Fight over party control

Colin Craig. Photo / Nick Reed

Last week's battles in the Conservative Party are over as the board resigned one by one.

Now it's war: war about which group of members is the legitimate executive body of the party and, importantly, who gets control of the membership database.

Founder and former leader Colin Craig began the domino of resignations in the wake of questions about his relationship with his former press secretary Rachel MacGregor - which he has said was inappropriate at times but not sexual. According to him, he is still a member and still has leadership hopes.

But Mr Craig received an email yesterday at 4.45pm formally telling him his membership of the party had been suspended on Saturday by the new interim board of the party, headed by acting interim chairman John Stringer.

Mr Craig says Mr Stringer's membership was suspended on Thursday by a duly constituted meeting of the board headed by then-board chairman Brian Dobbs and therefore any meeting he held on Saturday was unconstitutional.

Mr Craig says the remaining office-holders of the party - the party secretary Nathaniel Heslop, membership manager Angela Storr and administration manager Kevin Stitt - are responsible for the membership database and would likely begin a process to elect a new board by postal ballot - which could then go about getting a new leader.

Mr Craig said he would not stand for the board "but that doesn't mean I can't be co-opted or appointed leader down the track". Audrey Young