A NEW dawn is upon us, a changing of power at Worcester City Council which anyone and everyone, whether you're interested in politics or not, seems to have a view on.

Amid the drama, horse-trading and rows we've ended up in a situation where a man voted in by Warndon's Labour supporters has ushered a new-look Tory council to power and become the Mayor of Worcester virtually overnight in the process.

If you live in Warndon and you voted Labour, the guy you backed has knifed your party in the back and allowed the Conservatives to take over, before grabbing the mayoral chains while insisting "nobody cares".

Politicians can do great things. They can offer hope, bring about change for the better, change society, offer solutions.

And away from the baying headlines they often go about it with little credit or reward.

Yet all too regularly politics and all it entails diminishes us, for it allows perfectly rational people to behave in ways which they would surely otherwise see as beneath them.

Councillor Alan Amos tells us he'd thought long and hard about his decision, and ultimately felt he was being dishonest with himself to remain a Labour councillor.

And I've no doubt he will be a superb mayor, give the role the very best it deserves and will remain an excellent councillor for his constituents.

But if we're talking about honesty, maybe the best thing to do was not join the party in the first place.

Those of us who knew his background were surprised he ever rocked up with Labour at all, given his past as an outspoken, right-wing Tory MP.

Perhaps it's all too predictable that years down the line, it's all ended in tears - and the office of the Mayor of Worcester, 400 years old, has ended up embroiled in the fallout.

We've got a Lib Dem who now says she's embarrassed to be a councillor. A Green who says the same.

A Labour Party which is on its knees. And a Conservative group which is desperate to shout about all the good things it wants to do in office, but is shunted aside by Mayor-gate, at least for now.

What an unholy mess.

If every politician took a leaf out of Alan's books this council, no any council, would be in meltdown.

In the last few days The Source has been sent an enormous amount of correspondence about our new mayor, but one particular titbit caught the eye.

In Edwina Currie's diaries, published back in 1997, she described him as "an unpleasant little twerp who simply wants to be an MP for any party which will have him", adding: "I hope they squash him and his ambitions firmly."

What on earth did you do to upset her?