Using the Fire Brigade to line pockets

Damaged goods: Swansea Labour may
be close to finding a job for the Robert
Francis Davies. He was the Labour cabinet member
when Labour shut the Leisure Centre in 2003.

Swansea Labour leader David Phillips' unwelcome political interference with the Fire Authority finally made it to the local paper today. This chapter involved removing recently elected chair, non Labour Counclillor Cheryl Philpott from the Fire Service so that he could force a Labour-friendly re vote. This is embarrassing for Swansea as the Labour leader's whim has put Swansea council on a collision course with the politically neutral Fire Service. They are still clearly recognising Cheryl Phillpott as their chair  even though David Phillips does not.
David Phillips' apparent motivation is to encourage the Fire Service members to vote in Labour councillor Robert Francis Davies in as chair. Councillor Francis Davies does not have any extra allowance at the moment. He was snubbed from having a cabinet or stadium position as he was seen as a liability associated with the Labour's Leisure Centre scandal. (Ironically, the Leisure Centre itself was closed by Labour in 2003 because it was a fire hazard)
It is sad that this is the second time that the Labour leader has used the Fire Service as a political pawn. He once accused them of favoritism on his own blog when someone he didn't like got an important job there.