Boris Johnson faced a backlash from local Tory leaders as his party lost a flagship London authority to Labour and suffered setbacks across England. While Sir Keir Starmer’s party gained ground in the capital by taking the totemic Tory authority in Wandsworth, there was a mixed picture elsewhere with the loss of Hull to the Liberal Democrats but success in the new Cumberland authority.
As dozens of Tory councillors lost their seats against a backdrop of the row about lockdown-busting parties in No 10 and the cost-of-living crisis, two local Conservative leaders criticised the Prime Minister. John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council which will be replaced by the new Cumberland authority, told the BBC: “I think it is not just partygate, there is the integrity issue.
“Basically I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the Prime Minister can be relied upon to tell the truth.” In Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats, Simon Bosher the leader of the Conservative group said Mr Johnson should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because “those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in Westminster”.
