The leader of the Nottingham Conservative Group has announced he will be standing down over the poor treatment of a fellow councillor who alleges there has been an “attempt to hijack” his seat.
A row broke out after Cllr Roger Steel (Con), who represents Clifton West, was not selected by the local party as a candidate for the upcoming Nottingham City Council election in May.
In protest, Cllr Andrew Rule (Con), the leader of the group, withdrew his application for selection as a candidate for the Clifton West ward.
Just two seats of 55 on the council belong to the Conservative Party, and the “fall-out” means neither of them will be standing again in May.
It is understood the issues stem back to a Zoom meeting, held by Nottingham Conservative Federation executive members, on September 7 last year (2022).
The aim of the meeting was to approve candidates for the upcoming May election this year (2023).
During the meeting, four executive members voted for Cllr Steel’s approval, but one executive official voted to ‘defer’.
It had been held in Cllr Steel’s absence.
He says the deferral was made “with no reason given”.
A face-to-face meeting was then sought, but during this subsequent meeting, three members voted for his approval and three voted against it, resulting in a tie.
“They invented this deferral mechanism,” Cllr Steel claims.
“The administration chose to defer my approval, but deferral is not allowed under the 2022 rule changes.”
As such, Cllr Steel appealed the decision to the area committee, but this was rejected and the matter was closed.
This means he will not be able to stand as a candidate in the May election.
His colleague Cllr Rule, therefore, announced he would also be standing down over alleged “poor treatment” of Cllr Steel.
“I have been with the Conservative Party since 2003,” Cllr Steel said.
“In more recent times, I’ve successfully contested Clifton West for eight-and-a-half years.
“Together with Andrew Rule, we have doubled the majority over time and both have now achieved high personal following.
“Prospects for us in May were encouraging.
“I’m upset and resent this attempt to hi-jack this seat and parachute in a candidate who works in parliament in London for the MP for Worthing.”
Nottingham Conservative Federation deputy chair Andy Byrne said:
“It has broken my heart because they are fantastic councillors. No one has told us if there was any animosity or issues.”
Cllr Rule, who was initially elected for the Clifton North ward in 2015 before being elected to Clifton West in 2019, released a statement in support of his colleague.
In a statement, he said: “Last Thursday afternoon, I informed the Chairman of Nottingham Conservative Federation that I would be withdrawing my application for selection as a candidate for Clifton West ward in the forthcoming local elections in May.
“This came on the back of the non and, in my opinion, poor treatment by some members of the Nottingham Federation Executive of my current co-councillor Roger Steel.
“It was a very difficult decision for me, but I could not in good conscience, given the circumstances, continue with the selection process.
“I felt that to be selected as the Conservative candidate would imply that I concur with, or even support the treatment, toward Councillor Steel – I do not.
“I intend to serve out this term as a councillor representing Clifton West until the elections in May.
“It has been the honour of my life to represent Clifton, Wilford and Silverdale on Nottingham City Council.”