Leicester Mercury political correspondent
Tory candidate: “We blew it by booting out Nigel Porter”
Irrational and politically motivated manoeuvring against Nigel Porter caused instability and distraction which led to the Tories’ worst ever defeat in Leicester, says one of the group’s own candidates.
In a letter to party chairman Nick Bryars, the party’s Aylestone candidate Pete Bedford (right) outlines the reasons why he believes the Tories ended up with the “catastrophic” result last Thursday.
He reminds Mr Bryars that he cautioned against the party booting Nigel out of the party earlier this year, warning that it could jeopardise the Conservative party’s chances in Aylestone. ”It is with sadness and regret that my warnings were not heeded and as a result both the Aylestone Seats were lost.”
He says the moves against Nigel blew up in the party’s face, “Councillor Porter was able to attract significant support for his work on the Aylestone Meadows and as a ward councillor. Indeed further analysis clearly shows that if Nigel Porter continued to run under the Conservative banner; the group would now consist of 3 city councillors.”
The scathing letter goes on: “If more time and effort had been spent on constructive matters rather than inward looking politicking, the result may have been quite different.”
He describes the Conservative association as a “clique serving the interests of a few members”, and urges the abolition of the party’s Local Government Committee which was used as a “weapon of terror” against candidates, causing “instability and unease”.
He reveals that there were even moves to deselect him just months ago, “How can candidates fight proper campaigns if they are constantly looking over their shoulders?!”
He signs off with the words: “I am sorry that as it currently stands I do not feel that I can play a part in this recovery.”
about 1 year ago
Presumably he means clique not cliche? Still, anyone with any knowledge of what has been going on inside the Leicester Conservatives recently will sympathise with his comments. Grant should be ashamed at the utter disaster his incompetence and vanity has produced.
about 1 year ago
I want to pay tribute to Pete, because he’s a thoroughly decent guy who’s in politics for the right reason. Although, we’re on different sides of the political divide, I admire him speaking up in this way where other people in the local tory party have let their party be taken over by a group intent on imposing their will. Tory voters in Leicester deserve better, much better. Candidates like Pete deserve better and not to have their efforts undermined by a leader who is paranoid about his position. I wish Pete all the best and it’s a great shame that he won’t be an elected politician in Leicester. He has stood up for what he believes in and in the best interests of his party and I hope others will back him.
about 1 year ago
Well said Pete, Ross Grants irrational ranting was plain for all to hear when he declared on radio that he would not even work with Nigel for the sake of the city but would rather work with Labour..as if they need his help!
Another aspect of disatrous tory targeting was to target Western Park, split the vote and give both Libdem seats to Labour.
about 1 year ago
Nonsense! Even had the Tory vote remained static in Western Park the LibDems would still have lost out to Labour.
By the same logic the LibDem targeting of Knighton could be said to have only helped let Labour in – in reality it had more to do with effective Labour targeting as part of the by-election which outgunned anything the local Tories could muster.
about 1 year ago
I have to say that i thought Cllr Grant’s refusal to work with Cllr Porter on the grounds that he ‘will not work with anyone I don’t respect’,was a childish slur on someone that the electorate clearly have faith in.
Cllr Grant’s leadership of the local group managed to turn a 2% downturn nationally into a rout in Leicester.Maybe if he’d spent as much energy on campaigning as he did ousting Cllr Porter,then maybe the Tories would be in a healthier position locally.
about 11 months ago
тое што я шукаў, дзякуй
about 11 months ago
Калі ласка, прыходзьце да маёй партыі?
about 8 months ago
About “We blew it by booting out Nigel Porter” whatever you wrote here is really admirable. I would like to allocate this issue with other. Thanks dude