It was on August 19 that then Secretary of State for Levelling Up Greg Clark announced in the pages of the Liverpool ECHO that the government's intervention at Liverpool City Council would be significantly expanded.
With four Whitehall commissioners already in place overseeing key departments of the troubled council, the latest announcement suggested that not enough progress was being made to improve the way the council works and that the government would take over all finance and governance powers at the Cunard in what many saw as an effective full takeover.
Mr Clark, who had been put into his role just weeks earlier by a floundering Boris Johnson, struggling to fill ministerial posts after mass resignations, also revealed plans for a new Strategic Panel that would help shape Liverpool's future - led by city region mayor Steve Rotheram.
