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16
Jun
Tory leader accused of going to ‘increasingly desperate lengths’ to survive challenge
The Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council has been accused of going to “increasingly desperate lengths” to retain control of the party,
Councillor Carl Les, who has led the Tories in North Yorkshire since 2015, faces a leadership challenge from his former highways chief Cllr Keane Duncan.
But the vote to decide the winner in May was abandoned amid a disagreement over who was eligible to vote.
Supporters of Cllr Duncan claim party rules only allow the 41 Conservative councillors to vote.
But Cllr Les is believed to favour including three Independents who are part of the wider Conservatives and Independents group that controls the council.
A working group was set up after the abandoned ballot to consider the issues.
Now the Conservative Councillors’ Association, which represents Tory councillors, has sent a ‘formal written instruction’ to members of the North Yorkshire Conservative group saying only the 41 Tory councillors are eligible to take part in the leadership ballot.
The correspondence, distributed to party members by Cllr Keane Duncan and seen by the Stray Ferret, adds:
“Non-Conservative councillors, including Independent councillors, are not entitled to participate in Conservative group meetings and elections.”
'Nothing has changed'
However, Cllr Caroline Dickinson, chair of the working group set up to consider the issues, subsequently wrote to councillors saying it was “unfortunate” that the correspondence was sent out and that “nothing has changed”.
She added:
“The working group is to present proposals that will hopefully seek to reflect the group’s majority wish to include out three friends and colleagues in the decisions on challenged group positions.”
Sources close to Cllr Duncan said Cllr Les needed the votes of the three Independents, one of whom is Ripon Minster and Moorside Cllr Andrew Williams, to win and was trying to change the rules on who could vote after the contest had started.
They claimed he was resorting to increasingly desperate lengths to cling on to power.
The working group is due to meet at the start of July.
Cllr Les said: "I don't comment on leaks and speculation, however incorrect it may be."
Cllr Duncan declined to comment.
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