eyes now turn to a reconvened AGM scheduled to take place at the town hall on Wednesday. It seems likely that a Tory-led coalition with the Lib Dems is the only possible solution.

Colchester is a funny old town/city, in many aspects. One of those is the very well-meaning centrist Lib Dem streak that still runs strong throughout the town, if not the whole of the borough.

It’s almost a civic interpretation of what it means to be liberal with a small l. There is local pride in the area, often channelled through a centrist streak. I can’t see this core part of the electorate reacting favourably if their elected representatives decide to prop up a Tory administration.

It’s the system that is fucked, of course. I hate the phrase that voters get the administration they deserve. People voted for different parties for many different reasons.

Having a bonkers election by third system, also weighed down heavily with first last the post has finally snapped in Colchester. Proportional representation can’t come quick enough.

This is a powerful video from Novara: Tom McTague, author of Between The Waves, in conversation with Aaron Bastani.

The book plots the rise of how Britain left the EU in 2016. The story doesn’t start with Douglas Carswell jumping ship to UKIP in Clacton.

McTague explains with tremendous historical detail how the Brexit Wars can be traced back as far as Enoch Powell. He draws a direct comparison to Nigel Farage.

There’s so much detail to take in here. McTague is a great guest who clearly knows his subject matter.

There’s intriguing tales of Westminster drinking clubs and how the elite and The Establishment network amongst themselves.

At just under two hours long, it’s not exactly social scrolling friendly. But that’s the whole point. This is a serious subject that deserves a long form analysis. Bastani lets McTague tell the narrative with only a little prodding.

It reminded me very much of David Sanders' Losing an Empire, Finding a Role, a staple read for any first year social science undergrad at Essex University back in the early 90’s.

Hey kids! Here’s the course leader. Oh - and you’ll need to buy his book in the University Bookshop if you want to progress…

Thirty five years on, and we’re still no closer to finding that role.

Gotta say that the result from the New Town & Christ Church by-election for Colchester City Council was something of a surprise: a Labour HOLD.

For the record:

ALLAN, Angus (Tory) 200

BOURNE, Richard (Lab) 800 ELECTED

CHILD, Simon (Reform UK) 600

MCCORMICK, Alex (Green) 401

PARTRIDGE, Ian (Indie) 38

WHYBOURN, Chantelle-Louse (LD) 657

First things first: the final totals of 200, 800 and 600 for the Tory, Labour and Reform candidates suggests that the counting took place in bundles, or the good folk of New Town & Christ Church are OCD in their voting habits.

Note that no one called for a recount, natch.

The Labour HOLD - and by some fair margin - is a surprise. I’m not telling you anything new when I say that the party isn’t exactly experiencing a national love in.

Locally on the ground in Sunny Colch, and the picture is a little more mixed. There is the view that Colchester Labour has some good eggs, along with some rather unpleasant characters.

It’s the same for most CLP’s around the country, tbh.

Factor in that the seat became vacant after City Councillor Pam Cox managed to get elected as the MP for the Colchester constituency over a year ago, and the Labour HOLD is actually quite remarkable.

If ever there was an opportunity for the national party to get a good old kicking locally, then New Town & Christ Church was a gift horse.

Reform is the other obvious talking point here. They have come from nowhere locally, with little to no organisation or local party structure.

Never underestimate the foot soldiers and data that are required to fight a successful local campaign. Starting from scratch and blagging 600 votes is a bloody good effort, not to mention a rather frightening one.

If Essex devolution ever happens and the new Unitary authority finally gets set up, then you can see how three party politics in the city has come to an end.

Elsewhere and it’s difficult to comment on the level of tactical voting that may - or may not - have taken place.

The progressive vote with the Greens, Labour and LibDems is strong. If any of them can be arsed to enter into informal coalitions, then this is the way to stop Reform at this level.

I wonder how many votes were lent by the electorate to each of these three parties with a view to crowning the progressive poster boy or girl?

Playing 3D chess at the ballot box is a dangerous game.

Overall it means that there is no overall change in the seats at Colchester City Council:

Conservative - 19

LibDems - 14

Labour - 14

Green - 1

Indies - 1

The LibLab love in limps on, although behind the scenes relationships are a little more ahem fractured.

The 29% turn out yesterday was poor, btw. It was pissing it down all day to be fair.

Just kick it until it breaks, etc.

But not if you are already a member of ahem another political party.

The gathering of the clans up in Norwich last weekend looked like a right old bloody rave up. I like the member led direction in which it is all going.

Good luck to the Comrades. They’re going to need it.

Your Party is doing it all over again in my Sunny Colch patch this weekend at the Community Stadium. Comparing the turn out with what Col U draw in these days will be interesting.

Ah - but who is on the up? Your Party or Col U?

I can’t but help think that a spectacular own goal is going to be scored soon.