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05
Jul 2024
'Almost certain' Tories will change leader, says Wetherby and Easingwold MP
The newly elected Wetherby and Easingwold MP says it is almost certain that the Conservative Party will change leader after it lost its grip on power to Labour.
Mr Shelbrooke took the newly created seat with a majority of 4,846.
The constituency includes areas of the Harrogate district including Boroughbridge, Spofforth and Follifoot.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret after the result, Mr Shelbrooke said the Tories dramatic loss of more than 200 seats was partly down to “political fatigue”.
He said:
Fourteen years is a long time in power. We were actually in power 14 months longer than the last Labour government.
It is a long time in power and the wheel does turn. We have been through a traumatic time in the last five years and the two years before that, a lot has happened. I think people just said ‘we want to try something different’.
Mr Shelbrooke added that the party needed to “take a step back” and assess its options.
When asked if that included a change in leadership, the Wetherby and Easingwold MP said it was almost certain that would happen.
He said:
There will almost certainly be a change in leadership. That is something that shouldn't be happening in the next 10 minutes. We’ve got to take our time to reflect on that and go through a proper process and see who is going to put their strategy forward.
I'm not looking for a policy platform in the next leader. I am looking for somebody who is going to lay down a plan as to what we need to do to have a policy platform that is going to work at the next election.
We are no longer in power. We don’t have to come up with a policy in the next 10 minutes. Our job is to scrutinise the government and it’s also about taking our time to have a proper offer to people at the next election.
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