It’s been 895 days (as of October 18) since Andrew Jones was ousted as Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, ending four parliamentary terms and 14 years in Westminster.

Since then, barely a squeak has been heard from him or the constituency Conservative Party. But after almost 1,000 days of solitude — and with North Yorkshire Council elections just over six months away — the silence is ending.

Mr Jones, 62, is back in the political frontline after succeeding Rebecca Reeve-Burnett as branch chair in June, and he says the party is about to start making some noise again.

“We're going to be far more active in our communication,” he says. “It's been ridiculously quiet, and that will be changing with immediate effect.”

Shortly after our interview, the party announced it had selected Jonathan Shrago to be its candidate in Harrogate Central in May’s elections. We subsequently reported on the comeback of former councillor Graham Swift.

The challenge facing the Conservatives was neatly summed up by Mr Shrago after he finished third in a town council by-election in August. The party, he said, was caught between a rock and a hard place: squeezed by Reform UK on one side and by ‘anyone-but-Reform’ voters gravitating towards the Liberal Democrats on the other.

Winning in May won’t be easy but Mr Jones, fresh from attending what he estimates was his 30th party conference, is upbeat:

Changing landscape

The local political landscape has been transformed since Mr Jones represented the area. The Conservatives once dominated; now Harrogate and Knaresborough have a Liberal Democrat MP, Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat-led town councils and a Labour mayor, David Skaith.

The Conservatives still run North Yorkshire Council, albeit without an overall majority. May’s elections will therefore be crucial to the party’s efforts to retain its local powerbase.

Yet polling suggests no party is likely to secure an overall majority. Would the Conservatives consider an alliance with Reform UK?

“I think that will be up to the councillors who get elected,” says Mr Jones. “But formal pacts with Reform are not something we will do.”

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has redrawn North Yorkshire’s council divisions, meaning a new set of seats will be contested in May. Mr Jones says several times it’s a moment of “generational change” with some new faces emerging, but some familiar names will be back on the ballot.

As well as Graham Swift, Sam Gibbs, currently a councillor for Valley Gardens and Central, will stand in the new Killinghall and Scotton division, which Lib Dem Peter Lacey also appears to have his eye on.

The future of Michael Harrison, who currently represents Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate and is the only member of council leader Carl Les’s cabinet from the local area, appears less certain.

“It’s up to Michael what he does,” says Mr Jones. “I’m sure he’ll stay involved in whatever he chooses to do.”

‘Sour grapes’ over his successor?

Mr Jones says he is reluctant to discuss Mr Gordon’s performance as MP because it will only come across as “sour grapes”. Nevertheless, he took issue with his successor’s Top Trumps stunt, which you can read about here, and highlighted Mr Gordon’s recent sharp words against leader Sir Ed Davey’s defence of the pension triple lock.

Mr Jones says:

On the triple lock, which guarantees that the state pension rises annually by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5%, Mr Jones sides with Sir Ed.

He says:

‘Nice bloke’

Mr Jones describes mayor Mr Skaith as a “nice bloke” but suggests he “doesn’t have much of a voice” within Labour.

He criticises the mayor’s decision to alter the Department for Transport funding formula to allocate proportionally more money to Labour-run City of York Council at the expense of Tory-run North Yorkshire Council, as well as his plans to introduce a tourist tax.

Sir Julian Smith, the Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon, recently described the proposed levy as “mad”. “Well done, Julian!” says Mr Jones. “Labour politicians are spending all their time looking for more ways to increase tax. We want to encourage people to come to our county, and making things more expensive isn't the right answer.”

What about Mr Skaith’s plans to bring buses into public ownership, for which he is spending £3.5 million exploring the options?

Mr Jones has relevant experience: as a transport minister under David Cameron and Theresa May, he helped write the 2017 Bus Services Act, which gave transport authorities new powers over bus services, including the franchising model favoured by the mayor.

But Mr Jones argues that franchising transfers more financial risk to the public purse. He believes North Yorkshire would be better served by an enhanced partnership, under which the local authority and bus operators agree on shared standards and objectives.

Was local government reorganisation the right move?

North Yorkshire Council and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, chaired by Mr Skaith, emerged only in the closing stages of Mr Jones’ time as MP. Does he believe the reorganisation of local government, which saw Harrogate Borough Council abolished in 2023, has worked?

Mr Jones favoured an east-west split that would have incorporated City of York Council, rather than the model ultimately adopted, which established separate unitary authorities for North Yorkshire and York. He says he has seen nothing to change his mind.

“I’ve generally been quite supportive of devolution, but it isn’t necessarily a guarantee that it will be a success,” he says.

Many former MPs retreat from public life after leaving Westminster. Mr Jones, by contrast, has continued campaigning and is now preparing for a busy six months as the Conservatives attempt a fightback in what was once their heartland.

He insists he is retired from frontline politics and will not stand at the next general election. But his return as constituency party chair suggests he is not ready to leave local politics behind just yet.

“I suppose I am a bit of a political animal,” he says.