INSIDE SUTTON: With local elections just weeks away, the ruling group on the council has been shocked by a devastating resignation statement, including allegations of racism, ‘deception, deceit and duplicitous behaviour’. Our Civic Centre correspondent, ROSE HILL, reports
Broadside: Wrythe councillor Patrick Ogbonna did not pull any punches in his resignation email
In an astonishing email sent to Sutton’s 54 other councillors, Patrick Ogbonna, the Liberal Democrat member for The Wrythe, this morning announced that he has resigned from the party.
Ogbonna launched a broadside at Barry “Basher” Lewis, just hours after the council leader had steered through the council’s 2026-2027 budget at Monday night’s Council Tax-setting meeting (up by the maximum allowed, 4.99%), and with the local elections now just 65 days away.
Describing Lewis as the “so-called ‘leader’,” Ogbonna detailed a litany of misgivings with the LibDems who, he says, “set ‘leafleting targets’ without consultation or regard for individual circumstances”.
Ogbonna had been placed on a “reserve” list of candidates for the elections in May – effectively sacked.
“Mr Lewis told me I would be placed on a ‘reserve list’ of candidates so they could appoint someone more prolific in leafleting who has nothing else to do. I told him to stick it.
“I know my worth – my parents didn’t raise no fool.”
Ogbonna claimed there was racism within the party, together with “unconscious bias”, and that some people treated fellow members “like shit”.
Basher bashed: LibDem leader Lewis, described as ‘incompetent, inept, blustering’ and offensive
The worst was reserved for Lewis. “Mr Lewis is not a leader; he never was and never will be.
“A leader is someone who others are prepared to follow,” Ogbonna’s resignation email states, adding that Lewis “…. is incompetent, inept, blustering and tends to make totally inappropriate, offensive comments”.
Basher Lewis is also known for hitting people in meetings on occasion.
This latest tirade against the leadership in Sutton Council’s largest political group comes just 12 months since David Bartolucci, the LibDems former deputy leader, stormed out of a council meeting to quit local politics altogether.
Meanwhile, there remains the festering controversy over the deselection as parliamentary candidate of David Campanale, and his complaints brought against the party and another councillor, Luke Taylor, now the MP for Sutton and Cheam.
Ogbonna’s email made reference to Bartolucci’s dramatic exit from council business, following his sacking from a lucrative position as chair of a council committee.
“There is deception, deceit and duplicitous behaviour,” Ogbonna said. “The way David Bartolucci was unceremoniously evicted from his post made me shudder.”
And he wrote: “One thing life has taught me: if you are working in a toxic environment get out before the toxicity destroys you.”
Since being elected in May 2022, Ogbonna has often gone against the grain in votes in committees, especially in planning. It is illegal to “whip” votes along party lines in council planning committees, but Ogbonna often voted as he saw fit, while LibDem committee colleagues voted en bloc. But without being whipped, of course.
Deeply concerned: Tom Drummond, leader of the Tory group on Sutton Council
Ogbonna remains a councillor for now, having resigned only from his party. Ogbonna has indicated he may stand as an independent candidate in May’s council elections.
Following Bartolucci and Campanale, Ogbonna could be “three strikes and out” for Basher Lewis. “Barry Lewis is a dead man walking,” a Liberal Democrat councillor told Inside Sutton on condition of anonymity. “Having our dirty washing exposed in public would never have happened under Ruth,” referring to the previous leader, Ruth Dombey.
Ogbonna’s resignation, and the reasons given for his decision to quit the LibDems, followed a typically rumbustious speech at last night’s council meeting from Nick Mattey, who also resigned from the Liberal Democrats more than 10 years ago, over their duplicitousness and unlawful conduct to grant planning permission to the Viridor incinerator, in his Beddington ward.
Following a public question about the proliferation of political leaflets in the borough, Mattey condemned the LibDems as “a leafleting cult”.
Tom Drummond, the leader of the opposition Conservative group, said: “Patrick’s email is deeply concerning. And I am genuinely sorry that he has felt driven to this point. I support him. No councillor should feel belittled, marginalised or reduced to a set of internal targets, especially when they are balancing public service with work and family responsibilities.
“What this exposes is a wider issue of leadership. Strong leadership is not about holding a title. It is about earning respect, providing clarity and creating a culture where colleagues feel valued and heard.
Sign of displeasure: LibDem Jayne McCoy removed herself from her party’s seats at last night’s council meeting. She had something more important to do
“When members are unclear about who is really in charge, and when concerns are met with hostility rather than engagement, that is a failure of leadership.”
Part way through last night’s budget meeting, Jayne McCoy, a former LibDem deputy leader, left the council area to sit in the public gallery and get on with something far more important than Council Tax… her knitting.
The expression on her face suggested simmering fury – whether in knowledge of Ogbonna’s incoming resignation, or perhaps some other disgruntlement with her party’s leadership group, where Taylor is thought to have a malign influence.
And while McCoy held her own counsel, Tory Drummond dared to question who was leading the LibDems. “There are multiple theories about who is really in charge,” he said.
“The one person who rarely features in those conversations is the individual who formally holds the title of leader.”
Read more: Sutton council leader denies punching colleague at meeting
Read more: LibDems’ sacked deputy storms out of meeting, and council
Read more: LibDems pick failed businessman Biggles as new Sutton leader
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