Don't mention the Tories! How Darlington-based mayor and Boris fan Lord Houchen ... trends now
The atmosphere in Downing Street was unbearably tense yesterday morning.
After a string of horrendous overnight results in the local elections, Rishi Sunak's most trusted advisers were on the phone to the Tory camp in Tees Valley every 15 minutes.
They were painfully aware that a defeat for Ben Houchen, the Darlington-based mayor, would be the most likely trigger for backbench MPs to move against the Prime Minister.
By mid-morning, as even 'true blue' councils such as Rushmoor in Hampshire went Labour for the first time in 24 years, Sunak's aides were panicking.
So when word came shortly after noon that Houchen had retained his mayoralty for a third term – with almost 54 per cent of the vote – the PM's advisers gathered in his study in No 10 and Sunak, 250 miles away in his Yorkshire constituency, punched the air in exultation.
After a string of horrendous overnight results in the local elections , Rishi Sunak's (pictured) most trusted advisers were on the phone to the Tory camp in Tees Valley every 15 minutes
By mid-morning, as even 'true blue' councils such as Rushmoor in Hampshire went Labour for the first time in 24 years, Sunak's aides were panicking. Pictured: Boris Johnson
So how, amid plummeting support around the country, did this millennial Tory mayor manage to hang on to so much of his thumping majority?
The truth is that 37-year-old Houchen's victory had nothing to do with the PM or Conservative Party campaign HQ. Lord Houchen, like the man who made him a peer, his hero Boris Johnson, is one of those rare political beasts who transcends party lines.
His personal recognition factor was so strong that his campaign slogan – 'Back Ben for Tees Valley Mayor' – contained no reference to his party affiliation. Nor did the campaign leaflets put through people's doors.
As he said in a video on Facebook: 'I'm less interested in national politics, I am the mayor of Tees Valley. My priority is always the people of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.' On one occasion, Houchen even tweeted: 'I'm not whipped by any political party.'
That said, in the 29 votes he's taken part in since joining the House of Lords, Houchen has – coincidentally or not – voted the same way as the Conservative whip every single time.
But the top Tory who Houchen sees as a mentor is not Sunak but Johnson. Indeed, Houchen has been dubbed the 'Boris of the North'.
When he retained the mayoralty of Tees Valley in 2021, with 73 per cent of the vote – a hefty margin of victory normally
