The chairman of Nottingham's Conservatives has denied claims the party is "in a mess" ahead of May's elections after a row which caused its opposition leader on the city council to stand down. Conservative candidates are now being chosen to stand for the Nottingham City Council elections after a period of delay, but some local members say they have been "disenfranchised" from this process.
Paul Ruane, the chairman of the local party, insists they are "ready to take the fight to Labour" on May 4. But some members of the party's executive in Nottingham say this claim is "delusional", whilst Mr Ruane says these members are being "disruptive" as they call for an emergency meeting over the issue.
The Conservative Party currently has just two councillors at Nottingham City Council and problems have been caused by the fact that one of them, Roger Steel, has not been chosen to stand again in May. The decision comes despite Councillor Steel having served as an elected Conservative member since 2011 and Andrew Rule, the other current Tory councillor in Nottingham who serves as its group leader, says he will not stand again in May in protest at the move.
Read more: Charity that supported Nottinghamshire children for 40 years announces closure
Despite the Conservatives therefore heading into Nottingham elections with neither of its two current councillors standing again, Mr Ruane says he was "frustrated" by claims that the party was "in a mess". Paul Ruane was elected as the Chairman of the Nottingham City Conservative Federation in October 2020.
In regards to the situation with Roger Steel and Andrew Rule, Mr Ruane said: "It's right that our elected members go through the same process as all other members and, unfortunately in Roger Steel's case, he didn't make it through that process. Andrew Rule would have got through but, unfortunately, he made the decision to stand down.
"They have not had an easy job being a group of two Conservative councillors against 50 Labour members so I would like to thank them for their hard work both for the party and the city." Mr Ruane acknowledged there had been a "delay" in selecting candidates for May as he says it was "appropriate" to wait until Roger Steel's appeal against his deselection had been decided.
With this now concluded and Roger Steel's appeal being unsuccessful, the Conservatives announced this week that they had selected three candidates for Wollaton West and two for Clifton West - the latter being the ward currently represented by Andrew Rule and Roger Steel. Paul Ruane said: "We now have our first candidates ready to go out campaigning.
"I fully intend to have a full set of candidates again for this year's elections and despite what has happened, I honestly believe we are very well placed to take the fight to Labour on May 4." The selection of candidates would usually be done through meetings of the executive council at Nottingham's Conservative Federation.
But Andy Byrne, one of the 27 members of this council, said: "We have been totally disenfranchised from this process. An independent panel has been selected because we were thought not to be able to make the decisions that Paul Ruane wanted us to make."
Alistair Hudson, another executive council member, added: "Paul Ruane is cancelling all meetings and I think the power has gone to his head. I would usually be standing as a paper candidate, basically where I stand in name but I don't actually go out campaigning, but I won't be doing so this time."
Both Mr Byrne and Mr Hudson said the executive council was calling for an emergency meeting to be held but when asked whether this was likely before the May 4 elections, Paul Ruane said: "No." Mr Ruane claimed some members of the executive council had been "disruptive" in recent weeks and confirmed that an independent panel of six people had been appointed to make candidate selections.
In response to comments previously made by Andy Byrne that the local party was in a mess, Paul Ruane added: "I was frustrated by what Andy Byrne said and I totally refute his comments." Mr Ruane added that only he and William Scott, the local party's deputy chair for membership and finance, were authorised to speak on behalf of the Nottingham Conservatives.
The two Clifton West candidates selected for the Conservatives are Daniel Atherton and Dr Aamir Nawaz, whilst the Wollaton West candidates are Stuart Frost, Kabir Hussain and Awadh Salim. The full list of candidates contesting all 55 of the seats available on Nottingham City Council on behalf of all parties is set to be published on April 5.
READ NEXT:
- Nottingham mum 'disgusted' as son put in isolation for wearing trainers
- Major plans near popular Nottinghamshire retail park 'will help fix real problems'
- Nottinghamshire's 5 best pubs nominated by you - vote for your winner
- Bus driver's anger over fine after parking minibus at Nottingham stop
- Nottingham actress told 'you deserve to die' over Winnie the Pooh horror film role
