www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-weeks-unmuted-greater-manchester-19144543
Two weeks that unmuted Greater Manchester
For better or worse, leaders here turned up the volume says Jen Williams.
Possibly one of the most symbolic moments of the past fortnight took place not under the glare of the TV cameras, but on the private screens of a Microsoft Teams call.
When council leaders here sat down to a crunch meeting with communities secretary Robert Jenrick on Monday, they found they literally couldn’t be heard.
“We got on the call and basically nobody could unmute themselves,” says one senior local figure.
“It was ‘the government will let you speak’.”
When ministers later moved to end the call abruptly, Stockport and Salford’s council chiefs had not actually been given the chance or ability to say anything.
Andy Burnham had to type in the chat at the side and point that out. Councillor Elise Wilson and Mayor Paul Dennett were briefly unmuted - and then the call ended.
It’s not a subtle metaphor. But it does point to something about the mood here, as the latest chapter in an unprecedented public health and political crisis draws to a close.
Bit of a theme developing here isn't there?...
and
It may not be quickly forgotten. Rarely - if ever - do you see a political story cutting through to the extent that pubs put out A-boards offering the mayor a free pint. Or advertising a burger dreamt up in his honour.
Or, in modern times, gathering spontaneously in the street to hear local politicians speak - a feature not once but twice in the last week. Or groups of men sitting outside the pub loudly and drunkenly debating the mayor’s status as the ‘king of the north’, as was the case in Manchester city centre last night. We didn’t even have a mayor four years ago. Only Boris Johnson himself, as London mayor, could rival that kind of modern civic prominence.
So it is likely ministers underestimated the mood in a region that has already been under constantly changing restrictions since the start of August. Or, equally, that they just didn’t consider it. Certainly they appear to have done little, until the weekend, to manage their own MPs here.
...for the record on Manchester and T3 Bolton's Tory Council leader is reportedly taking the deal, meanwhile Chris Green and William Wragg voted with Labour in the Commons today on the subject against the government whilst Brady didn't vote.