Assistant mayor Sarah Russell’s support for Ross Willmott’s mayoral campaign remained on his website long after the campaign ended in the spring.

Today it was removed, at her request, in response to Willmott’s blog post which I highlighted yesterday.

Sarah said: “As he has attacked me publicly for something which is false, I felt I could no longer have my support for him listed on the website.”

Peter Soulsby, Rory Palmer, Vi Dempster, Ted Cassidy, Manjula Sood, Piara Clair, Sarah Russell and Mohammed Dawood

Former cabinet member: “This was the most closely-guarded secret in city politics.”

ALSO: Labour group elected internal positions on Saturday morning. Patrick Kitterick becomes chair; Rita Patel is deputy; Steve Corrall is group secretary, and Barbara Potter remains as chief whip.

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.

The city council’s budget was leaked late last week and the Mercury published the key points in Saturday’s paper, at the earliest opportunity.

There was a bit of a storm on Twitter from Councillor Sarah Russell and activists alike, who said that the paper was wrong to publish before staff had been briefed.

My personal view is that we write for the tens and tens of thousands of rate payers across the city who deserve to know at the earliest opportunity what plans their local authority are making.

But I think those who complained loudest know deep down that it would be wrong to expect a newspaper to hold off publishing such information.

Colleague Lee Marlow summed up the situation:

If you were cynical. you might think they were trying to create some kind of smokescreen…

Meanwhile the Mercury’s Mark Charlton offers a handy Viz-style Top Tip to city politicos:

CITY POLITICIANS: Take the heat off your controversial decisions by blaming the Mercury for publicising them

“I have no strong views at this time on whether Leicester should have an elected mayor as I think it is an issue for the people of Leicester to decide on.  However, with the budgetary challenges we are facing as a Council it is difficult to justify the cost of a referendum so my concerns are about ensuring that we still have meaningful consultation with the people of the city over whether they want a elected mayor or not.

That is why Sarah and myself have asked for this issue to be included on the agenda for the next Westcotes Community Meeting on Tuesday 30th November 2010.

If we have an elected mayor I will simply want the best candidate for the role (we will no doubt disagree over who is the best candidate) and you may find it difficult to understand but I sought election as a Councillor solely to try and improve the community I live in and the city I was born in.

So, if we have an elected mayor, whoever that is, they will hopefully share those goals.”

City cabinet member Sarah Russell has started a

In her first post she says that trying to fit blogging into her hectic day might prove tough, as a mother of two who juggles work and politics. I struggle to update this blog every day and all I do after work is eat Cherry Garcia ice-cream in bed while watching 30 Rock.

As a journalist I can say that of all the cabinet members I speak to on a regular basis, she’s got the best grasp of her portfolio, so her promise to explain issues to readers will be useful.

But as she’s a cabinet member she’s got to stick to the party line, so don’t expect too many juicy snippets from the inside.

If only she could encourage her rambunctious partner Andy to start blogging on local politics.

Now that would be a must-read…

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.