Cops throw out Tory declare after ‘losing police time’ to keep away from election defeat

Police have thrown out a complaint from a Tory MP who was accused of wasting officers’ time in a bid to prevent an embarrassing election defeat.

Labour’s Richard Parker defeated Conservative Andy Street in Thursday’s West Midlands mayoral election by 1,508 votes. It capped off a dreadful weekend of local election defeats for Rishi Sunak ’s party.

But earlier in the week, Birmingham Northfield MP Gary Sambrook wrote to his local Chief Constable, claiming Mr Parker had made a “false statement” on his nomination form and tried to “hoodwink” voters. Police today confirmed to the Mirror that this was not the case, and that there was “no criminal offence to investigate.”

The Conservative Party refused to comment.

Labour MP Jess Phillips said: “Well, they have confirmed what we always knew – Gary Sambrook wasted police time for political gain. But where did it get them? Richard Parker is the Mayor and the Conservatives have once again eroded trust in politics. People are tired of the chaos and the lies. We need change and we need a general election now.”

To be eligible to stand in the election, candidates were required to either be registered to vote in the area, to have lived or worked in the area or to have occupied property in the area for a year. They only had to fulfil one of the criteria – it doesn’t matter which one.

Mr Parker has lived and worked in the area for 40 years and is registered to vote there. His business, RP Strategy has been based in Solihull since June 2022 – which alone makes him eligible – and has worked with clients in the West Midlands since 2017.

While he only moved into his current flat in Birmingham city centre recently, he’s still a registered voter whose company has been based the West Midlands for years. In a letter to the local Chief Constable, Mr Sambrook accused Mr Parker of making a “false statement” on the form by listing his Birmingham flat as his address, rather than a house in Worcestershire he’s owned since 2005.

But that would only be the case if he relied on residency to be eligible to stand, which he doesn’t. Andy Street’s defeat in Thursday’s election, declared on Saturday night, capped off a weekend of dreadful results for the Tories. Labour had picked up around 200 seats, while the Tories lost almost half of the 1,000 seats they were defending. And Labour made an almost clean sweep of mayoral elections, holding or winning every region with the exception of Tees Valley.

The apparently unstoppable red wave prompted more speculation about Mr Sunak’s future, as Tory MPs looked ahead to almost certain defeat in the next General Election. Nationally, Labour held on to a 16 point lead over the Tories in a survey from pollsters Opinium. The same poll showed Mr Sunak’s personal approval rating had plummeted by six points in the last month – to minus 40%. Mr Starmer’s rating was 30 points ahead on minus 9%.