London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 10, 2025

Tories not in position to win general election, former council leader says

Tories not in position to win general election, former council leader says

The outgoing Conservative leader of Monmouthshire council said the party was not currently in a position "to win the next general election".

Richard John said it "needs to move with urgency" to turn things around before the next election.

The Tories lost control of the council in Thursday's election and lost 44% of their council seats across Wales.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies blamed the cost of living crisis and Partygate on party results overall.

Mr John told BBC Politics Wales "I don't think the party is in a position right now where it's poised to win the next general election."

Responding to reports in January that Mr Johnson had attended lockdown parties, Mr John told BBC Wales there had been a "complete" breakdown in trust between the prime minister and the British public.

Move to the centre ground


"I haven't changed my position," said Mr John.

"I really do think the party needs to move with urgency to consider how we can make sure we're in the best place possible to win the next general election.

"We are not going to do it by appealing to the right, we've got to move to the centre ground.

Richard John: "I don't think the party is in a position right now where it's poised to win the next general election"


"That compassionate agenda about appealing to families - what we're going to do to show that we're in touch and demonstrate that we understand the challenges that people are facing - I don't think the government is quite in that place right now."

Until Thursday, Mr John was the leader of Wales' only Conservative controlled council.

He took over as leader of Monmouthshire in 2021, following Peter Fox's election to the Senedd.

However, Friday's results meant the Tories lost overall control, slipping to second place behind Labour.

'Absolute faith in the integrity of Keir Starmer'


Meanwhile, Labour's hopes at the next general election could also take a blow if its UK leader, Keir Starmer, is found to have breached lockdown rules.

Durham police are investigating after Mr Starmer had beer and curry with colleagues last April - with calls for him to step down if he is fined.

Cardiff Council labour leader Huw Thomas said he believed Mr Starmer would resign if he was found to have broken the law.

"I have absolute faith in the integrity of Keir Starmer," he said.

"He maintains he's done nothing wrong and there has been one investigation.

"Let us see the results of the second investigation.

"If Keir is found to have done something wrong, he will resign, and for me that is the difference between him and Boris Johnson."

Labour managed to regain much of the ground it lost in Wales in the 2017 local elections with additional 66 council seats across Wales.

It regained overall control in Blaenau Gwent and Bridgend councils but it failed to retake Merthyr and lost control over Neath Port Talbot council over a local schools controversy.

Plaid Cymru made significant gains in its heartlands, taking overall control for the first time in Anglesey, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire councils.

It also trebled its number of councillors in Wrexham - taking nine of the 56 seats there.

But Plaid Cymru lost nine councillors in Rhondda Cynon Taf, including the former council leader Pauline Jarman - in an authority where it had overall control 20 years ago.

Anglesey council's Plaid Cymru leader, Llinos Medi, saw the party gain five extra sets to take overall control of the authority.

She said the message for the party in the rest of Wales was to focus on candidate selection.

"We had 24 candidates who wanted to be councillors and they were all firm, firm candidates and varied from 27 years of age to 80 years of age," she said.

"We were the group of people that were able to represent our society, and we were then sending a positive message on the doorstep - and that's how we've done it."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
×