So, as this column anticipated on 6 December, Councillor Cumpsty has been chosen as the new leader of Reading Borough Council’s Conservative Group. The ‘peoples’ choice’, Jeanette Skeates, will have to wait till another day. I suspect she’ll only be too happy.

For more than a decade being the Conservative leader was a political prize not worth having as they languished in the depths of unpopularity locally and nationally. Reduced to a group of three on Reading Borough Council the Conservative leadership was given to whoever was last to get out of the room – accordingly less than sprightly Fred Pugh held not so much a poison chalice as an empty glass.

After Councillor Pugh the Conservatives had no option but to skip several generations. He has been gently put out to grass following his ‘Smithgate’ outburst accompanied by public statements of the kind the conspirators reserved for the burial of Caesar (though Councillor Cumpsty is certainly no Cassius). Take that spin with a pinch of salt. While they were glad to see the back of Fred, no Conservative councillor serious about leading their group would have made a move before they had at least a sniff of some kind of influence.

How much influence Councillor Cumpsty can eventually exert will depend upon the electorate. In the meantime he will have a number of serious questions to answer about what he might do were he to get the chance.

Leading a local party in the depths of opposition with no chance of significant political power can be fun and is certainly stress free, if somewhat pointless. Mr Pugh had the luxury of saying and promising more or less anything he liked in the sure and certain knowledge that he would never have to implement any of it. The signs of a thaw in the long Siberian winter of the Council’s Conservatives came last February. Year after year the Conservatives had voted against increasing the allowances paid to councillors and cabinet members. Last year they changed their policy.

There were signs in other areas too. In backing the need to demolish the current Civic Centre and re-build, for which Mr Pugh deserves some credit, the Conservatives were recognising the if they won influence on the Council in the foreseeable future this was an issue unlikely to go away. It would have been much easier for an opposition to take the easy populist position of opposing this reconstruction. But no party with any sense would want to deal with a millstone like the Civic Centre.

Nonetheless, Councillor Cumpsty has work to do. The Conservatives have yet to spell out the policies for Reading. Would they support continued economic growth or adopt the ‘no growth’ position of their chums in Wokingham and elsewhere? Would they support continued housing development or would they turn they face against the building of new homes? What would be their approach to public transport – would they try to privatise Reading Buses or keep it in Council hands? What would they do to deliver their talk on school standards? Would they restore the derelict Kings Meadow pool, turn it into an ice rink or would they quietly let the issue drop? Would they reduce Council tax, if so how? What approach would they take on difficult issues like residents’ parking?

This year Conservative promises, which for a decade have been taken about as seriously as the jokes in a Christmas cracker, might just receive proper scrutiny. Having climbed the greasy poll, the next few months will tell us whether Councillor Cumpsty can lead his group effectively and what kind of influence they will try to exert.