Beck Vale, Dickleburgh and Scole councillor Clayton Hudson quits party, branding South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon as 'useless'

A former Conservative association chairman has quit his party with an extraordinary attack on his local MP.

Clayton Hudson, who represents Beck Vale, Dickleburgh and Scole on South Norfolk Council, resigned from the Conservative Party earlier this week, and is now an Independent.

In doing so, he criticised Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, branding him “useless” and promising to campaign against him being re-elected.

In his resignation letter, Mr Clayton said: “I have concluded I don’t want to be a member of the nasty and dishonest party that the Conservatives have become.

“I don’t want to be in a party with Boris Johnson, Nadine Dorries, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Richard Bacon, my own MP.

“To that end, I want to become active locally in ending this disgraceful government and our useless MP.”

Mr Hudson criticised Mr Bacon for supporting the Prime Minister after he received a fine for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, and argued he had achieved nothing in 21 years in Parliament.

Speaking after handing in his Conservative Party resignation, Mr Hudson said he could not have brought himself to “go and bang the drum” in support of Mr Bacon at the next election and now wished to actively campaign against him.

In response, Mr Bacon said he was “not interested” in Mr Hudson.

“He has regularly attacked the Conservatives, he attacked the leader of South Norfolk Council, John Fuller, he attacked the PM and he has attacked me,” he said.

“I don’t want to dignify Mr Hudson with a response.”

It is not the first time Mr Bacon has faced criticisms over his constituency duties.

Last year, a small number of posters were placed around his South Norfolk constituency, accusing him of adopting a low profile and declaring him as “missing”.

In January, Mr Bacon insisted he was “doing his best to make himself available”.