Robert Morritt has been voted leader of Wandsworth’s Conservative group, beating fellow councillor Daniel Hamilton in a knife-edge 15 votes to 14. He is expected to go on to become leader of the council later this month when the full council meets properly for the first time since the May election.
Far from providing clarity following the shock resignation of Aled Richards-Jones as leader earlier this month, however, the vote has left party unity “hanging by a thread”, according to insiders.
Morritt was previously expelled from the party but returned four years ago and has proved to be a divisive figure, with one cabinet member immediately resigning his post following the result.
“Given the result of yesterday’s leadership election, I no longer think it is appropriate to continue in this role,” Cllr Tom Pridham wrote in a post to colleagues. “This is not a decision based on policy but one based on character… Put simply, I have profound ethical and professional concerns about our new leadership.”
The vote on Thursday evening gave all current Conservative councillors one vote each. Cllr Morritt shocked the wider party by coming out on top even though it had been widely expected that he would attempt to challenge for the leadership immediately after the election.
Morritt was first elected to the council in 2010. Three years later, however, the party removed the whip from him, expelling him from the Conservative group, after an internal investigation into his conduct as its paid election agent found cheques totalling over £30,000 with no adequate record of what they were used for.
A series of investigations concluded that his behaviour had been “totally unacceptable” and “an abuse of his position”. He continued as an independent councillor and then stepped down as a councillor. Eight years later however he returned as chair of the Putney Conservative Association, and three years after that became a councillor for Thamesfield in May elections this year.
Morritt’s return has brought further controversy. In November, an independent panel investigating a dispute between Morritt and the Conservatives’ general election candidate Lee Roberts over a seat in West Putney reinstated Roberts and had harsh words for Morritt: his actions were “egregious”, the report noted, and his claims about why Roberts needed to be replaced were “not credible.”
Roberts was not the only Putney candidate pushed out. Sitting councillor and former cabinet member Steffi Sutters also did not stand at the recent election. A bullying complaint was filed and upheld by the Conservative Central Office.
Ultimately however neither Roberts nor Sutters stood in the recent elections and Putney voted as a block at the leadership election this week. Indicating the depth of the split in the party, Battersea also voted as a block but for Hamilton, with a split in Tooting votes falling Morritt’s way.
Hurdles and repercussions
The leadership battle and inter-party battling comes at an extraordinary time, with the stakes around who leads the Conservatives about to rise higher.
The recent election left no party in overall control with the Conservative holding 29 seats against Labour’s 28. The Conservatives managed to forge a majority by striking a ‘confidence and supply’ deal with independent councillor Malcolm Grimston. But even that deal is precarious: one vote either way, or two absent councillors and the Conservatives cannot pass any measures.
Given the depth of animosity within the broader party toward Morritt, as well as the highly partisan nature of Wandsworth politics, it is an open question whether he can carry sufficient votes to be voted in as leader of the council on 22 July. If he does manage to navigate those political waters and be selected as leader, he will immediately face a second enormous opportunity and risk in the 27 August Trinity by-election.
Last week, deputy Labour leader Lizzy Dobres said she was stepping down from her seat in Trinity ward, leaving the path open for the Conservatives to win the seat – they only lost by 64 votes in May – and achieve a built-in majority. That would give the leader of the Conservatives significantly more power to decide Wandsworth’s path forward for the next four years.
If the Conservatives do manage to win under Morritt in August he will have achieved an extraordinary political comeback: from pariah to council leader. But a question that members in his own party are already asking is: at what cost?
