Former Peterborough council leader Wayne Fitzgerald hits back at ex Conservative colleague John Holdich

The leader of the Conservative party on Peterborough City Council has hit back at his predecessor after he said he would be backing a Peterborough First candidate at the local elections.The war of words between two former council leaders – current Tory leader Wayne Fitzgerald, and John Holdich, who retired from the council in 2024 – has come just a couple of weeks before the vote on May 2.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Service, John Holdich spoke about the number of Conservative councillors who had defected to Peterborough First in the past year, saying: “I don’t believe any of this would happen under my leadership.

“I never put the whip on once in the years I was leader. We always talked stuff through and came out with a sensible solution. Most of the other parties either abstained or followed me.”

He added: “I’ve not been a member of the Conservative party for nearly three years because I don’t like what’s been going on locally. I’m still a Tory at heart and I support Rishi Sunak.”

He said in the elections, he would be supporting Peterborough First candidate, Neil Boyce, who is standing in Mr Holdich’s former ward of Glinton and Castor.

In response, in a post on Facebook, cllr Fitzgerald said: “Following his leadership stint and at the point I took the reins I inherited a council facing immediate government intervention and a 27 million budget deficit and many other problems that needed tackling."

He added: “Not that I consider myself perfect but in my two and a half years at the helm as the council leader we managed to plot a new course and bring things back on track particularly in financial terms. This of course upset a few people as difficult decisions had to be made which Holdich and others in my view had dodged for years. To say nobody would have left the group if he was in charge is also nonsense as there are many that would have wanted to but would have stayed on regardless to support colleagues. For the record I too have never had to impose a whip either - consensus has been and remains the way in our group.”