Max Caller - full interview with the man running Birmingham City Council

As city council meets for crucial debates

Morning! Hope today is going well for you.

Later today Birmingham City Council holds its full council meeting for December in the Council House, preceded by a protest rally over cuts. Those behind the protest, Birmingham People’s Assembly, believe deep and painful cuts are being hastened and rushed through, when there is an alternative way forward.

Among those they want to reach with their message is Max Caller, the lead commissioner who was sent in by Michael Gove just over a year ago to fix the broken council. I met with Max last month, shortly after his first full report about the council’s affairs was published. It was already six months out of date by the time it emerged, so I wanted to fill in the gaps.

Today’s newsletter reflects on a couple of key moments in that conversation.

First, the latest political news from across Birmingham and the West Midlands:

• Birmingham's two largest homeless hostels, Washington Court and the Salvation Army hostel in the city centre, together with 174 emergency beds, have now closed. That’s raised concerns that the street homeless might struggle to find a safe place to bed down this winter. The city council and Trident Reach insist there will still be sufficient beds to offer anyone who finds themselves in urgent need. The hostels’ joint closure marks the most visible sign of a change in the way homeless support is going to be be delivered - fewer large hostels in the city centre, more small community venues. Feeling the effect of the change are the residents of Helen Dixon House in Moseley, which has been a female only supported hostel for years. It has now changed in status to 'mixed housing emergency provision', and as a result three women residents have been moved out, to the frustration of local councillor Izzy Knowles. She has launched a petition calling for a rethink. “To close Helen Dixon House as a safe hostel where women can rebuild their lives is a travesty to vulnerable women across the city,” she said.

• Suspended Labour city councillor Martin Brooks, currently under investigation by the party, has complained after learning his electronic access pass to the Labour group meeting room inside the Council House was deactivated recently. It blocks him from accessing the facilities earmarked for Labour members, pending the outcome of inquiries. Insiders say it could prove the last straw in his ongoing dispute with the party over its approach to budget cuts - watch this space.

• West Midlands MPs drew on personal experiences and the input of constituents as they considered whether to support historic legislation on assisted dying. The Bill, brought forward by Kim Leadbeater, successfully passed its Second Reading last week. Of the ten Birmingham MPs, there was a 7:2 split against the Bill (Al Carns, representing Selly Oak, was out of the country when the vote was held, though had said he would have voted Aye). Only Andrew Mitchell (Cons, Sutton Coldfield) and Jess Phillips (Lab, Yardley) backed the Bill. Those voting No included Paulette Hamilton (Lab, Erdington), Ayoub Khan (Ind, Perry Barr), Liam Byrne (Lab, Hodge Hill), Preet Gill (Lab, Edgbaston), Laurence Turner (Lab, Northfield), Shabana Mahmood (Lab, Ladywood), Tahir Ali (Lab, Hall Green). Read how your local MP voted here

• The city council is considering how to introduce more 20mph limits on residential streets as part of a series of moves to make the roads safer. There’s a debate in the council chamber later today discussing the key findings of a road safety inquiry into the issue - I’ll be there to report on it.

• A rousing poster with the message 'culture is for life' has appeared on Station Street pub The Crown - a Grade II-listed venue dubbed the 'birthplace of heavy metal'. The poster appeared this week warning the city against 'selling its soul to the highest bidder.' The anonymous message appeared to be a reply to a similar poster spotted in Manchester, which accused city leaders of prioritising 'profits over people.' Campaigners fear Station Street, which runs behind Grand Central and New Street, is under threat following the closure of The Electric Cinema.

• Unite the union has begun balloting bins workers in a dispute with the city council. The spectre of pre-Christmas bin strikes has gone away but council officials are bracing for possible new year strikes. Coupled with the publication of likely another devastating budget for the year ahead, January 2025 could prove a tough month.

MAX CALLER - ‘I’m definitely not soft and cuddly’

Max ‘the Axe’ Caller positively bridles at the mere suggestion he might be a nice guy really under the growling exterior. Personally I suspect his ‘hard man of local government’ shtick is largely for show.

He was hand picked and sent in by Conservative minister Michael Gove, then Secretary of State overseeing local government, just over a year ago and ‘celebrated’ his first anniversary by slapping down councillors who wanted to keep pushing back on a decision to close down day centres for adults.

His critics say he’s stuck in the past, seeking to impose antiquated ideas of what makes a good council on a modern city in transition. The size of his fee to be a commissioner in Birmingham is a cause for attack too. He’s accused of draining the council of vital resources, thanks to his £1,200 day fee, plus expenses. He’s one of seven commissioners whose fees and allowances so far top £1 million. It’s all got to be paid for by the ailing council. Is he worth the money? He thinks so.

