Tory Chris Green's advice to Phil Brickell after losing his seat

Former Conservative MP Chris Green has said he hopes winning candidate Phil Brickell will be able to challenge his party’s leadership.

Mr Green lost his Bolton West seat to Labour’s Phil Brickell – gaining just 12,418 votes compared to Brickell’s 17,363 – with third place Dylan Evans – standing for Reform UK – gaining 8,517 votes.

Speaking to The Bolton News following his loss, Mr Green said: “It’s a pretty miserable morning, obviously any general election is a tough campaign.

“I, my team, the association – so many people have put so much into it. To get a result like that is really disappointing. We can just reflect on the national situation – we have that sense where the country is pretty miserable about a whole load of different things, and the Conservative Party during this time isn’t helping ourselves.”

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Asked what his next steps would be, Mr Green said: “Personally, I think need to get a normal job, I don’t know what it’ll be at the moment, though.”

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Mr Green said he would advise winning candidate Phil Brickell to speak up and challenge the Labour Party leadership.

“He has a huge mandate to represent the fantastic community right across Bolton West, he’s an intelligent guy – he will get to grips with all of the details that the constituency requires, he will get to grips with the work that Westminster requires.

“But one of the most challenging things, perhaps, and certainly something I have done in the past is being able to speak up and challenge your bosses in the party, speak up on behalf of your constituents above career and above the leadership down there.”

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Asked what he’d miss the most, Mr Green said: “One of the great things about being a Member of Parliament is, in a sense you are your own boss.

“Obviously, you work for your constituents and actually getting involved with the community, getting involved with so many different parts of the Bolton West constituency and then taking those issues up down in Westminster, it’s an enormous privilege to have that access into people’s lives, but it’s also incredibly rewarding when we can actually make that difference.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.