I noticed some traffic coming to this blogsite from a new source – a blogsite called “The Local Government Officer” (click the link here to visit the site). What I found interesting is that on the site, the author has included my blog in a section entitled “Councillors” – and there’s another section called “Politicians”. Does this mean that Councillors aren’t politicians?
Interestingly, the “Politicians” section does include a reference to blogmeister Iain Dale, who as far as I know isn’t an elected politician.
Having said that, I bumped into Iain – who is a constituent of mine in Tunbridge Wells – this afternoon whilst I was at Portcullis House this afternoon.
Oh I don’t know – it’s all so confusing…
Kevin Lynes' KCC Blog 
No need for confusion – you are a wholly better class of politicians, therefore deserving of your own category 🙂
The wider point is an interesting one, there does seem to me to be quite a big variation in how “political” Councillors are. Obviously the vast majority are elected with a party label, and therefore are politicians to at least some extent – and I suppose even someone who stands for election as an independent is engaging as a politician, even if not a party politician.
Still, elected members range from those who are committed to a political viewpoint and see local government as a good way to advance that, to those who wanted to deliver things for their community and became involved as a consequence, to those with Parliamentary ambitions who see local government as a good training ground (and I don’t mean that dismissively, more MPs with a Councillor background would be a good thing for local government!).
At the other end of the scale some Councillors, often long-serving, are assiduous caseworkers and community advocates, who have come to see politics as an unpleasant necessity if they are to keep doing the job they do. I might consider all this further and write a post at some point, although I shall have to think very hard about how to do it without offending anyone!
For the blog categories, it would be equally possible to argue that you, the elected, deserve to be in the “public servants” category just as much as us, the appointed. As for Iain, I think someone who stands for Parliament is still a politician, even if they lose!
(day off, not skiving)
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