22 April 2005
Hartlepool Conservatives are in mutiny over a Tory central office decision to select a candidate for the upcoming mayoral election.
Earlier this month, the town's Tories controversially chose party stalwart Brenda Pearson as their mayoral candidate. This went against a decision taken at the party's AGM in March not to select a candidate because of opposition to the concept of directly elected mayors.
Frontrunners for the mayoral election, to be held on May 5, are the current postholder, Stuart Drummond, who has carved out a reputation for good administration since his election in 2002, and Labour's Carl Richardson.
But, in echoes of the Howard Flight case in the general election, the local Tories took this key decision only after they were apparently told by head office that it was their 'duty' to select a candidate. Subsequently, Pearson was selected only 24 hours before applications closed on April 7.
However, that interference has prompted a furious row. Some local Tories have written a letter to the party association demanding that Pearson stand down.
They have also vowed to fight on after the election and try to get Pearson, who is also the association's chair, and president Frank Rogers, who proposed her candidacy, to resign.
One member of the angry brigade, Councillor George Morris, said he 'smelt a rat'. He added: 'It was the general opinion that we do not like elected mayors and we should not support a candidate. But, on the afternoon of April 6, central office descended on us and put forward this mandate that we had to have a candidate whether we liked it or not.'
Many Tories were expected to vote for independent councillor Stan Kaiser, who Morris said has 'known Conservative views'.
Pearson admitted that central office 'did suggest' that Hartlepool Tories choose a candidate, something head office was within its rights to do. 'The local association is part of the national association, so we took their advice,' said Pearson.
However, she said that the party had always meant to put forward a candidate and the person initially expected to stand had declined because of 'family issues'.
PFapr2005
