Nigel Adams has called for the Conservative party to “put leadership speculation and distractions behind us” after the Prime Minister survived a confidence vote.

Boris Johnson won last night’s ballot among his own MPs by 211 to 148.

The result means Mr Johnson will remain as leader of the Conservatives and Prime Minister, however the number of his own MPs voting against him has raised questions about his long-term future.

Following the announcement of the result, Mr Adams, who is MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate, tweeted his support for Mr Johnson.

Mr Adams, who is in the cabinet and a close ally of the Prime Minister, said:

“Tonight, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won another clear mandate as leader of the Conservative Party.

“Now we can fully focus on delivering on the people’s priorities and put leadership speculation and distractions behind us for good.”

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Among those who voted against Mr Johnson was Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones.

Mr Jones said he made the decision after “hundreds of people” in his constituency wrote to him, with most calling for the Prime Minister to resign.

Tonight, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won another clear mandate as Leader of the Conservative Party. Now we can fully focus on delivering on the people’s priorities and put leadership speculation and distractions behind us for good.

— Nigel Adams (@nadams) June 6, 2022

Mr Jones said in a statement yesterday:

“There were many harrowing stories in those emails where people couldn’t visit elderly relatives or mourn them at their funerals. These were people following the rules the Prime Minister set and championed.”

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, has remained silent on how he voted.

The result means that the Prime Minister cannot face another confidence vote for 12 months.

But it has been suggested that the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs may change the rules to allow for a vote sooner.

Temporary traffic lights are causing delays on Ripon Road coming into Harrogate this morning.

Drivers are urged to avoid the area as the lights are causing queues.

The lights are in place just past Jennyfield Drive coming into Harrogate and have been installed by CityFibre as part of maintenance work.

According to North Yorkshire County Council, the lights will be in place until tomorrow.

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A group of Travellers who set up camp on Harrogate’s Stray have now left.

Six caravans and several cars arrived on the section near to Oatlands Drive on Saturday.

It is thought that the Travellers were on their way to Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria, which starts on Thursday.

Harrogate Borough Council, which is the legal protector of the Stray, was due to begin the eviction process today, according to the Stray Defence Association.

But the Travellers are believed to have vacated the parkland yesterday.

Travellers also parked on the old rugby field at Knaresborough three days earlier and remain on site.

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• Travellers arrive on Harrogate’s Stray
• Council to start moves to evict Travellers on Harrogate Stray tomorrow

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council confirmed that the travellers in Knaresborough were now subject to a legal process.

The spokesperson said:

“The travellers in Knaresborough are being managed through the legal process and a team will undertake a clear up (if required) once they have gone.”

From street parties to concerts, the Harrogate district celebrated the Queen’s platinum jubilee in style this past week.

Across the district people draped themselves and their neighbourhoods in red, white and blue as part of the four-day bank holiday weekend.

In Harrogate, a jubilee square was set up just for the occasion while Ripon had a feast of celebrations in the market square.

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Masham featured a parade of floats and fancy dress, and Knaresborough had an array of events to mark the jubilee.

The Stray Ferret was out every day capturing the celebrations and you can watch our montage of how the district celebrated the jubilee below.

Conservative MPs in the Harrogate district will vote on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s future this evening after a confidence vote was triggered.

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench MPs, confirmed this morning that a ballot will be held at 6pm today.

The move comes as the threshold of 15% of the parliamentary Conservative party seeking a vote of confidence in Mr Johnson was met.

It means Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith, and Nigel Adams in Selby and Ainsty, which includes south and east rural parts of the Harrogate district, will all have a say in the Prime Minister’s future.

Should Mr Johnson lose the vote, he will have to stand down as Prime Minister.

The ballot comes as 54 Tory MPs have submitted letters of no confidence in the wake of partygate and revelations that lockdown parties were held at 10 Downing Street.

What have the Harrogate district MPs said?

Mr Jones was named by the Daily Mail last week as one of the Conservative rebels.

Mr Jones has not publicly called for the Prime Minister to resign and has not revealed whether he submitted a letter to the 1922 committee.

Read more:

• Harrogate district MP: ‘Time for Boris to get on with the job’
• Andrew Jones MP tells constituent he feels ‘anger’ over partygate
• Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones MP named as Tory ‘rebel’

In a letter to a constituent who had asked about the Sue Gray report, he said he felt “anger” over partygate.

Meanwhile, Mr Adams has said previously that it was time for Mr Johnson to “get on with the job” following the publication of the report.

