New Tamworth council leader to quit politics

By nrobinson

TAMWORTH'S brand-new Council Leader has announced plans to quit politics just weeks after being elected to the top spot.

Councillor Bruce Boughton, who was made leader at a meeting of the full council last month, has revealed that he will not be standing as a candidate in the May 2010 elections.

"It may be a cliché, but I really would like to spend more time with my family," said Cllr Boughton told the Herald.

"I have taken the role of councillor very seriously and worked really hard on my council duties since I got elected in 2006.

"I don't think people appreciate the commitment being a councillor involves.

"I finish my full-time job at 5.30pm or thereabouts, and then four nights a week I go to the council for a couple of hours, arriving home often 8pm or later. Having served a four-year term by next May, I really feel I need a break to devote more time to my wife and sons, and to recharge my batteries."

Cllr Boughton was first elected on to the borough council in 1998.

The result of a by-election, he was voted into Spital Ward and was the only Conservative on the council and the town's first Conservative councillor for four years.

In May 2002 he was re-elected into Spital Ward but resigned a month later to take the position of head of training and development for Wal-Mart Canada.

Bruce returned to politics in 2006, when he was voted into Mercian Ward.

A year later he was elected onto the Cabinet as portfolio holder for economic development and enterprise, a position he held until June 2009, when he succeeded Cllr Jeremy Oates as Leader of the Council, following Cllr Oates' resignation.

Cllr Boughton was due to re-stand in Mercian Ward next May.

His decision to hang up his political hat means he will be Leader for just one year.

"I notified the then Leader of the Council Jeremy Oates a good couple of months ago that it was my intention to stand down, and I happened to notify the Conservative group on the Monday before Jeremy resigned on the Wednesday," Cllr Boughton explained.

"In the full knowledge that I would only serve one year, the Conservative group still selected me as Leader.

"I am deeply honoured by the confidence shown in me by group and will work hard and with focus to fulfil my year as Leader to the best of my ability.

"I do hope that some time in the future I am able to return as a councillor, as I have found making a contribution to the town very rewarding.

"I hope that taking time out will give me a refreshed perspective on what's good and not so good about life in Tamworth, and help me be an even better councillor at some point in the future."