Gordon Jackson, Deputy Leader Of GBC Tories, Quits Party Over No-Deal Brexit Stance

Published on: 16 Sep, 2019
Updated on: 17 Sep, 2019

Gordon Jackson in 2016 when he was Mayor of Guildford

By Martin Giles

The backlash from Brexit reached Guildford Borough Council this evening (September 16), with Cllr Gordon Jackson resigning from the Conservative Party.

Cllr Jackson, who represents the true-blue ward of Pirbright, had served at Millmead for nine years. In the May council election, he secured 67% of the vote.

A likely main factor in his decision appears to be the party expulsion of Guildford MP Anne Milton along with 20 other Tories who voted against the government over a no-deal Brexit.

Gordon Jackson’s Pirbright election result in May 2019 – Image GBC

Cllr Jackson, deputy group leader on the council and a former mayor, had strong Remainer views. He was among those who gathered at the Guildhall in a protest over the proroguing of Parliament, organised by the Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate Zoe Franklin.

Gordon Jackson (hand in pocket) with other prorogue protestors at the Guildhall in August. Photo Mandy Millyard

Bob Hughes, chairman of the Guildford Conservative Association, said this evening: “Gordon Jackson is a hard-working, insightful councillor and was an excellent mayor of the borough.

Bob Hughes

“His resignation as a Conservative is a great loss to the party, but all political parties have differing views about Europe and he has followed his convictions. He is a Conservative through and through and I hope we can welcome him back when the Brexit traumas are behind us.”

The Woking Conservative Association website says Cllr Jackson “has lived in Pirbright for more than 30 years and is married with three children. Before retiring in 2009, he was a senior partner and former managing partner of a large City of London law firm, specialising in corporate law”.

Cllr Jackson’s resignation leaves the Conservative Group at GBC with just eight members out of 48, reducing by one their lowest standing since the council was created in its present form in 1974.

He is now expected to sit as an Independent but will not join other former Tory councillors, Tony Rooth and Bob McShee who are members of the new Residents for Guildford and Villages Party.

Responses to Gordon Jackson, Deputy Leader Of GBC Tories, Quits Party Over No-Deal Brexit Stance

Jim Allen Reply

September 17, 2019 at 1:28 am

Someone needs to get with the programme. The one 17.4 million voted for.
- Mike Gibson Reply
  
  September 17, 2019 at 5:25 pm
  
  Yes, 17.4 million from a population of 67.5 million.
  - John Perkins Reply
    
    September 18, 2019 at 3:09 pm
    
    Cllr Jackson is the rightful representative of his ward having received more votes than the other candidates. About 10% of the population of Pirbright supported him.
    
    The ONS estimated the UK population in 2016 at 65.6 million.
    
    Editor’s note: Turnout in Pirbright in the 2019 borough council election was 29.31% (source GBC website).
Stuart Barnes Reply

September 17, 2019 at 8:51 am

Good.
Adam Aaronson Reply

September 17, 2019 at 9:52 am

Well done Gordon Jackson.

Bob Hughes’s, “I hope we can welcome him back when the Brexit traumas are behind us,” rather misses the point.

The divisions that Brexit has caused throughout the country are unlikely to be healed by Boris Johnson’s platitudes.
David Wragg Reply

September 17, 2019 at 2:01 pm

I am afraid Mr Aaronson ia right – the wounds are likely to take at least a generation to heal. That said, too many are hiding behind their so-called support for ‘democracy’, seemingly forgetting what the majority voted for.
John Perkins Reply

September 17, 2019 at 4:57 pm

Hold

If one accepts the law regarding committee seat allocation as it was applied last July by GBC, there is no explicit entitlement for a non-grouped councillor to committee seats. At the time, former borough councillor Matt Furniss described their interpretation of the law as “strict”. The effect is that the Conservative group are now over-represented and there must be another committee reallocation.

The seats may be legitimately allocated to the non-grouped member anyway, as the council is free to allocate them itself, although not to any other group, as was effectively done last year. However, to be consistent with the previous legal interpretation the vote must be subject to veto by any member.

Perhaps at the same time as correcting the seat allocation, the council might address the over-representation of the Conservative Group in the chairmanship of committees.
- Anna-Marie Davis Reply
  
  September 18, 2019 at 11:41 am
  
  I agree entirely with John Perkins’ comment. Furthermore, prior to this resignation, each and every committee had a majority of Conservatives and Lib Dems over Independents, even though the Tories were annihilated at the election.
  
  Because of this, if the Tories and Lib Dems choose to vote against the independent parties, they will win in each and every committee. I and many others in the town refer to this as the unspoken Tory/Lib Dem pact, and I predict it will serve neither party well. Whatever they may say in defence of this, I can assure you that these things do not happen by accident.
  - George Potter Reply
    
    September 19, 2019 at 11:19 am
    
    I’m afraid this really is utter nonsense.
    
    All committees are balanced which means that there are multiple combinations which can outvote other combinations. For instance, on any committee, the Tories and R4GV can outvote the Lib Dems just as the Lib Dems, Labour and GGG could outvote R4GV.
    
    However, there definitely isn’t an unspoken pact between any of the parties on the committees as it would be obvious to anyone who bothers to watch the voting.
    
    And I do have to ask, if there is a Lib Dem/ Tory pact then how come R4GV and the Tories collaborated to elect a pro-development Tory chair of the Planning Committee over an experienced Lib Dem councillor who’d been outspoken against the Local Plan?
    
    George Potter is the Lib Dem borough councillor for Burpham
Keith Childs Reply

September 18, 2019 at 2:56 pm

I applaud Cllr Gordon Jackson’s action in resigning from the Conservative Party. Further, I deplore the manner in which the present government is trying to take us down a path to the national detriment. Our future depends on countries working together rather than working for their own, blind national gain.

I particularly welcome Cllr Jackson’s comments on the irrelevance of party politics in local government, a belief I have long held.
Gerald Bland Reply

September 18, 2019 at 6:20 pm

It’s plain this Tory Government is intent on seeking re-election only after Brexit has been achieved, whether by fair means or foul.

The decision to leave by 31st October on any terms or none at all will not be based on what is in the country’s best interest but on what a narrow faction of the Tory party believe will get them re-elected.

I applaud the stance taken by Anne Milton and Gordon Jackson and have little doubt there will be more resignations which the early reinstatement of Anne Milton may go some way to dispel.
- Christopher Jay Reply
  
  September 19, 2019 at 9:16 am
  
  Unless Anne Milton agrees to toe the party line she is hardly likely to be allowed to regain the party whip and to stand as the Conservative candidate in Guildford again.
  
  The prime minister was recently elected by a very large majority of the Conservative party membership having initially been supported by a majority of the parliamentary Tory party. The prime minister’s resolve to leave the EU by 31st October with the best deal possible or, in default of an agreement, without a deal, reflects the views of those who voted for him. His decision to leave the EU at the end of next month is therefore hardly the view of a narrow faction of the Tory party.