Probe into devolution’s poster child may cast long shadow over regional projects

Good morning. Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley metro-mayor and the Conservative poster child for devolution, is facing a series of questions about regeneration projects in his area. The Teesside regeneration scheme Teesworks will go under “independent review”. Now documents leaked to Jen Williams, the FT’s northern England correspondent, revealed Houchen secretly struck a deal with Hartlepool council to take control of the community’s key civic buildings.

In terms of the substance of that, I don’t have much to add, other than that you should follow Jen’s work and pick up Private Eye. I do, however, have some thoughts on the politics of it all. More on that below.

The Hart of the matter

Ben Houchen’s narrow victory in the 2017 Tees Valley mayoral election is one of those sliding doors moments. Labour’s candidate, Sue Jeffrey, was a hugely respected local figure and one of the architects of the new mayoralty. Houchen was a young and up-and-coming figure who may have thought he had a bright future in politics, but not as mayor.

Houchen won in part because at the time, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party was miles behind in the polls. Had the election happened at the same time as the general election a month later, he almost certainly would not have won. Instead, he was elected. Houchen carved out a reputation as a highly effective mayor, and helped pull the whole region towards the Conservative party.

So one subplot of the swirling allegations and stories about his management of regeneration projects in the area is whether bad news for Houchen means bad news for the Tories in Tees Valley. I’m doubtful that it will: we’ve seen in the past how MPs have managed to win despite local difficulties, and vice versa. Labour’s difficulties in Sunderland Council, which for a long time was among the most struggling of the Labour-led local authorities, did not stop the city returning three Labour MPs. The Liberal Democrats’ effectiveness in running Watford did not help that party break up the Labour and Conservative stranglehold on the parliamentary constituency. There are many comparable examples.

The bigger consequence will be on how devolution is seen. Michael Gove, far and away the most effective Cabinet minister in the government, has been busily working away signing up to as many devolution deals as he can, creating metro-mayoralties across the UK. This upsets some Conservatives, because by the nature of devolution, not very many of them are going to be Tory mayors.

It’s possible of course that the various inquiries into Houchen’s administration end in a clean bill of health for the Tees Valley mayor. But if the Tory poster child for devolution ends up going down in flames, one consequence will be that many Conservatives see this government’s enthusiasm for devolution as a regrettable folly, rather than one of the big achievements since 2010.

Now try this

I saw two tremendous films this weekend, and you should try as hard as you can to see at least one of them. The first, Full Time, stars Laure Calamy (aka Noémie in Call My Agent) as a single mother straining every inch to help her family. It is a brilliantly constructed thriller about every day life: Calamy gives an astonishing performance in a flawless and moving film. (I cried at the end.) Once you’ve seen it, do give Jonathan Romney’s Guardian interview with Calamy a read.

The second film was Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. I love Judy Blume and loved the original novel, but the film is, I think, even better: it expands the novel’s scope and depth with astonishing verve and features a stunning set of performances from the young cast. It’s quite something to hold your own when you are acting alongside Kathy Bates at any age, let alone when you are just 15, but Abby Ryder Fortson manages it. (I cried at the end. I cry at everything. For a sober take, here’s Danny Leigh.)

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