Bookbinder, David

DAVID BOOKBINDER

David Melvin Bookbinder (born 1941) was the Labour leader of Derbyshire County Council from 1981 to 1992 - a period he once punningly described as "eleven years' hard Labour."

One of the most controversial figures in the history of local politics, he attracted admiration and ire in almost equal measure during his long reign at the head of the county's affairs.

In some ways his ideas were ahead of their time. He banned both the cane in schools and fox-hunting on council land long before any government had thought of outlawing them nationally.

But in other respects, he represented the last gasp of a dying tradition of fiery town hall socialism which was about to be consigned to history by Tony Blair's New Labour reforms.

A market trader by background, Bookbinder brought his buccaneering style into County Hall, playing a major role in securing the Toyota development for the county in 1989.

But when his high-spending authority attracted the attentions of a Conservative government determined to curb so-called "loony left" councils, it was a case of irresistible force meets immovable object.

Ordered to trim the county's budget or face rate-capping, Bookbinder responded with a savage round of cuts aimed at the Tory-voting middle classes, closing village libraries and axeing school music lessons.

At the same time, he refused to increase the price of school meals from the level of 35p at which they had been fixed ever since he had first come to power in 1981.

Shortly afterwards Bookbinder took a post as executive chairman of the Derbyshire Enterprise Board, whose main source of funding was the council. Although this was perfectly legal, it meant the council tax payer was now effectively paying his wages.

Bookbinder resigned in March 1992 rather than contest the annual Labour group elections in which he was likely to have been challenged. His rival Martin Doughty (now Sir Martin Doughty) went on to take the leadership.

Although he continued as chairman of the Enterprise Board, Bookinder was never again a force in local politics. He finally left the Labour Party in protest at the Blair government's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

He had an unsuccessful heart by-pass operation in 2000 and was fitted with a heart pacemaker in 2007 after collapsing during a visit to Watford. His daughter Susan Bookbinder is a well-known broadcaster.

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