David Pugh, the Chairman of the Isle of Wight Conservative Association, has announced that when he steps down from the role later this year, as his five-year term comes to an end, it’ll mark a conscious decision for the “end of any active involvement”.
News OnTheWight spoke with David this week about his Chairmanship term coming to an end. The fact that a lot of his work takes place on the Mainland has been the principal reason for his decision as, “something has to give and stepping back is the right thing to do”.
Pugh: I don’t want to be tribally tied to one side of the political spectrum
David explained,
“Whilst I remain a supporter of the Conservative Party and will vote for them in future elections, as I work around the country, I enjoy working with and meeting people of different political persuasions who are trying to achieve good things for their community.
“Part of my overall approach moving forward is that I don’t want to be tribally tied to one side of the political spectrum so obviously.”
He added that in his view, the vast majority of people in politics want to achieve good things, but that they have different ways of approaching it.
Johnson and Truss damaged trust in politics
Asked what he thought had changed politically over the five years he’s been Chairman of the Isle of Wight Conservative Association (IWCA), David replied,
“It’s been a very tumultuous time, I don’t think the prospects for my party have been helped by having two Prime Ministers, neither of whom I voted for, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, who along the way have caused a lot of damage to trust in politics, but also the Conservative Party.”
Pugh: Yet to see the benefits of Brexit coming through
David added that he was a lot happier with the current Prime Minister, who he believes has made some great strides forward.
Speaking on Brexit, which he said he didn’t vote for, David told News OnTheWight that he’d “yet to see the benefits of it coming through”.
The IWCA Chairman acknowledged that it was an issue that divided the country but that “thankfully with the Windsor Framework, we’ve seen some consensus coming together across the political spectrum”.
A changing Party?
Asked whether he believed the Conservative Party had moved further to the right, David told News OnTheWight,
“I’m not always convinced that some of our rhetoric on certain issues I’m naturally comfortable with. Some of the rhetoric in relation to small boats, Rwanda, and issues like that, I think we need to choose our words carefully when dealing with such emotive issues and should not be using terminology like ‘invasion’ and things like that which are very provocative and not good for community relations.”
MP’s agent
David’s role as the MP’s agent is tied to being Chairman of the Isle of Wight Conservative Association, so he won’t be Bob Seely’s agent at the next General Election.
David did say that he might dip back into local politics to help certain council candidates, as he has done in the past with Chris Quirk and Michael Beston in Shanklin, when they beat off Richard Priest and Jon Gilbey in the 2017 elections.
Chairman
David’s term runs until July and although the two current deputy chairmen are Ed Hopper (Fishbourne parish councillor) and Warren Whyte (owner of motoring nostalgia shop in Freshwater, architect and Conservative councillor in Buckingham), candidates for the Chairman’s role have yet to be announced, although David said,
“Quite often someone can come forward straight from the wider membership.”
Background
Elected in May 2005 as an Isle of Wight councillor for Shanklin, David Pugh had previously worked at Conservative central office in Westminster.
In 2007, at the tender age of 26, David became the youngest council leader in the country and remained in that role until 2013, when he lost his Shanklin seat to Richard Priest.
Remained in local politics
Although his consultancy work takes him off the Island each week, David had remained involved with local politics in the last ten years.
Five years ago he became Chairman of the IW Conservative Association and in the last two General Elections he acted as agent for IW MP, Bob Seely, as well as being campaign manager for Island Conservatives hoping to win seats in the council elections.
Image: © With kind permission of Allan Marsh
