Salford appoints assistant mayor for "humanegement"

The impetus behind the referendum to approve a directly elected Mayor for Salford was to have lower Council Tax. But Ian Stewart, the Labour candidate for the resulting who was elected last month, has got off to a disturbing start.

The Daily Mail reports that he has recruited not only a deputy mayor but 13 assistant mayors. The new assistant mayors will get allowances of between £9,000 and £14,600. The previous arrangement in Salford was also pretty top heavy with a Cabinet of 17 members. So, in fairness to Mr Stewart, he has hasn't pushed the allowances costs up - but one might have hope he would have made an effort to streamline the system.

One post is for "Assistant Mayor for International Relations." Another is "Assistant Mayor for Humanagement and Workplace Reform."

Mr Stewart says:

'I said we should have a more civilised approach and what we needed to develop was a humane management system.

'That is why it’s spelt with an ‘e’ - it is a humane system.'

Another term invented by Mr Stewart is "co-opetiton." He says humanagement should be pronounced "hu-management."

But Cllr Paul Dennett, the Assistant Mayor for Humanegement and Workplace Reform, says:

"The word is not in the Oxford dictionary, so I guess there is no correct way to say it. It has created a bit of a debate."