Birmingham Council leader Sir Albert Bore has been accused of talking down the city by one of his former deputies.
Writing in this week’s Birmingham Post, Labour veteran Hugh McCallion warned him to start selling Birmingham instead of talking about the hardship of budget cuts.
Mr McCallion specifically raised Sir Albert’s famous “jaws of doom” analogy and said such rhetoric was at odds with the council’s ambition of making the city the UK’s enterprise capital.
“When he uses phrases like ‘the jaws of doom’ and then talks about encouraging industry and investment, he doesn’t seem to appreciate that one can easily cancel out the other,” Mr McCallion said.
“The ‘jaws of doom’, by no means an original phrase, is highly descriptive and memorable but, unfortunately, it is memorable to those individuals and organisations he is asking to invest in Birmingham.”
Mr McCallion, a former council deputy leader, continued: “I saw a television interview when he was effusive about the kind of industries we need to attract.
“I was in agreement with him up to that point.
“When the interviewer asked him if he was withdrawing his ‘jaws of doom’ comment, he said the situation was, in fact, a lot worse than when he said it and would deteriorate going forward.”
Mr McCallion warned that “the jaws of doom analogy will hang like a millstone around our necks if we’re not more careful”.
He added: “I would liken it to plucking a chicken on top of a hill on a windy day and then trying to retrieve the feathers.”
The former Kingstanding representative, who remains active in Labour Party circles, said he was also worried that Sir Albert’s push for a Birmingham and Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership merger could push the city’s neighbours away, rather than foster closer co-operation.
“He may well be right that amalgamation of the two would pay better dividends in the long run,” Mr McCallion said.
“But it isn’t going to happen. The historical rivalry between the two areas is deeply ingrained but that can be a strength not a weakness.”
Sir Albert has also been criticised by opposition Conservative councillors for both his jaws of doom comment – referring to the projected £720 million cut in council spending between 2010 and 2018 – and a second pronouncement outlining the “end of local government as we know it”.
Conservatives previously pointed out that their party’s former council leader, Mike Whitby, was an enthusiastic salesman for the city.
Having seen off a leadership challenge in May, Sir Albert remains secure as council leader and his supporters dismissed Mr McCallion’s words as sniping from the sidelines.
A source close to Sir Albert said he had been encouraged by recent figures showing an 88 per cent rise in inward investment in Birmingham, pointing out that Marketing Birmingham agreed his rhetoric had no tangible impact on business confidence.
“In fact there are many private sector investors who are pleased to see the public sector influence being reduced,” the source said.
“Sir Albert would say that the follow-on point from the end of local government as we know it, is the chance to change the way we do things.
“Many in the council see that.”
