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When he's not zooming around Carmarthenshire in the new Mercedes, chauffeur-driven or otherwise, provided courtesy of the county's tax payers last year, Kevin Madge likes to pose as a man of the people. Sometimes he comes over all misty eyed when Cardiff Bay awards a slice of funding to Carmarthenshire and says things like, "Carwyn has not forgotten his roots", implying that the county is being singled out for special favours, when of course it isn't.

For years now he has sat at the top table of an administration which has lavished money on pet prestige projects and sacred cows, such as the council's bloated PR machine, while pushing through cuts to bread and butter public services.

He fought the last council elections in 2012 not on a platform about what he would do for Carmarthenshire, but on the basis that a vote for Labour would send a message to Cameron and Clegg, although it is unlikely that either of them could identify Carmarthenshire on a map.

Unison has now had enough, and has written an open letter to Cllr Madge pointing out that this particular Labour leader doesn't appear to have any time to talk to the unions on which the Labour Party is so reliant for funding, and querying the council's spending priorities.

With more than four years to go before the next council elections, Kev's circle of friends now seems to be confined to the likes of Meryl and Pam Palmer. And with friends like those, he can scarcely afford to alienate Unison.