Johnson absent from Tory by-election flyers
Candidates are focusing on local issues amid claims that Conservative brand has become toxic under PM
BORIS JOHNSON has been “airbrushed” from the Conservatives’ byelection campaign literature, it has been claimed, as it emerged that leaflets and online advertisements in seats being defended by the Tories make no mention of the Prime Minister.
A six-page pamphlet distributed by Helen Hurford, the Tory candidate in Tiverton and Honiton, fails to mention the Conservative Party until the fourth page and makes no references to Mr Johnson. Another pamphlet distributed by Nadeem Ahmed, the party’s candidate in Wakefield, also includes no references or photographs of the Prime Minister. Separately, Tory MPs warned that activists in other Conservative-held seats were refusing to campaign for the party due to disaffection with its leadership.
Half a dozen Facebook advertisements disseminated by Ms Hurford make no mention of the Conservatives or the PM, beyond the brief official notice declaring the Tories as the source of funding.
In others, the party’s name appears briefly on the screen at the beginning and end of video clips in which Ms Hurford focused entirely on local issues ahead of this week’s by-election.
Asked by The Sunday Telegraph whether she identified as a Boris Johnson Conservative, Ms Hurford said: “I’m a Helen Hurford Conservative and I will do what’s right when it’s right.”
Facebook advertisements issued by the Conservatives in Wakefield, where the party faces another by-election on Thursday, focus on attacking the Labour candidate for not being a local resident, rather than Tory policies.
The downplaying of Ms Hurford’s Conservative credentials prompted claims by opposition parties that the party’s brand had become electorally “toxic” under Mr Johnson’s leadership.
One backbencher said: “I have had branch chairmen quit and newsletter deliverers refuse to come out. People have also told me they’re not going to host fundraising events.”
A minister added: “People are not wild at the moment about knocking doors and delivering leaflets. I suspect we are losing members. They are very disillusioned.” A third Conservative MP said: “Many people connected to my campaign were very concerned about the events in Downing Street and the Sue Gray report. People who have delivered leaflets or donated have stepped back or said they are not prepared to deliver or donate under the current regime.”
Since the Conservatives came to power in 2010, parliamentary candidates have generally flaunted photographs of themselves with the prime minister of the day, starting with David Cameron. However, campaign literature from both Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield contains no such images.
In Tiverton, the Lib Dems, who are mounting a bid to overturn the 24,239 enjoyed by Neil Parish, the Conservative MP who resigned after watching pornography in the Commons, have used pictures of Mr Johnson on their leaflets – hoping that disaffection with the Government will work in their favour.
In an interview for a Telegraph documentary on the by-elections, Ms Hurford said her brand of Conservatism involved not “telling anybody what to do, and how to spend their money.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “There are a range of registered party descriptions for candidates to choose from which do not require sign off from CCHQ. ‘Local Conservatives’ has been used and registered for ballot papers since 2007, when electoral law in this area changed.”