The chairman of North Tyneside’s Conservatives has sensationally quit the party, claiming it is “going in a direction I don't support”.
In a shock move, Sean Brockbank confirmed he had resigned from the party and would no longer be standing in next year’s local elections. His sudden departure comes just weeks after he ousted Coun George Westwater, the leader of the Tory opposition group on North Tyneside Council, to become the party’s candidate in Whitley Bay’s St Mary’s ward.
But Mr Brockbank, who had led the Conservative group on the Labour-dominated council before losing his Monkseaton South seat earlier this year, will now not be appearing on ballot papers next May. The North Tyneside Conservative Federation chairman’s decision to “take a step back” from politics after Rishi Sunak replaced Liz Truss as Prime Minister marks yet another dramatic episode in a troubled 2022, which has seen another councillor suspended and the local party accused of abusing the furlough scheme and “unethical” campaigning.
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Mr Brockbank told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I just think for me, I have got a lot of personal commitments and I cannot give the ward the attention it will need. I was a supporter of Liz Truss and with the Autumn Statement and with Rishi, the party is going in a direction I don't support.
“The local party does a tremendous job and they have my support going forward. Now is the time to take a step back".
Antony Mullen, the Conservative Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear area chairman, said that Mr Brockbank “has not been suspended, expelled or otherwise removed from the Conservative Party, nor was he about to be removed”, and that he was not under investigation for any matter. Denying “untrue rumours” that the party had forcibly removed its North Tyneside figurehead, he added: "Mr Brockbank chose to leave the Conservative Party and wrote a letter of resignation citing a fundamental difference with national party policy.
"He ceased to be the local chairman and a local government candidate as a result of his resignation. As the person to have dealt with this resignation, I can confirm that I have not shared these details with any other individual in North Tyneside, until now, making it impossible for them to have shared the actual reason for his departure with a Labour source. I only share this now to quash untrue rumours of a forcible removal."
A replacement Tory candidate for St Mary's has not been confirmed. A source within the Conservative Party said an announcement would be made in the near future.
Earlier this year, one of North Tyneside’s Conservative councillors was suspended over a “gutter politics” online attack. Preston ward’s Liam Bones, who has since been reinstated without any further disciplinary action, was suspended this summer after labelling Jim Allan the borough’s “laziest Labour councillor” when he had been forced to vacate his seat due to illness.
During the local elections campaign in April, the party was accused of “unethical” campaigning and trying to “exploit voters” after posting election leaflets appearing to mimic the Green Party. And, in March, North Tyneside Labour MP Mary Glindon alleged in Parliament that the area’s Tory party had abused the furlough scheme by claiming payments for a member of staff who continued to work. The Tories strongly denied the allegations.
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