Local Conservative leaders have turned their fire on Boris Johnson, as the party suffered historic losses in London, with one saying he would be a “poor option” to lead the party into the next general election.
As the Tories lost flagship councils in the capital such as Wandsworth — held since 1978 — and Westminster, an authority in the party’s control since its creation in 1964, Theresa May’s former chief-of-staff also suggested the results were “catastrophic” and should be a “wake-up call”.
With full results declared from 71 councils at 8am, the Conservatives had overall lost control of six authorities and suffered a net loss of 132 councillors, Labour had a net gain of four councils and 91 seats, the Lib Dems had gained a council and 40 councillors and the Greens had put on 22 councillors.
Sir Keir Starmer hailed the results as a “turning point” for Labour, but the polling expert professor Sir John Curtice said the results left Labour with “an awful lot of work” to do outside the capital in “perhaps more Leave-voting England”.
But as the blame game began, grassroots Tories cited the on-going Partygate scandal being cited on the doorstep, and the cost-of-living crisis.
John Mallinson, the former Tory leader of Carlisle City Council hit out after Labour took control of the new Cumberland authority which will replace it, telling the BBC: “I think it’s not just Partygate, there is the integrity issue.”
“Basically I just don’t feel any longer have the confidence that the prime minister can be relied upon to tell the truth,” he said.
Mr Mallinson later suggested Mr Johnson would be a “poor option” to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, adding: “He does seem to be attracting a lot of unrest and ill-feeling at the moment”.
He also criticised “patronising” comments from the cabinet minister George Eustice, who suggested in a televised interview this week that families struggling in the cost-of-living crisis should use “value brands” to save money.
In Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats, Simon Bosher, the leader of the Conservative group, said the prime minister should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because of the voter backlash on the doorstep.
Ravi Govindia — the outgoing leader of Wandsworth council, an authority held by the Tories since 1978 — said: “Let’s not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing.”
Daniel Thomas, the ex-leader of Barnet council, where Labour clinched victory in the early hours of Friday morning, added the results should be a “warning shot” from his party’s supporters.
“Clearly if Labour are to get a majority in Parliament they need to win Barnet,” he said.”They won the council, if they win our parliamentary constituencies as well, then it doesn’t bode well for us to form a Government in future general elections.”
Barry Rawlings, the leader of the Barnet Labour group, suggested the result was less a reflection on enthusiasm for his party and more a reflection of disillusionment with Mr Johnson’s Conservatives.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’ll be honest, it’s not us being wonderful. I think a lot of Conservatives haven’t voted this time, I think they feel alienated from No 10 and that they are, I don’t know, they’ve been disappointed with Boris Johnson and so not voting and I think that’s made a difference as well.”
Theresa May’s former chief-of-staff Lord Gavin Barwell also said the local elections results in London were “catastrophic” in London and should be a “wake-up-call” for the Conservative Party.
“Wandsworth & Westminster were flagship councils” he said. “We held them during the Blair honeymoon. We held them during austerity. We held them under Theresa May.”
Former Tory cabinet minister Justine Greening, who left Parliament in 2019, added: “I think the challenge for the Conservatives is really to understand that levelling up isn’t just for the North.
“There are people in this capital, who feel life isn’t fair, opportunities aren’t fair. So Boris Johnson really needs to learn from these results and see that he has to have a national agenda on levelling up not just one for the Midlands and the North.”
While admitting the results were “difficult” for the Conservatives, the party chair, Oliver Dowden, put losses at the local elections down to mid-term challenges and insisted Mr Johnson was the right person to lead the party into the next general election.
He told Sky News: “I think looking at the picture of the results so far, they demonstrate that whilst there have been difficult results, they are consistent with what you’d expect with us from mid-term.
“Labour are certainly not on the path to power and I believe that Boris Johnson does have the leadership skills, in particular the energy and the dynamism that we need during this difficult period of time.
“So no, I don’t think we should remove Boris Johnson as our prime minister, I think we should stick with him”.
