Tory West Midlands Mayor Andy Street scrubbed all references to the Conservative Party from his website, an investigation has revealed.
Archived copies of Street’s website show he removed all reference to the Conservative Party after November 2023, as the Tory brand continued to tank under Rishi Sunak ’s leadership.
Mr Street had been on the verge of quitting the party just weeks earlier, after Rishi Sunak scrapped the planned HS2 link between Birmingham and Manchester.
A Labour source said: “Andy Street is desperately trying to distance himself from toxic Tory failure to save his mayoral bid, but he can’t outrun their catastrophic legacy across the country, or his own in the West Midlands.”
In a recent interview with The Times Street said: “I’m very proud to have been a Conservative for 40 years. That in no way is ever disguised.”
But today he told the Politics Home website he was fighting the election on May 2 as an “individual leader.”
He said: “I've been a member of the Conservative Party for decades, and proud of the Conservative Party over the years. But this is not about party politics, this is about choosing an individual leader."
The Labour source added: “This government is presiding over the biggest decline in living standards since the Second World War and, on Andy Street’s watch, more than two in five children are growing up in poverty in the West Midlands.
“[Labour candidate] Richard Parker is proud to represent a changed Labour Party – a political party that will serve the whole of the West Midlands with pride. Andy Street is running scared of his.”
A spokesperson for Mr Street’s campaign said: “Since he first decided, back in 2016, to stand for Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy has always approached campaigning and branding in his own way.
“That is because he has always recognised that electing a metro mayor isn’t about party politics, it’s about providing leadership and bringing people together.”