I was shocked to hear of the death of Bob Kerslake. As the tributes to him, rightly, flow in from the great and the good I wanted to add my own small tribute from much lower down the food chain. During my brief three year period as leader of Sheffield city Council, Bob was Chief Executive. He came to Sheffield from Hounslow to take on the monumental task of sorting out a Council that can only be described as chaotic verging on catastrophic. It was an immense challenge. He took it on with incredible vigour and energy. His reform of the Council's dysfunctional structures earned him the nickname of 'The Hounslow axeman'. But it was an axe that needed to be yielded. Bob, outwardly, mild-mannered and quiet spoken wielded it expertly and ruthlessly. For the three years in which we met or conversed almost daily he was the consummate professional. We always had a friendly relationship but we were never close friends, which is exactly how it should be. I have no idea what he thought of me as Leader but I had immense respect for him as Chief Executive. The word I would use to best describe Bob was that he was 'visionary'. He could see light years ahead what needed doing and exactly how to do it. He accepted the fact that Politicians are elected on a particular mandate and Civil servants have to do their best to help them deliver it, whichever party is in power. Even if, as with a couple of the things I wanted, he thought them somewhat unwise. It was fairly clear that Bob was more than capable of performing on a bigger stage than Sheffield City Council. His move to the National arena and rise through the ranks of the Civil Service was no surprise to me. Listening to him on TV or Radio explaining calmly and objectively what lay behind yet another piece of outrageous Ministerial bad behaviour was a joy. An example of his incredible analytical skills and insider knowledge. Accusations against him, mostly by Conservatives, of bias towards the Labour Party, show more about the paranoia of the current Government than they do about the ability of Bob Kerslake to be impartial and professional. My guess is he probably veered towards Blairite Labour politically. But I have no idea whether he actually did and it doesn't matter one jot anyway. He was somewhat of a giant among pygmies when it came to dealing with most politicians, including me. He knew way more about how Government at both local and National levels works than virtually any politician. He made an enormous contribution to the well being and lives of ordinary people. Not just in Sheffield but across the UK. They will never know it and he wouldn't have minded that. Like many of us who emigrated to Sheffield on the way to somewhere else he came to love the city, its gritty rumbustious inhabitants and its easy access to the most amazing countryside. So much so that he kept a home here. His passing is a sad loss to Sheffield and yet another loss of a voice of reason among the cacophony of noise and nonsense emanating from the madhouses of Parliament.
Perhaps Stocksbridge mp miriam cates should be focusing on this rather than woo-ing her party with culture war rhetoric... Useful to nobody, but particularly useless to her constituents.
I was shocked to hear of the death of Bob Kerslake. As the tributes to him, rightly, flow in from the great and the good I wanted to add my own small tribute from much lower down the food chain. During my brief three year period as leader of Sheffield city Council, Bob was Chief Executive. He came to Sheffield from Hounslow to take on the monumental task of sorting out a Council that can only be described as chaotic verging on catastrophic. It was an immense challenge. He took it on with incredible vigour and energy. His reform of the Council's dysfunctional structures earned him the nickname of 'The Hounslow axeman'. But it was an axe that needed to be yielded. Bob, outwardly, mild-mannered and quiet spoken wielded it expertly and ruthlessly. For the three years in which we met or conversed almost daily he was the consummate professional. We always had a friendly relationship but we were never close friends, which is exactly how it should be. I have no idea what he thought of me as Leader but I had immense respect for him as Chief Executive. The word I would use to best describe Bob was that he was 'visionary'. He could see light years ahead what needed doing and exactly how to do it. He accepted the fact that Politicians are elected on a particular mandate and Civil servants have to do their best to help them deliver it, whichever party is in power. Even if, as with a couple of the things I wanted, he thought them somewhat unwise. It was fairly clear that Bob was more than capable of performing on a bigger stage than Sheffield City Council. His move to the National arena and rise through the ranks of the Civil Service was no surprise to me. Listening to him on TV or Radio explaining calmly and objectively what lay behind yet another piece of outrageous Ministerial bad behaviour was a joy. An example of his incredible analytical skills and insider knowledge. Accusations against him, mostly by Conservatives, of bias towards the Labour Party, show more about the paranoia of the current Government than they do about the ability of Bob Kerslake to be impartial and professional. My guess is he probably veered towards Blairite Labour politically. But I have no idea whether he actually did and it doesn't matter one jot anyway. He was somewhat of a giant among pygmies when it came to dealing with most politicians, including me. He knew way more about how Government at both local and National levels works than virtually any politician. He made an enormous contribution to the well being and lives of ordinary people. Not just in Sheffield but across the UK. They will never know it and he wouldn't have minded that. Like many of us who emigrated to Sheffield on the way to somewhere else he came to love the city, its gritty rumbustious inhabitants and its easy access to the most amazing countryside. So much so that he kept a home here. His passing is a sad loss to Sheffield and yet another loss of a voice of reason among the cacophony of noise and nonsense emanating from the madhouses of Parliament.
There’s a very strong stink emanating from the Upper Don Valley Trail story. Where’s the dosh gone?
Perhaps Stocksbridge mp miriam cates should be focusing on this rather than woo-ing her party with culture war rhetoric... Useful to nobody, but particularly useless to her constituents.