He was the only viable option. Newcastle’s leader was close to being removed by the local Labour councillors last month, South Tyneside has no end of issues, Sunderland have just been forced to change leader by Labour’s National Executive Committee, North Tyneside’s Mayor has announced she’s retiring, the leader of Northumberland County Council is a Tory and the leader in Durham is a Lib Dem. It’s ended up being Gannon by default.