With the news this week that Councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox is stepping down as leader of the Isle of Wight Council, it made me think about leadership and what the Island needs.

Anyone can wear a gold chain and open a new set of swings in a play park, but we need more than that. We need someone who can inspire us, someone who can give us a vision for a brighter future, someone bold and enigmatic.

Where are our leaders? 

It’s been a few hundred years since the formidable Isabella DeFortibus. She remained in charge of her own destiny until she gave the Island away to Edward I, on her deathbed in 1293.

There should be a painting of her sitting above the council leader’s desk.

She wouldn’t take any nonsense from mainlanders trying to takeover. She was inspiring, driven and powerful. That’s the sort of leader we desperately need on the Island.

Remember Queen Victoria?

She made the Island her home, made it an international tourist destination overnight and still draws in a crowd to have a peak at her bedroom, over 100 years after she died.

Queen Victoria was a pioneer in ‘working from home’ and hardly left the Island in the last years of her reign.

If the Isle of Wight flag was around back then, I’m sure she would’ve had it flying from Buckingham Palace because she was that much of an ambassador for Island life.

Nowadays, Alan Titchmarsh's residency hardly has the same tourism pull. So who does have that celebrity status to lead us?

Well, there’s at least a couple… 

Up first, our MP.

Do we get leadership from Bob Seely? You know Bob- roll up the sleeves, take a photo at the pride parade with some garlic and cheese, half a sausage, sewage sea swims, 'in touch’ Bob.

He’s regularly on Newsnight and GB News.

Is that leadership? He mentions the Isle of Wight in almost every broadcast, but so did Holly Jervis when she was on X Factor, and that did very little to help the Island’s affordable housing crisis.

Just because he’s popping up on the telly more than the Go Compare man, does that mean Bob’s doing a good job as a leader for our Island? Is Bob inspiring? Is Bob pioneering change?

Has anything changed in the last 6 years of Bob rule? Or is he still waving a tiny flag for an ‘Island Deal’ that seems just as unlikely to happen as when he was first elected, in 2017. 

One possible replacement for Peacey-Wilcox is Cllr Phil Jordan, cabinet member for transport and infrastructure who was convicted of drink driving in 2016 and stepped down from his role at County Hall. 

Is he really the best hope the Indies have got from preventing a Tory takeover at Isle of Wight Council?

Or our other option to lead the Council is Cllr Suzie Ellis. Should we buy the lettuce now and see if she can outlive it?  

We need someone who can get things done, not just plant a couple of palm trees and hope that distracts people from the rubbish everywhere else. 

The Indies shouldn’t just be thinking about who can stop the Tories… they need to be thinking about who is best to LEAD our island. Any ideas for who would do a better job?