THE CHAIRMAN of Pudsey Conservative Association has resigned from the Party after Boris Johnson’s election as Tory Leader.

Dr Jason Aldiss has issued a strongly worded criticism of Mr Johnson and "his band of power-hungry saboteurs".

In a letter to Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis, Dr Aldiss says: "I write to tender my resignation as Chairman of the Pudsey Conservative Association, together with my membership of the Party.

"I have loyally served our Party for almost a quarter of a century, holding countless offices at Area and Regional level. I joined in 1995 when we were on a downward spiral and volunteers were walking away. We went through some particularly bleak periods with the Party struggling to win votes - never mind seats - in Local and General Elections.

"Playing a part in wrestling control of Leeds City Council from Labour in 2004 was a high point. I took great pride in Stuart Andrew gaining the Pudsey Parliamentary seat in 2010, and holding on in 2015 and 2017. So too in winning all three Pudsey Ward seats for the Conservatives, with the last being captured in the 2019 Local Elections.

"However, my love for my country vastly supersedes my loyalty to my Party. I did not believe in Brexit and campaigned against it. The narrow decision in favour of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union was the wrong path to tread.

"Theresa May’s election as Conservative Leader and Prime Minister in 2016 gave me fresh hope of something short of a catastrophic outcome. She demonstrated remarkable courage, tenacity, dignity and grace under extreme fire – often from prominent Conservative Members of Parliament.

"These were the same individuals who hounded her from office before manoeuvring Boris Johnson into position to seize her job. Yesterday’s leadership election result, which saw more than two thirds of Party Members vote for Mr Johnson, confirmed that this is no longer the Party I joined in 1995

"The hardline Brexiteers in Conservative ranks, hellbent on a no-deal departure, claim to be patriots. I see nothing patriotic about willingly risking untold damage to our economy, to jobs and to our global standing for decades to come.

"They also claim to be Unionists but, through their actions, they have placed the future of the Union itself in grave peril. It may already be too late.

"The election of Boris Johnson as the new Prime Minister and self-styled Brexiteer-in-Chief is surely the final insult.

"Mr Johnson and his band of power-hungry saboteurs in the Parliamentary Party claim he is the only Conservative who can keep Jeremy Corbyn out of Downing Street. I wholeheartedly disagree.

"Mr Corbyn is indeed a danger to our country. He is also unelectable. I would say precisely the same about Mr Johnson.

"The country desperately needs a credible Conservative Prime Minister leading a functional Government in the interest of the entire United Kingdom. By electing Mr Johnson, the Party has effectively given up on Scotland, handed swathes of seats to the Liberal Democrats in the south of England and left moderate Tory voters in the north of England feeling disenfranchised.

"Unlike some very senior Conservatives who have buried their true feelings in the hope of preferment under Prime Minister Johnson, I can no longer defend this misguided, dysfunctional, disingenuous obliteration of years of hard work.

"I am left with no option but to resign."

Mr Johnson used his victory speech to promise that he would meet the October 31 Brexit deadline with a “new spirit of can-do”, releasing the country’s “guy ropes of self-doubt and negativity”.

He said it was an “extraordinary honour and privilege” and insisted that “we are going to unite this amazing country and we are going to take it forward”.

At the leadership announcement event in central London, Mr Johnson said: “We are going to get Brexit done on October 31, we are going to take advantage of all the opportunities that it will bring in a new spirit of can-do.

“And we are once again going to believe in ourselves and what we can achieve, and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self-doubt and negativity.”