Paul Spooner Elected As New Tory Group Leader

Published on: 11 Nov, 2015
Updated on: 13 Nov, 2015

Cllr Paul Spooner the new Conservative group leader.

As expected, Cllr Paul Spooner (Ash South & Tongham) was elected as the new Conservative group leader at Guildford Borough Council (GBC) this evening and Cllr Matt Furniss (Christchurch) his deputy.

Normally, as the leader of the largest political group at GBC, Paul Spooner is expected to be elected unopposed at the next full council meeting in December.

He said this evening that he is making no statements on the leadership until that time.

It is not known whether Matt Furniss will also be the deputy council leader. Paul Spooner was the previous deputy group leader but neither he nor his predecessor Monika Juneja were deputy council leaders.

Cllr Matt Furniss the new deputy leader of the Conservative group.

The only other candidate for the leadership was Cllr Dennis Paul (Holy Trinity) but few if any thought he had a realistic chance. The election of the deputy leader was also contested but the group have not revealed who stood against Cllr Furniss.

Cllr Nigel Manning (Ash Vale) will remain as acting council leader until December. It is considered likely that he will also stand for his previous position as deputy council leader but this has not been confirmed.

The Tory group election was held in the wake of the sudden resignation last month of the previous council leader Stephen Mansbridge a former ward colleague of Paul Spooner’s in Ash South and Tongham where a by-election will be held in December.

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