Macclesfield: Sutton councillor quits Conservatives shortly before Sunak and Javid resignations
By Alex Greensmith
6th Jul 2022 | Local News
A councillor from a Macclesfield village has quit the Conservatives, calling Boris Johnson 'not fit to govern'.
Councillor Andrew Gregory, who was elected in May 2019, also confirmed he would not stand for re-election next year as an Independent.
The solicitor by trade, who is also a governor at Macclesfield's King's School, has resigned from the Conservatives with immediate effect.
His announcement came to Macclesfield Nub News just days before Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid announced their government resignations - and triggered a slew of resignations - from Boris Johnson's cabinet.
Mr Gregory sent the following statement to Macclesfield Nub News:
"I was elected as a local councillor with Cheshire East for the Sutton ward in May 2019," he said.
"I received support from a number of the members of the local Macclesfield Conservative party and in particular from a former local councillor who has continued to provide continued support to me in the role since the election. I wish to place on record my thanks for their work in helping me to be elected as a councillor and for their support during the past three years.
"I am also a solicitor working with a firm in Manchester City centre. For me upholding the highest possible standards in public office and the rule of law are especially important.
"In September 2020, the Government led by the Prime Minister used what in my view was an entirely unconstitutional and unlawful process to prorogue parliament.
"I was disgusted by the attempt to defeat the ability of elected members to debate the manner in which the UK exited the European Union. The highest court in the land, the Supreme Court subsequently held that the actions of Boris Johnson and his Government were unlawful.
"At the time, I wrote to the leader of the Cheshire Conservative group, Janet Clowes to express my displeasure at the conduct of the Government at national level. I indicated that I was minded to resign from the group at this stage.
"After discussions, I agreed to stay as a member of the group but keeping my head down as it were and keeping a low profile in the interests of not creating any difficulty for the group.
"As we all aware in the March of 2020, Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown due to the Covid outbreak. I am conscious that the Enquiry into the manner in which the challenges created by the virus has yet to commence its work, but I have to register now and will continue to do so the profound concern that I and so many of my relatives and friends felt at the transfer of so many elderly people from hospital into care homes which in many cases were not properly equipped to protect residents from the disease.
"We now know that during this time, when so many people, my friends and family included were abiding by the law in not meeting up, those in Downing Street appeared to be content to flout the regulations. As the details of Partygate unfolded, I became increasingly unhappy and concerned at the conduct of some of those leading our country.
"I waited to see what the findings of the Sue Gray report revealed and, on its publication, expected that Boris Johnson would do the right thing and resign as Prime Minister. But no, he sought to remain in office and sadly a majority of his own MPS could not bring themselves to unseat him.
"The final straw for me came a couple of weeks ago, when on the European Court of Justice finding that the UK government was in breach of the EU Convention on Human Rights, the Government criticised my profession for acting for the refugees who were due to be flown out to Rwanda. What ever the rights and wrongs of the decision to send refugees to Rwanda, those lawyers acting for the refugees were acting in accordance with the law and doing their job and nothing more.
"The fact that this Government sought to criticise the lawyers demonstrates to me the apparent disregard this Government appears to have for the rule of law.
"Once a government starts to disregard the law of the land, history tells us that it is a short step towards infringement of many of the things that we have worked for to make our country a good place to live and work.
"In view of these developments, I wrote to Janet Clowes on the 27th of June to inform her of my intention to resign from the group and formally confirmed the position to her and the council on the 1st of July.
"I felt that I could no longer be associated with a party whose Prime Minister and his supporters appeared to condone frequent breaches of the Covid regulations, be content to override due legal process and rather than face up to the mistakes made, seemed to prefer to try and move on and brush matters of very serious concern aside.
"Too many people lost so much during the past two years; loved ones, friends, their jobs, in many cases people experiencing prolonged periods of loneliness. In the case of young people, as a friend observed recently, people in their twenties lost 10% of their youth during lockdown.
"Sometimes in life you have to make a stand for what you feel is right. My resignation from the East Cheshire Conservative Group is my own small way of making my stand.
"Boris Johnson you are not fit to govern our country and you should stand down as Prime Minster immediately.
"I have joined the Independent Group of councillors to ensure that I can continue to serve the interests of the residents of Cheshire East until May 2023 when I will not be seeking re-election as the ward member for the Sutton ward of Cheshire East."
Mr Gregory is the second Conservative Cheshire East Councillor to quit the party this year.
Gregory now will sit with the Independent Group, which contains Macclesfield councillors such as Macclesfield East's Cllr Mick Warren and Tytherington's Cllr David Edwardes.
The Independent Group is lead by Cllr Craig Browne. The Alderley Edge representative told Macclesfield Nub News the following:
"I know Cllr Gregory to be an experienced lawyer, excellent community advocate and thoroughly decent person," he said.
"I'm delighted to say that his application to join the Independent Group was approved unanimously by our members and we look forward to working with him as a fellow independent at Cheshire East Council.
"At a time when people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the tired old politics of left or right, red or blue, Labour or Conservative, more and more people are looking to independents to provide hardworking, honest representation and to put local issues before tribal party interest. It gives me great pleasure to welcome Andrew to the Independent Group."
Cheshire East Conservatives - Mr Gregory's former grouping - have been approached for comment.
Macclesfield's Conservative MP David Rutley and Macclesfield Conservative Association have also both been approached for comment.
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