FAMILIAR PATTEN FOR WOLVO TORIES

21-03-2008

Troubled Tories on Wolverhampton Council have appointed veteran Neville Patten as their leader following the shock departure of Paddy Bradley this week. Senior figures in the party have been slow to comment on the change - with rivals suggesting they are in turmoil.

The timing of Bradley’s decision to “stand down” – just two months from the local elections – is certainly curious, with gossip-mongers suggesting that powerful business interests in the city had given her the thumbs down.

Inter-party rivalry has also been stimulated by the decision to support the Western Orbital Road Route which would effectively create a motorway box around the West Midlands.

This has been adopted as Tory policy in Wolverhampton, but hasn’t gone down well in the true blue shire of South Staffs, where numerous pretty villages would be blighted by the new road.

Turmoil is nothing new to the city’s Conservatives – six years ago, their leader Robert Hart quit and became an Independent, sitting on the Labour benches.

Now Paddy Bradley has gone too – although she will at least stay on as a Conservative councillor.

None of this is likely to impress to electorate, who stubbornly refused to defect from Labour last year, despite massive swings against the party elsewhere in the country.

The Stirrer’s efforts to speak to leading Wolverhampton Conservatives have so far come to nought, but we’ll keep trying.

In the meantime, for a Labour perspective check out Phil Bateman and for a Lib Dem viewpoint try Colin Ross

And to see The Stirrer’s original story, link here