Conservative Councillor Keith Prince last night lost the vote to become Leader of Redbridge Council, throwing the Tory group into disarray.
Three Conservative councillors resigned from their group, reducing the total number of official Conservative councillors to 31 out of 63. This means that the Conservatives no longer control Redbridge Council.
From the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian:
BITTER infighting among Redbridge’s Conservative group has spilled over into a full-blown political crisis, effectively leaving no-one in charge of the council.
At a dramatic meeting at Ilford Town Hall (Thursday), Tory leader Cllr Keith Prince lost a vote to become the new council leader, minutes after his Conservative colleague Cllr Alan Weinberg left the post.
Cllr Prince lost the election by just two votes after fellow Conservative councillors Mark Aaron and Geoffrey Hinds defected from the party to become independents, while a third, absent Cllr Robert Whitehall, resigned.
Two more Tories, Cllr Brian Waite and Cllr Glenn Corfield, did not show up to the vote because they were “ill”.
In the final tally, 28 councillors voted for Cllr Prince and 30 against.
Liberal Democrat group leader Hugh Cleaver said,
“Undoubtedly this affects the Conservative group’s ability to govern.”
Cllr Robin Turbefield, acting as Conservative Party spokesman, had some especially revealing comments on last night’s events:
“We had a very democratic election within our group but it didn’t go the way everyone wanted, and there are some people who have been disaffected by the change of leadership.
“It’s very upsetting for us. It makes politicians look bad. We’ve already got the MPs expenses and now this. It looks like we can’t organise our own place.”
Thank you, Councillor Turbefield, for summing it up so well.
