WITH the BCP Council leader election due on Thursday, I’m reminded of the fate of recent local Conservative council leaders. They seldom lasted very long. Almost all were ousted from post by their fellow Conservatives. Over the BCP area, I count seven toppled leaders in less than a decade.

Council leaders MacLoughlin, Charon and Beesley in Bournemouth, Nottage and Flagg in Christchurch and Atkinson in Poole while BCP Conservative group leader Cllr Lawton was toppled this February.

Potential challenges in Poole led Cllr Walton, Poole’s last Conservative council leader, to change the constitution to prevent further challenges before 2019. She became interim BCP council leader, but lost her council seat in the 2019 elections.

Now today’s Conservative group leader Cllr Mellor rushes into a council leadership election. Yet he heads a group that has been toppling leaders faster than even the Roman Empire managed. He seeks to replace the Unity Alliance with a Conservative group that’s surely a disunity alliance.

So is Cllr Mellor up to the challenge? Can he maintain a minority administration with this fractious bunch? I see no track record of diplomacy in council.

What is it they say? Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!

MARTIN RODGER

Bloxworth Road, Parkstone