Three Conservative members of Hounslow LBC have announced they will quit the party within a week, effectively halving the party’s representation at the council.
Cllr Rebecca Stewart and Cllr Beverly Williams left last week, citing problems with the way the local association was run and a lack of support from officers within the Conservative Group, rather than the party itself.
The councillors, a mother and daughter who represent Harnworth Park, are set to announce whether they will join another party or follow in the wake of Allan Wilson, a Conservative councillor, who last November left the group to become an independent councillor.
News of their decision follows hot on the trail of Cllr Colin Botterill’s notice, given the previous week, that he had quit the Conservative group and defected to UKIP, becoming the party’s first councillor in Hounslow.
Cllr Botterill said there were many problems within the Conservative party, which he said was causing embarrassment over national issues and was wracked with in-fighting locally.
He said he had received more support from UKIP in the week following his defection than he had ever garnered from the Conservative party.
News of the Hounslow defection follows similar events in Merton LBC where two Conservative members left the party to join UKIP.
