Councillor Graham Cox
This morning’s post is an analysis of the public pronouncements by the newest Conservative Party councillor in Hove, Graham Cox, who represents Westbourne Ward on Brighton & Hove City Council. With a cheesy grin like this you didn’t need me to tell you that he was a politician. Shortly after his win in a bye-election in December 2011, he started posting his thoughts on a blog – http://grahamcoxblog.wordpress.com/ - or so I thought. Now it appears that he has been running two blogs, one at that address and another at http://grahamcox.yourcllr.com/. He says he did this so that he could use the first address to post opinions which were strictly his own. He also says “in reality there is no such thing“! Just for the record, here’s him saying that:
Click to enlarge image
How can this be? Is he a robot controlled from afar? Even the most cynical critics of politicians recognise that individual politicians must have some individual views.
His first post was on the WordPress site. He declared that he found three hours of work per day “very hard” and declared that his job as a councillor would be “will be to represent local residents on the Council as part of a responsible Opposition to the Green administration“. Beyond the usual pleasantries, it didn’t say much. His next post made good his promise by relentlessly attacking the Green administration in Brighton. The next day he posted again, this time attacking a Sussex Police Officer for failing to ‘have a word’ with a friendly drunk sitting on a bench, despite this fellow having broken no laws and the officer plainly being on other duties. Graham Cox used to be a police officer.
Whilst there is some overlap between the two blogs, there are also some differences. Whether this is because Cop Cox (as he is popularly known) actually did have some opinions of his own or due to some other reason, I do not know. Using his own categories, here’s some pie charts showing the proportions of his posts he devoted to various subjects. It’s a simple analysis but it’ll do for now. First up is chart showing the division of categories on his WordPress blog. Remember, that’s the one allegedly there to publish his non-existent personal views. Despite stating that he viewed his job as a councillor to oppose the local Green administration, a minority of his posts are concerned with Brighton & Hove City Council.
Subject Proportions on Councillor Graham Cox's 'Personal' Blog. Click To Enlarge Image.
Perhaps I’m being a bit unfair here? After all, here is a man who says he has no opinions of his own and clearly most of the public pronouncements he has apparently authored are over at the blog set up by his colleagues in the Conservative Party. Certainly they’ve done a better job at visual presentation with their blog than Cop Cox managed on his own. Again, using his categories, here’s a pie chart showing the division of subject matter on that more polished blog.
Graham Cox's Blog Hosted By The Conservative Councillors' Association. Click On Image To Enlarge.