A member of the Prime Minister’s cabinet and a key ally, he said last month:

“The Prime Minister welcomes Sue Gray’s report and has apologised again.

“He now needs to get on with the job, levelling up the country, tackling global challenges including the cost of living and Ukraine crisis and delivering for the country and for the people who put their faith in him in 2019.”

Mr Smith has yet to speak publicly on Mr Johnson’s future.

Harrogate Borough Council has approved plans to convert a former Lloyds pharmacy in Starbeck into an Italian kitchen and takeaway.

Under the plans, the site would be refurbished to include an Italian trattoria on the ground floor and two apartments above.

SSA Architects tabled the proposal on behalf of the developer for the site on Starbeck High Street.

It said that the kitchen would provide employment for between five to eight people.

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The kitchen would be open from 12pm until 12am, according to the proposal.

Meanwhile, both flats proposed as part of the development would be one bedroom.

The developer said in its application:

“The proposal looks to rejuvenate the plot by refurbishing the existing structure within the setting.

“Within this outlined development, the design aims to create an inviting setting for the new residents, and customers for the takeaway business.”

After two years away, Tractor Fest returned to Newby Hall to mark the platinum jubilee celebrations in its unique way.

Scattered across the famous gardens were an estimated 1,000 exhibitors, including tractors adorned for the occasion.

Hundreds of people ranging from hardcore enthusiasts and novices, flocked to the stately home near Boroughbridge to enjoy an array of machinery, engines, attractions and even some vintage car displays.

Kevin Watson, organiser of the festival, said he was initially nervous about returning after so long away.

The festival was one of many mainstay events in the Harrogate district which fell victim to the covid pandemic in 2020.

Ian Muir and tractor fest organiser Kevin Watson with a golden painted Queens coronation tractor.

Kevin said:

“It has been a while and we wondered if we had done the right thing in making it a three day event.

“But, in the end it feels like we have never been away.”

The return of the popular festival coincides with the landmark platinum jubilee and it would have been remiss of those regular exhibitors not to mark it in their own way.

Read more:

• Village near Knaresborough creates collage to mark jubilee
• JUBILEE LIVE: Parade in Masham, street opera in Harrogate

Among the thousands of tractors was one special exhibit, which stood out with its golden paint and draped in Union Jack bunting.

The golden coronation tractor which was introduced in 1953 is owned by Northumbrian Ian Muir, who had to rebuild it twice to get it into shape to display at festivals.

Marking the jubilee 

Elsewhere, engine enthusiasts were also marking the jubilee in their own way.

Tom and Alison Moffat made the three-hour journey from Ayre in Scotland to be among fellow engine collectors.

Tom’s engine was made in 1939 at the outbreak of the war and was used as an emergency lighting plant for Ballochmyle Hospital in Ayrshire.

Hundreds flocked to Newby Hall for the return of Tractor Fest.

The couple have toured the exhibit around various festivals, but today they decided to flock our their stall in red, white and blue.

After learning they were going to be at Tractor Fest over the jubilee weekend, Alison borrowed some of her parents flags which had also been used as part of the silver jubilee celebrations in 1977.

She said:

“I borrowed them from my parents, who had also used them to celebrate. We felt we had to mark it.”

Mervyn Hoyle with his vintage car at Newby Hall.

Those who brought vintage cars to the festival were also in on the celebrations.

Mervyn Hoyle bought his 1933 Austin Seven deluxe saloon 42 years ago and prided himself on keeping it in good condition ever since.

He and his sister draped the car in red, white and blue for the occasion and his fellow collectors even set up a picnic table for the weekend.

To top off the day’s entertainment, a Hawker Hurricane took to the skies above Newby Hall.

While people filled the streets and bunting adorned buildings across the Harrogate district, the Tractor Fest marked the occasion in its own way.

A bid to convert the derelict Henry Jenkins pub in Kirkby Malzeard into a house has been refused.

Harrogate Borough Council rejected the plan, which was submitted by owner David Fielder last year.

The move is the latest turn in the ongoing saga over the pub and efforts from local campaigners to bring it back into community use.

The Henry Jenkins, which is named after a man that legend states lived to be 169-years-old, is one of the oldest inns in the Harrogate district. It closed in 2011.

Mr Fielder told the Stray Ferret in January that it would “make sense” for the pub to be converted as permission had already been given for a flat on the western side of the building.

However, a decision notice from the council published this week said:

“Insufficient marketing has been carried to demonstrate that in the absence of any use as a public house there is no alternative community use for which the property may be suitable and the proposed use of the public house as two dwellings consequently is in conflict with Policy HP8 and the objectives of Policy GS6 of the Harrogate District Local Plan 2014- 2035.”

