UK: Dorset Tories tell Sunak's MPs to 'stay away' in local election battle

Spencer Flower, Dorset’s Conservative council leader, has a simple edict when it comes to defending his blue fiefdom from a Liberal Democrat insurgency: don’t let Rishi Sunak’s disunited MPs anywhere near the campaign.

Most Tory candidates in the county are campaigning as “Local Conservatives” determined to keep their distance from the party’s problems at Westminster. The embattled prime minister does not feature on their leaflets.

Flower says: “I was asked by an MP what help he could give us and I said: ‘Stay away — that’s the best thing. You’ve got no added value. It’s local elections. I want to keep it local’.”

He cannot remember the last time Sunak came to Dorset.

The council leader is battling to stop the Lib Dems from taking power in this solidly Tory county in southern England, in what will be the most keenly watched “blue wall” battle in local elections on May 2.




https://www.ft.com/content/9055544e-9057-4a34-b8de-75f44548f5a2