Councillor Thomas Jay has quit as leader of Tamworth Conservative Group and leader of the opposition. We understand that in a vote tonight he was replaced by previous leader Councillor Jeremy Oates who has served as leader more times than we can be bothered to count. At least Tamworth residents can be assured that the Tories are very much committed to recycling.
Jay, who took the leadership after a string of unfortunate events and losses in the last couple of years, actually seemed to be keeping things together for the Tories as a uniting force when Councillor Paul Turner stepped down after his short stint as leader. ‘TJ’ as he is known, has actually made it over a year which is a record for their group leaders in recent history. Now we cannot pretend we haven’t seen rumours, and some angry emails to the Mailbag asking why we’ve not published them. Clearly we would have if there had been any evidence to back them up and it was in the public interest, there simply wasn’t any and we didn’t think it appropriate. However if any part of them is true then it stands to reason that something has happened in Jay’s personal life to bring this on, given the cryptic ’my heart is not in it at the moment’ comment.
Crucially Jay has not quit the council so presumably remains as part of the Tory group, had he left it would have been yet another blow to them since Councillor Stephen Doyle stepped down recently. There remains for now just 7 of them holding the fort at Tamworth Borough Council. We do wonder if Councillor Jay’s heart is not in it whether he will remain at all on the Council come the new year. His performances at meetings haven’t actually disappointed, bringing facts figures and a long memory to the fight against Labour, and we do hope he keeps that up. His move to quit as group leader at Tamworth comes just months before he is due to re-stand as a County Councillor, making us wonder if he will carry that through. Our money and the rumour mill would suggest not.
We wonder of course whether Councillor Oates was unopposed in taking the group leader position given that the Tory group was split in half in terms of loyalties, the same split that caused Councillor Jay to have to vote for himself as leader with a tie breaking casting vote. Unless they filled It tonight (and we’ve heard nothing to suggest they have), It also leaves open the Deputy leader position now that Oates has taken back the leaders position wrenched from him in the May 2023 group coup. Oates has certainly got a mission on his hands to build a group back up from the ashes of what it once was, and many years before they will ever see control again in Tamworth. He has however at least got the political nous and battle hardened experience given everything that happened under his leadership to do so.
