Buoyed – no doubt – by the rapid meltdown in popularity of prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Conservatives have fired a handful of opening salvos in their bid to seize back control of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
It looks a herculean task, especially in the wake of a local council by election this week when an independent candidate won a seat in St Neots that the Tories had confidently expected to win. In the event Cllr Barry Chapman topped the poll with Nigel Eaton for the Tories in third place.
But St Neots is an idiosyncratic part of Cambridgeshire in terms of recent political history and of course at the general election the former Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire Anthony Browne lost out by more than 4,600 votes to the Lib Dem Ian Sollom for the new seat brought about by boundary changes.
Ex MP Paul Bristow says Tories must win back young people who voted Reform
Though quite possibly much of the political jousting for candidate for Mayor of the Combined Authority is screened from public view by WhatsApp groups, the intent of at least one prospective candidate is all too evident.
And that is coming from Peterborough and the inclinations of the city’s former Conservative MP Paul Bristow, a former Neale-Wade, March, student whose naked ambition to become Mayor is evident.
Hardly a week, sometimes it seems hardly a day, goes by when he doesn’t rain down opprobrium on the Labour MP he lost to, Andrew Pakes, posting a stream of selfies showing himself out ‘campaigning’ for this or that.
“Out this afternoon delivering our latest newsletter in Paston and Werrington – and listening to residents,” he tweeted on Friday, on the same day reminding Conservatives in NE Cambs he’s part of them too by retweeting a post from MP NE Cambs about a beer festival at Elgood’s brewery in Wisbech.
A day earlier he engaged us with a tweet about how he found it ‘great to be out St Neots today campaigning in the Eatons by-election’.
Curiously the accompanying selfie included three others – all men – which promptly invoked the wrath of one of his (former?) close political aides, the irrepressible Sophie Corcoran, who, it is fair to say, has what you might call ‘form’.
She spent some months working in Parliament with Paul which she describes as the “most amazing time” and in March I pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that she had arrived in Peterborough as his campaign manager.
“You’re not wrong,” she told me
These days, however, ‘Paradise won’ looks increasingly like ‘Paradise lost” for her response to Paul publishing the photo of himself and three men at St Neots prompted a woe is me moment from his (former?) close aide as Ms Corcoran responded with: “It’s a shame there’s never any women in these photos. Even when they make the literature.”
Ouch.
Ms Corcoran says she too is “out campaigning” but for who and for what is not always clear. In a recent tweet, after telling her followers how much she loved Peterborough, she emphasised again that she “won’t let people stop me from doing what I love, and I love campaigning more than anything”. At one point she did mention collecting signatures for a petition against scrapping winter fuel allowances.
I would very very happily be in a party that this man leads or chairs one day
His passion for democracy and respecting grassroots political movements is deeply admirable https://t.co/qwh8unKDMA
— Sophie Corcoran (@sophielouisecc) September 19, 2024
She has also recently told her followers that “I am not promoting Paul – nor do I know his intentions.” Sophie raged against having “made (his) last leaflet in Werrington” but moaned that he had not invited her to help deliver it.
“I have not been involved in Paul’s campaigns after -nor do I know what he is doing, nor do I care.”
Her disillusionment with Mr Bristow has not gone unnoticed in, of all places, Fenland, where Cllr Sam Hoy enjoined her to “come to Wisbech. We’d love to have you.”
Cllr Hoy is, at it happens, one of the three Conservatives councillors tasked with drawing up a short list of prospective Mayoralty candidates from NE Cambs to take on Dr Nik Johnson.
Come to Wisbech! We’d love to have you 🙂
— Samantha Hoy (@SamanthaHoy) September 18, 2024
A timeline for Conservatives in March, Chatteris, Wisbech and Whittlesey to find a suitable contender has been shared.
“Aspirants/potential candidates should send their applications to Candidates@conservatives.com and copy in NECCA, namely Sam Hoy, Dr H Nawaz and Steve Tierney”, says a recent post from the local association.
By doing “necessary background checks” they hope to find a short list and ultimately a candidate fairly quickly.
“This will place our candidates at the front of the queue for approvals,” says the association “thus giving us a bit more time for the final selection and subsequent campaigning”.
The problem in NE Cambs is there is no obvious candidate, although Cllr Steve Count, a district and county councillor (he is a former leader of the county council and remains opposition leader), might fancy his chances.
Cllr Count was a contender for the Conservatives nomination for Mayor in 2017 but lost out to James Palmer in a final selection (St Neots councillor Roger Harrison was also a contender) and the rest they say is history.
It is unlikely Cllr Count will want a fresh attempt at becoming Mayor, especially with county elections on the same day.
The ambitious district councillor Gary Christy might be a contender – he’s chair of community transport group FACT and recently clashed with Mayor Johnson over the loss of a tendered bus route in Wisbech.
Unfortunately, Cllr Christy refused to admit his organisation had filed an incomplete tender document but is bitter enough – goaded by his hard right new Tory colleagues – to consider a punt. No obvious candidate stands out.
Anna #Bailey’s extraordinary, damaging, deeply personal and wounding attack on Mayor Dr Nik Johnson https://t.co/uTpwL95hKm via @cambsnewsonline
— John Elworthy (@johnelworthy) November 16, 2023
In East Cambridgeshire, the district council leader Cllr Anna Bailey is constantly exercised by Combined Authority thinking and decision making, as too is her Soham colleague Cllr Mark Goldsack and both would get the nod of approval from their former mentor James Palmer, who incidentally might re-group to consider his own challenge.
No mention of Wisbech rail in 32-page Eastern Powerhouse election ‘manifesto’
These days Mr Palmer busies himself with an organisation he founded called Eastern Powerhouse to promote the region and is not without influence, Tory controlled East Cambs Council – which he once led – is a member alongside organisations as diverse as Anglia Ruskin University, Anglia Components, Anglia Water, Greater Anglia Trains Lotus cars.
Until recently Fenland District Council was also shown as a member of the Eastern Powerhouse but is no longer. Maybe the lack of Wisbech-March rail in the Eastern Powerhouse election ‘manifesto’ prompted withdrawal but who knows.
In Cambridge itself the potential talent pool has a low bar given the dearth of Conservative councillors although their general election candidate Shane Manning, a former Bishop’s Stortford town councillor, might be tempted to consider his chances.
His professional qualifications are well suited, working as he does in a London bank on such things as digital security and artificial intelligence.
Shane also has been outspoken not such about the Combined Authority but another Cambridge body, the Greater Cambridge Partnership which he claims ignores many in the city.
No word from South Cambs about Tory possibilities although Conservative opposition leader Heather Williams on South Cambridgeshire District Council survives in a perpetual state of ‘hopefulness’.
Of course, there is nothing to stop any of the remaining Conservative MPs adding to their plate the odd Mayoralty, as Dan Norris discovered in the West Country where is both an MP (he defeated Jacob Rees-Mogg in July) and is also Mayor of the Combined Authority until next May.
Heidi Allen, a former South Cambs MP, wanted to combine both roles, and I recall meeting her for coffee in March ahead of a Conservative selection meeting when she explained her willingness and ability to fulfil both.
The Tory high command in the Fens were having none of it and dispatched her hastily back to Westminster.
Labour, of course, will stick with Mayor Johnson. Other parties have yet to reveal their hand.
ELECTION DATES
Thursday 1 May 2025
Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor
