THE new mayor of Middlesbrough was in conciliatory mood yesterday as he faced past enemies at his first full council meeting.

Ray Mallon was all smiles as he thanked councillors for welcoming him to the chamber - despite an imposing front row of Labour stalwarts, including former council leader Ken Walker and mayoral rival Sylvia Connolly.

The former head of Middlesbrough CID told councillors he was a "harmonious" man who did not take things personally and who wanted to have fun in his new role.

"There's nothing wrong with that, coming into a chamber and smiling and getting on together," he said.

"What I can assure everybody of is this: I stand for fairness, equality and harmony."

Mr Mallon is expected to announce his new cabinet next week. In the meantime, he was keen to dispel talk of discord within the Labour group, which is currently at odds over whether to play ball with the new independent mayor.

"The last couple of weeks have been very interesting, due to some of the problems within Labour group. That conflict has been brought to a head and I can feel already that there's a harmonisation taking place.

"I'm absolutely sure that we will work very well together and we will go forward together."

Earlier, the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat group leaders had each wished Mr Mallon a successful term in office.

And a special welcome from Councillor Ron Lowes - the only other independent council member - raised a laugh.

"It seems that my party has doubled in size. After 26 years here on my own, I do welcome you here."

Pleasantries dispensed with, the council got on with the serious business of hearing the results of a review into its social services department from the Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate.

Anne Bretherton, assistant review director, told councillors that senior staff within the department were "seriously" over-stretched.

"Management capacity is tight. A lot of your senior staff are doing a couple of jobs. That's very tough for them."

But overall, the review was rosy - praising the department for serving vulnerable people in the community well and expanding its services.

Mr Mallon said the council would react positively to the review. "There's a great deal of work to do but we are efficient and effective," he said.