Mirza's bad day

Unfortunately for Mirza, his view did not coincide with the views of Labour and Libeal Demcorat councillors, who accused him of exceeding his powers as an officer by giving "political" comments to the Government.
Mirza, for his part, said he was merely reflecting the views of the committee expressed at a meeting on February 12 and, furthermore, had permission to write the council's response.
Not so, according to Sir Albert Bore, leader of the opposition Labour group, who said: "I take great exception to officers of this council seeking to deal with matters that are in the political domain."
Well, you might think, that's just what Sir Albert would say. And it is true that he has clashed with Mirza in the past,
But more worryingly for Mirza, the Lib Dem half of the council's ruling coalition has worked itself up into a rare state of agitation over this. Councillor Alistair Dow (Lib Dem Selly Oak), who chairs the main scrutiny committee, said: "We question whether what appears to be the personal views of the Chief Legal Officer should have priority over the views of members."
The cut off point for responding to the Government consultation on this issue is March 20.
It has been agreed, at the instigation of deputy council leader Paul Tilsley, and approved by council leader Mike Whitby, that "addendums" to Mirza's report setting out alternative points of view must be submitted before the deadline.
It is being widely tipped that Mirza Ahmad is to take charge of the scrutiny section, as well as continuing to be the Chief Legal Officer, under a departmental shake-up at the Council House. This has worried some of the more cerebral councillors who question whether there might not be a conflict of interest between the two very different disciplines.
Will Mirza get the job? A very senior councillor tells me: "Nothing has been decided yet. Anything could happen."