Only 14 Conservatives

Nominations for the local elections in Gateshead closed on Thursday last week and candidates were announced on Friday. One of the notable points to emerge is that the Conservatives have put forward only 14 candidates for the 66 seats available. The last time the Conservatives failed to field a full slate of candidates was in the late 1980s. Since then they have fielded candidates for every vacancy. In a normal year, there are 22 seats up for election in Gateshead. In 2004, all 66 seats were contested because of boundary changes and the Conservatives fielded a full set of candidates. 22 years on and the Conservatives are fielding a team so small, it leaves many wards without a Conservative candidate at all.

This is a truly appalling situation for the Conservatives. They last topped a poll in Gateshead in 1992, 34 years ago, when the last surviving Conservative councillor held his seat of Low Fell (it went Lib Dem four years later). Their absence from the Council did not mean they were absent from the electoral battle. Until now. I understand that other areas are seeing the collapse of the Conservatives  so we are not talking about their disintegration as a Gateshead specific issue. The malaise is wider, much wider.

There are some good people in the Conservative Party who are horrified with the Reform lite direction in which their party is moving. Centrists and right of centre are looking for a new home. They are repelled by the Reform Party and want nothing to do with them. Pragmatic liberal conservatives can still play a role in politics, but not in the Conservative Party where their efforts are now wasted. If you are a liberal minded, pro-European, caring Conservative, it's time to join the Liberal Democrats.