The previous Conservative chairman of the, now defunct, finance and performance scrutiny committee, James Hutchings, was something of a thorn in Whitby's side. Harborne Tory councillor John Alden, also a member of the committee, was equally rebellious and formed an impressive outspoken double act with Hutchings.
Both took a highly sceptical view of the supposed £1 billion business transformation savings and were also critical of the huge sums of money being borrowed to pay for capital projects. Hutchings railed against "weak and feckless management" at the council and denounced the transformation project as having a "substantial lack of clarity".
The obvious thing to do was to abolish the finance and performance committee and start again, which is exactly what has happened.
Hutchings finds himself sidelined in the reshuffle, being moved to chair the local services and community safety scrutiny committee which, as the name suggests, is a backwater where nothing much ever happens. He does, though, remain a member of the finance scrutiny committee, which is more than can be said for Alden who has been removed.
Whitby's appointment of Robinson, perhaps as a means of bringing the finance scrutiny committee to heel, must be seen in the context of the promotion into the cabinet of Randal Brew. Little more than a year has passed since Brew split the Tory group by unsuccessfully challenging or the council leadership, leaving Whitby's people to brief journalists that Brew's career was finished.
But Brew, whose leadership campaign was based on the contention that Whitby wasn't doing enough to cut spending and jobs, is now cabinet member for finance. His duties are to "control and manage the financial resources of the council, including the accounting and audit procedures and its investment strategy".
Will Robinson be scrutinising Brew's performance? And if so, will he be wearing his chief whip's hat?
Other points of interest from the reshuffle include the demotion of Bournville Tory councillor Mark Hill, who has been sacked as chairman of the local services and community safety scrutiny committee in order to make way for James Hutchings.
Bad news, also, for Lib Dem councillor Karen Hamilton, who is no longer chairing the transportation scrutiny committee. The chairmanship of a new transportation and regeneration scrutiny committee has gone instead to fellow Lib Dem Jerry Evans.
And to prove that Mike Whitby is all heart, sacked regeneration cabinet member Neville Summerfield has been handed a new career opportunity as chairman of the vulnerable children scrutiny committee. Perhaps it should be re-named the vulnerable cabinet member scrutiny committee.