We met last month in the suite of offices inside the Council House that have been commandeered by the team of commissioners sent in last October under Directions issued by Michael Gove, then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Caller had not long been accused of shutting down democracy over the plan to close down four city day centres - as detailed here. You can read in full his response to that claim.

He was in a buoyant mood; I sense he thrives off the challenge of scrutiny. He could, some say should, be enjoying retirement by now and taking it easy after five decades of public service, but he seems to revel in being close to the action. He has been clear since he landed in Birmingham that the city must address its financial challenges head-on and over the shortest period possible - only then can Birmingham begin to find breathing space again for ‘nice to haves’.

He’s worried right now that the council is dragging its feet on signing off critical cuts. “Delay is worrying, because if you take too long (to make decisions) you don't achieve the savings you set out to, and more services and more jobs disappear to balance the books. The council has a legal obligation to balance its books.”

Caller insists this requires a rapid budget balancing process, ideally over the shortest possible time - two years. Others disagree.

Among them is Richard Parker, Labour mayor of the West Midlands. “Birmingham's position is no more or less acute than other local authorities, who were given four years to turn things around, but Birmingham was given just two years," says Parker. This was because Michael Gove wanted to do a ‘political hitjob’ on the city, he claims.

I put this to Caller: “The claim is that you are Michael Gove’s man, sent in with instructions to go hard at Birmingham. Is that true?”

Max Caller: “He gave me no such orders. These are invented claims. It’s nonsense. If I was Michael Gove’s man here, was I Stephen Byers’ man when I was at Hackney (Byers was Labour secretary of state for transport, local government and the regions in Tony Blair’s government)? The best value legislation (the terms of which inspired Caller’s posting to Birmingham) is first term Tony Blair (Labour) legislation. When Hackney was subject to intervention back in 2001 I was kept on by Stephen Byers - so I must have been his man then, by that reckoning. Come on.”

“But several people, including local MPs and mayor Richard Parker, want you to slow things down to allow more time for Birmingham to get to a legal balance, and consider giving three or four years to balance its books and spread the pain,” I say. “Other councils have been given more leeway, so why not Birmingham?”

In response, Caller reaches for the letter that was published last month from local government minister Jim McMahon. It won’t be the first time he brandishes it today. Caller correctly points out there is no direct order from the minister to ‘slow down’ or take longer to reach balance. “It wasn’t what the minister said in his letter. Those are my instructions.”

In the strictest terms, Caller is right. The new Labour government, through McMahon’s letter, does indeed say that Birmingham city council must ‘balance its budget’ for 2025-26.

But it’s clear the new Labour government wants to see a change in tone, approach and urgency from the commissioners, and a slow withdrawal of their presence. “I am keen that the intervention moves as quickly as possible to a model based around a more equal partnership with the Council, so that it is increasingly able to lead its own recovery,” writes McMahon.

Max Caller in the Council House

He wants to see the council return a balanced budget, and keep working one up, he says - but he also leaves the door open to alternatives. “I have now received high level proposals from the Council for some changes to the detailed approach to returning to a balanced financial position. I will be considering these proposals and asking my officials to discuss them with the Council and Commissioners in assessing their deliverability.”

Given this change in approach, is Max the Axe the right man at the helm now?

The full text of our exchange is telling. When I challenge him on whether the Labour ministers he has now met several times - Angela Rayner and McMahon - have ever asked him to consider stepping down, or indicated they want a change in personnel, he responds: "If the minister wanted to change me, he would have changed me."

JH: So you're here to stay. Max, I think that's the final word?

MC: No, I'm not here to stay. That would be a disaster. Let's be absolutely clear, Jane. I am here to help this council take its place back in the mainstream of local government. I am here because this used to be the greatest local government operation in this country. And it deserves to be. I will help them get there. But it won't be easy because they failed to take hard decisions in the past.

“And as you know, deferring a decision never makes it easier. It makes it bigger. So I'm definitely not here to stay, but I want to be able to come back and say 'do you know what, I remember when Dick Knowles was running this place and it was wonderful. I remember when Theresa Stewart was leader and the Floozy in the Jacuzzi was being invented. I remember coming to (Birmingham) and listening to Jon Stewart talking about it being the best council. That's what I want.'

JH: Can you confirm you will be here for at least the next 12 months though?

MC: Do you know what? I am not here to stay. I want to get this place back to...

JH (interrupts): Now you're making me think you are going soon.

MC: Oh, come on, Jane.

JH: It's a fair question.