Yahoo News North Tyneside Tories criticised for 'false' social media photo showing ex-members
The North Tyneside Conservatives have come under fire for using a “false” photograph on social media.
The local Tory Federation has come under scrutiny recently, for using an old photograph depicting several people who are no longer members of the party, some of whom even resigned. The accounts have also promoted the Conservative candidate for Tynemouth for the upcoming General Election, Coun Lewis Bartoli.
The photo depicts ex-Tory councillors Pam MacIntyre, Judith Wallace and former local Tory group leaders George Westwater and Sean Brockbank, alongside their former Conservative colleagues. MacIntyre, Wallace, and Westwater resigned from the party in February 2022, denouncing the Federation as a hotbed of “sustained bullying” and “toxic behaviour”.
The Federation denied the allegations. George Westwater even stood as a Labour candidate for St Mary’s in this year’s local election in May after having been deselected.
Sean Brockbank also resigned from the party in November 2022, only weeks after being selected as the Conservative candidate for St Mary’s, claiming the party was not “going in a direction” he could support following Rishi Sunak’s replacement of Liz Truss as Prime Minister.
The now-independent councillor for St Mary’s, Judith Wallace said: “Several people in that photograph have nothing to do with the local party at all. I think the local Conservatives are desperate, disingenuous or deceitful to use such an image. It is far from accurate.
“I think it does demonstrate that they cannot muster enough members and volunteers for a photograph for the General Election. It is only four to five weeks since the local elections and during that campaign, the Conservatives were very critical of me, Pam and George, so why would they use this image?
“It is purporting to show North Tyneside Conservatives and it is false.”
Ex-councillor Pam McIntyre added: “Do they not have enough supporters and members for a new photograph?”
Coun Wallace also stated that some other figures in the photo were not part of the North Tyneside Conservatives but from Tory organisations from elsewhere. The photo also features Ian Levy and Guy Opperman, both Conservative MPs in Northumberland.
A spokesperson for the North Tyneside Conservatives said: “Our councillors have been busy working hard for residents across the borough and hadn't noticed an old photograph was still being used. This has now been updated."
