Sarah Russell knitted, Patrick Kitterick tried and failed to complete a sudoku, and Ross Willmott thumbed a novel.

It’s easy to tune out at full council as Parmjit Gill asks streams of questions which could have been cleared up weeks earlier with a quick call to council officers.

But it was Willmott’s reading material that distracted me. A book called The Folding Knife by K J Parker.

The book’s synopsis reads:

Basso the Magnificent. Basso the Great. Basso the Wise. Basso the Murderer.

The First Citizen of the Vesani Republic is an extraordinary man. He is ruthless, cunning and, above all, lucky.

He brings wealth, power and prestige to his people. But with power comes unwanted attention, and Basso must defend his nation and himself from threats foreign and domestic.

In a lifetime of crucial decisions, he’s only ever made one mistake. One mistake, though, can be enough.

One wonders whether Basso’s one mistake was deciding to run for a county parliamentary seat while trying to hold down his position within the, er, republic.

Patrick Kitterick, who was city regeneration chief at the time, pulled me to one side and remarked: “The Mercury did loads of stories about Curve because of the money troubles and delay, but the Phoenix was a success story so you lot weren’t interested.”

I just happened to recall this comment as I put the finishing touches to Tuesday’s front page on the Phoenix’s £250,000 emergency bailout, less than a year after it opened.

I turned up to last night’s Castle by-election count in my finest overcoat, a new shirt and pair of jeans, and took a seat. “Have you come straight from the boozer David?” he asked.

Presumably he was more flattering to Castle constituents when out on the doorstep, because Labour managed to claw back the seat from the Greens.

But while Labour managed to win by more than 100 votes, don’t think of this as an easy win. Twenty minutes before the result was announced Patrick Kitterick, hovevering around in his Barcelona shirt, said it was still too tight to call.

And although the turnout was tiny, the votes were counted and the results announced pretty sharpish, by about 11pm.

“Perry [Holmes] had to do a quick job this time, after the shambles at the General Election count back in May,” one councillor noted.

Finance select committee. Ross Willmott bounds in. No tie, light pink shirt, casual trousers. Jovial lines peppered with his own giggles. It was a council scrutiny meeting, but he could have been embarking on a package cruise.

He took his seat in front of me and was soon joined by Andy Connelly, positively pink thanks to the beaming summer sunshine, and Patrick Kitterick.

The line-up looked like the back seat of a school bus – packed with the class rabble-rousers.

They were in good spirits for a trio so recently sheared of their cabinet responsibilities. Why? Because they now sit on one of the most powerful committees.

They look after the money. How on earth did the Labour whips let this one slip through the net?

Did any members want a briefing about how council finances work – an officer asked. You’d hope not, or they’re on the wrong committee.

But it was an opportunity for a Willmott boast: “The chief finance officer tells me everything he tells the cabinet anyway.” [See comments]

Hooray! They’re still in the loop. Or are they?

“You’ve got to read the Mercury to find out what’s happening at the council these days,” grumbled Kitterick. Perhaps not.

Five minutes in and the first trap had been set. Kitterick requested that Vi Dempster, cabinet member for children and schools, turn up next time around to explain some missed targets. “I second that,” said Willmott.

“It’s an ambush,” Ross Grant Tweeted.

Later on the presence of leader Veejay Patel was requested. Directors and documents were also necessary for the next meeting, they said. Chief executive Sheila Lock ended up sitting at the table to explain items. Officers were grilled. Just one item went through on the nod. No quarter was given here.

When the poor council scribe taking notes was asked to read back the committee’s shopping list of demands she mentioned that the two cabinet members would address the committee.

“I don’t want to be addressed,” said Willmott, “I want to question them.”

Will they be added to the agenda for the next meeting on July 7? No-one could say.

Chair Coley said, half-joking, that if they couldn’t then they’d have to arrange an emergency session.

“Perfect,” said Willmott, “I’ve got a lot of time on my hands these days.”

Left to right: Me, Ross Willmott, Mark Bentley, Patrick Kitterick and Andy Connelly.

Right in front of the press seats, of course!

Cllrs Ross Willmott, Patrick Kitterick and Andy Connelly have settled in to the three seats at the back – the furthest they can physically be from the new cabinet, and the closest seats to the media.

To the online observer, the meeting would have looked run of the mill, but the atmosphere was charged.

Andy and Ross took up the role of Statler and Waldorf, bouncing barbs about other councillors off each other throughout the meeting. Patrick, meanwhile, filled in a Guardian crossword puzzle and a Sudoku.

The boisterous behaviour at the back eventually led Labour chief whip Barbara Potter to stride over, telling them to be quiet.

“Go away,” replied Ross dismissively, as he scrolled through his Blackberry emails, making Potter even more annoyed.

The next 12 months at city council will be intriguing.

But John Blackmore’s Twitter digs at cabinet member Andy Connelly over the closure of some council-run bars and creches were about more than just an online spat.

What they show is how power may be shifting under Veejay Patel’s party leadership.

Connelly, who along with Rory Palmer, Sarah Russell and Patrick Kitterick, is seen as part of Team Willmott in the cabinet, could be shuffled out of his top job come Tuesday.

Had his position been completely secure, it’s doubtful that a fellow Labour councillor would thumb his nose at one of the ten most powerful councillors in the city. At least not in public...

11am UPDATE: John hasn’t Tweeted a thing for more than 24 hours. Hope he hasn’t been silenced by party big cheeses.

2.30PM UPDATE: He’s Tweeting again.

Both the City and County councils hold their budget-setting council meetings today. I’ll be up at County Hall for 2pm, then zooming back to the town hall for the City’s meet-up at 5pm.

Both budgets are likely to be approved as a formality so it’s worth keeping an eye on some sub-plots instead.

It’s Ross Willmott’s last full-council meeting as leader and it’ll be his likely replacement, finance lead Veejay Patel, who’ll deliver the budget.

Will opposition criticism be directed at the outgoing leader, or will the focus turn to the man many think will replace him?

Two rivals have already emerged as leadership contenders – Mary Draycott and Manish Sood. If they speak to the proposals, their comments will be scrutinised for hints on how they plan to sell their candidacy to fellow Labour members. Could they even try to put some clear blue water between themselves and the front runner by giving some gentle “constructive criticism” on his budget proposals? Unlikely but worth keeping an eye on.

Elsewhere Patrick Kitterick, seen as part of Team Willmott, has been remarkably coy over his leadership ambitions. He was “considering his options” last time the Mercury spoke to him. If he speaks to the proposals, will it include full-throated praise of Willmott’s leadership of the council, or will he attempt to distance himself as he looks to his political future?

With the meeting being effectively a rubber-stamping exercise, the most interesting tidbits will be discovered in the corridors of power before and after the meeting. As ever, if I hear anything, I’ll let you know.