Tory council leader gets 'Thatcher' dressing down

A Conservative councillor in a Margaret Thatcher dress has called the record of the Tory leader of Suffolk County Council "pathetic".

Sam Murray, who sits on the county council as an Independent, but on Ipswich Borough Council as a Conservative, made the comments to Matthew Hicks at a full county council meeting.

"Your legacy, when you are defeated in May, will be for cancelling any form of support for Ipswich, abandoning SEND services [special educational needs and disabilities] and cocking up the fire service," said Murray, who is still a Conservative party member.

Asked by the BBC for a response, Hicks said: "Sam Murray is clearly disgruntled and her comments aren't worth commenting on."

Murray was suspended from the Conservative group at the county council in 2024 after comments calling for resignations over a report, by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, that said the council's SEND service had "not worked well for a long time".

Murray has been deselected as Tory candidate for her Whitton & Whitehouse seat at the county council and for her Castle Hill seat on the borough council ahead of the local elections on Thursday, 7 May.

The full county council meeting on Thursday was the last one before those elections.

In a debate on a motion, proposed by the leadership, about the success of the current administration, Murray was cautioned by the chairman of the meeting not to turn her speech into a personal attack.

Murray said: "I cannot vote in favour of this because of the section that talks about finding a solution to the challenges in Ipswich and on the A14 when the Orwell Bridge closes.

"We all know what the solution is, and that's the northern bypass. We just need, hopefully in the next election, a leader with the balls to deliver that."

She went on to criticise Hicks's record on SEND saying it was the "elephant in the room" and then confronted him on why she was now sitting as an Independent when she is a member of the Conservative party.

She said: "Why am I sitting here? Matthew, you can grin all you want. I'm sitting here because you didn't like to be challenged.

"You mentioned Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher liked people in her party that challenged her, because accepting challenge and accepting stories of real life made them a better leader.

"This is pathetic if this is your legacy."

Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK between 1979 and 1990, leading the Conservatives to three general election victories.

The motion, proposed by Hicks, began: "This council has huge pride in the county of Suffolk. Over the past five years we have fought for and achieved a great deal for our county".

He cited:

• building the Gull Wing Bridge in Lowestoft
• the council's response to the Covid-19 pandemic
• the "robust opposition" to solar farms and "huge energy transmission projects"
• significant savings made through transforming its services

He said the Conservative administration had "delivered far beyond its manifesto commitments of 2021", when the last county council elections were held.

The motion was passed with 39 votes in favour, eight against and seven abstentions.

Hicks, who has been council leader since 2018, did not address Murray's speech in the council chamber and when asked for comment by the BBC he declined to comment further.

The main opposition group at the county council is made up of the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Independents.

Andrew Stringer, Green leader of the opposition group, told the BBC: "Clearly there is work to be done to turn Suffolk County Council around.

"It is noteworthy that almost 10% of Conservative councillors elected in 2021 have left the Conservative group.

"It appears the old 'one nation' Conservative party is over."

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