Tees Valley Mayor Lord Ben Houchen has hit out at the “chaos” in the Conservative Party and said responsibility “ultimately lies with Rishi.”
Lord Houchen’s victory was one of the few positives for the Conservatives in an otherwise catastrophic set of local elections last week.
The Mayor of Tees Valley told BBC Radio Tees: “Things don’t look great for the Conservative Party at the moment.”
He said: “There is still a way through but that way through is getting narrower by the day.”
“Obviously, it ultimately lies with Rishi but there are lots of people that need to get their act together, stop messing about and start talking to the public about what they can offer them, rather than just fighting with each other.”
Asked if Mr Sunak was to blame, Lord Houchen said: “There’s lots of people fighting with each other in the Conservative Party, there are defections going on and ultimately the public do not vote for parties who are not united and are not presenting a united front and also aren’t talking to the public.
“If they’re fighting with each other like rats in a sack instead of saying to the public, ‘This is what we’re going to do for you,’ that doesn’t win elections.
“Obviously, it ultimately lies with Rishi but there are lots of people that need to get their act together, stop messing about and start talking to the public about what they can offer them, rather than just fighting with each other.”
Main photo: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED
