Wayne Fitzgerald: Conservative leader says his group is 'fully behind me and always has been' ahead of local elections

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) Conservative leader says his group is “fully behind me and always has been”.

“The group has full confidence in me,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), in the run up to May’s local elections.

“If anything, it might be me that says, actually, I’m going to step down because I need to do other things,” he added.

Any possible change in leadership would come after the local elections on 2nd May; as will the appointment of Peterborough’s new mayor and deputy mayor.

Former council leader Cllr Marco Cereste (Conservatives, Hampton Vale) is expected to take over as mayor from Cllr Nick Sandford (Liberal Democrats, Paston and Walton), while Cllr Fitzgerald is expected to be his deputy.

This is among the “other things” that could keep Cllr Fitzgerald busy, although it isn’t as time consuming as being mayor, which entails chairing council meetings, raising money for charity, attending civic events and carrying out engagement work with local communities.

Cllr Fitzgerald has proven a polarising figure, if not among his current group – then at least among the group he began the last electoral cycle with.

Seven of them resigned last year before joining the Peterborough First group which then removed him as leader of the council through a vote of no confidence.

Members of other parties have also criticised remarks he’s made at council meetings, most recently at one in which they voted in favour of taking away his right to speak.

Cllr Fitzgerald had said Cllr Shabina Qayyum (Labour, East) “just loves the limelight” after she raised a point of accuracy while he was speaking; she described the remark as “derogatory”.

Cllr Fitzgerald 'very well thought of'

But the Conservative leader says he’s “very well thought of” elsewhere and that his party’s performance in the upcoming elections won’t just be down to him.

“We’ve clearly been campaigning and what more can you do? It’s not down to one individual,” he said.

“If you got the job I’ve got now and did nothing, you might expect at a party level that they’d give the job to someone else,” he continued.

“In terms of the [Conservative] group members and the way the council’s been run, I’m very well thought of in government circles and locally.”

Cllr Fitzgerald says that, post-elections, he will “work with anybody and everybody” to achieve the group’s aspiration to “see the city grow and improve” – with the exception of current council leader Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted) and some of his group.

“Who I can’t work with is the seven former colleagues until they’re legitimately elected,” he said.

All were, of course, legitimately elected as Conservatives, but Cllr Fitzgerald has called for them to hold by-elections in their wards now they’re under the Peterborough First banner.

Peterborough First could remain in control of the council after May, particularly if it teams up with Labour, which is the second largest party behind the Conservatives.

A return of Conservative rule is possible, but Cllr Fitzgerald himself has said it remains unlikely, at least by forming a majority.

“I always remain optimistic, but I’m also a realist,” he said, “in that the national picture doesn’t bode well for me or any political party for that matter”.

“The public are totally hacked off with politicians and voting.

“In terms of where we stand, we face the biggest challenge as the Conservative group this year as we’re defending more seats than anybody else. That presents challenges in terms of manpower to defend all those seats.”

The Conservatives are defending 18 seats while Labour is defending two, the Lib Dems one and there is one up for election currently held by an independent.

Votes will be cast in 22 wards in Peterborough on 2nd May.