Campaign to save Henry Jenkins

The decision comes as campaigners are continuing their efforts to save the pub for community use.

In 2017 the Henry Jenkins Community Pub group successfully obtained an Asset of Community Value listing for the building.

However, in 2018, the listing on the eastern annex was removed by the council, when the property was sold to Mr Claybourn.

Since then, the campaign group has made three unsuccessful attempts to have the listing reinstated on the eastern portion of the building — which it said was crucial to its plans to reopen the Henry Jenkins as a community facility comprising a pub, bistro and coffee shop.

Richard Sadler, of the Henry Jenkins Community Pub group, said the pub was “something we should be celebrating” ahead of the jubilee.

Henry Jenkins pub campaigners outside the former pub at the unveiling of the portrait.

The group is expected to parade a new sign for the Henry Jenkins in the village this weekend as part of the celebrations.

It was unveiled alongside former MP Greg Mulholland, who was chair of the House of Commons All Party pub group and current campaign director of Campaign for Pubs.

Mr Sadler said:

“We are very pleased that Harrogate council has taken the right decision which is in line with the majority of people in the village.

“There is a very strong case to bring back this pub for our community.

“As Greg Mulholland said when he came to our unveiling, this is something that we should be celebrating as part of the jubilee.”

Read more:

• Bid to convert Kirkby Malzeard pub at centre of long-running campaign
• Campaign to reopen Henry Jenkins Inn suffers hammer blow

Harrogate District Hospital has confirmed that it has not treated any cases of Monkeypox.

The UK Health Security Agency has reported 172 cases of the virus in England so far.

The virus, which originated in Africa, causes a mild infection and is spread through contact with scabs on the skin, bedding and towels used by an infected person.

It can also be transmitted through coughs and sneezes from those who have been infected.

A spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust confirmed yesterday it had not treated any patient with the disease.

However, they added that the trust had taken precautions to prevent the spread of Monkeypox within its hospitals.

A spokesperson for the trust said:

“Monkeypox is quite difficult to pass on unless in close contact, and tends to happen through broken skin, although it can happen through a cough or sneeze if you are in close proximity.

“In this respect the same precautions that we introduced during the covid pandemic and that are still relevant for visitors to our hospital today are relevant for monkeypox — anyone visiting the hospital still wears a mask, washes/sanitises their hands frequently, and maintains social distancing where possible together with ensuring good ventilation.”

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Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency has not confirmed any cases of the virus within Yorkshire.

The public health body added on its website that the majority of cases confirmed had been found in gay and bisexual men. But it stressed that the disease is not sexually transmitted.

The UKHSA said:

“The risk to the UK population remains low, but we are asking people to be alert to any new rashes or lesions, which would appear like spots, ulcers or blisters, on any part of their body.

“Although this advice applies to everyone, the majority of the cases identified to date have been among men who are gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men, so we are asking these people in particular to be aware of the symptoms, particularly if they have recently had a new sexual partner.”

The future of Prime Minister Boris Johnson following the partygate saga is for Conservative MPs to decide, says North Yorkshire County Council’s leader.

The Guardian reported yesterday that Cllr Les would support a leadership election in the party.

However, speaking to the Stray Ferret today he claimed he was misquoted and any leadership election within the party was a matter for MPs. He said:

“I said it was disappointing results and I am sure that [partygate] was a factor.”

Read more:

• Resign and higher fines: Harrogate district bereaved families react to PM’s lockdown party fine
• Harrogate district MP: ‘Time for Boris to get on with the job’
• Andrew Jones MP tells constituent he feels ‘anger’ over partygate

When asked if he supported Mr Johnson, Cllr Les reiterated that the Prime Minister’s future was for “the parliamentary party to decide”.

His comments follow the publication of the Sue Gray report, which found that many of the parties in Downing Street “should not have been allowed to happen”.

Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP, Andrew Jones, told a constituent in a letter that he felt “anger” over the report.

But Mr Jones, who said in January that “lawmakers can’t be lawbreakers”,  did not say whether he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson.

The BBC reported this morning that 27 Tory MPs have publicly urged the Prime Minister to resign.

Letters of no confidence have been submitted to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs, but the precise number is unknown.

Former Attorney General Jeremy Wright became the latest senior Conservative to call for Mr Johnson to step down, saying the lockdown parties at Downing Street had done “lasting damage” to the party.