The first cabinet reshuffle of John Clancy's leadership has left both friends and enemies a little bewildered.
Most expected him to promote his friends and the most ambitious of his backers. Indeed, his closest allies, Waseem Zaffar and Majid Mahmood, found themselves given seats at the top table.
Both have proved themselves very able councillors over the past four years running scrutiny committees. They have paid their dues on backbenches.
But politically their judgement has been frequently questioned and they remain very divisive figures both within and outside the Birmingham Labour Party. There was indeed an inevitable cry of cronyism from opponents when their elevation was confirmed on Monday.
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They were joined by Kings Norton councillor Peter Griffiths, who was another Clancy cheerleader last year. But anyone who has seen him regularly at planning committee over the past couple of years cannot doubt his commitment to and knowledge of housing issues in this city. So the housing portfolio is a solid fit.
However, Clancy's cronyism did not extend to the wider circle of people who supported him in last November's bitter Labour leadership tussle.
Councillors Shafique Shah and Tahir Ali, who both posed for a picture with him during the campaign, both found themselves dropped from their cabinet roles. Poor former Lord Mayor Shah had only been a cabinet member for half a year.
And other allies, such as the ambitious Ansar Ali Khan and veteran councillor Tony Kennedy did not make the cut - although both could find themselves in the assistant leader and deputy cabinet member posts being set up.
There are already rumours that those rejected will be seeking revenge next year (divisions in the Birmingham Labour group are personal, they are rarely ideological).
Meanwhile, one of the leader's previous rivals, Ian Ward, found himself returned as deputy leader with the full blessing of Team Clancy.
They have been impressed with him and even the feared emasculation of the deputy leader role did not come to pass. Coun Ward will still be enforcing budget discipline on council departments along with his other responsibilities.
And one of Coun Ward's own backers, Kerry Jenkins, will join him at cabinet - in charge of value for money and efficiency.
Of the rest, children's services chief Brigid Jones definitely did not vote Clancy and, while her remaining colleagues Lisa Trickett and Stewart Stacey did not make any big public declarations, neither were thought to be in his camp.
There was also the issue of former culture and skills chief Penny Holbrook who, but for one vote, would have been sitting in the leader's chair herself.
She was offered a role in cabinet but declined - whether it was a genuine offer or one Clancy knew would be rejected is a matter of some dispute.
In both versions, she was offered her colleague Coun Trickett's role on bins - but in one it was at her friend's expense, on the other side it was as part of reshuffle which would have seen Coun Trickett moved to the new efficiency role.
Either way, had the job been accepted, Clancy would have ended up with his two leadership rivals joining him at cabinet.
So, while Clancy has promoted his nearest and dearest, his cabinet is also padded out with people who preferred someone else as leader.
Hardly a cabinet of fawning sycophants rewarded for their loyalty to his cause.
His own explanation was that, while he wants some of his own people in place, he also requires some continuity and people like Stewart Stacey have lots of experience which he would be foolish to not to make use of.
But others, less kindly, have suggested that, in not pushing his own people into sensitive areas like children's services or bins, the leader can still celebrate their successes but is, to an extent, insulated from criticism and has a ready-made fall guy if it all goes wrong.
Victory for plain English
A welcome development from the reshuffle has been the gradual return of plain English to the upper echelons of the city council.
As a former English teacher, Coun Clancy knows that language is important, as is getting the message across.
So, gone are the baffling and portfolio-leaping titles preferred by his predecessor Sir Albert Bore - inclusion and community safety, commissioning, contracting and improvement and sustainability.
And in come solid "it does what it says on the tin" titles like transport and roads, jobs and skills and even cleaner streets, recycling and the environment.
But still baffling is Coun Zaffar's title of transparency, openness and equalities. While they are values we can all generally support, what this means in practice remains to be seen.
Between a rock and a hard place
The behind-closed-door Birmingham Labour deputy leadership grudge match between councillors Ian Ward and Tahir Ali saw an intervention by the forthright councillor Victoria Quinn.
It is widely thought that she voted for Coun Ali - more as a vote against Ward, who is blamed for forcing the resignation as leader of her husband Sir Albert Bore last October.
But she told the group she was genuinely torn as, in her role as chairman of the transport scrutiny committee, she had cause to tear a strip off both of them last autumn as they squabbled over city centre roadworks.
In fact, she has routinely given Ali a roasting, whether over the bus lane fines debacle or the roadworks crisis.
Must be difficult to choose in such circumstances. I wonder if hers was the one spoiled ballot paper.
