INSIDE SUTTON: After winning 51 of 55 seats in the local elections, you’d be forgiven for thinking everything’s going smoothly for Sutton’s LibDem council leader Barry ‘Basher’ Lewis.
But ahead of next Tuesday’s annual council meeting, there’s already moves for a leadership challenge, as BELLE MONT reports
Heavyweight contest: ‘Basher’ Lewis’s biggest challenge looks to be coming from within his own ranks
Barry “Basher” Lewis, the leader of Sutton Council’s Liberal Democrats, having seen off the borough’s Conservative opposition on May 7, now has to contend with sniping and challenges from his own party colleagues.
Sutton’s LibDems’ nasty streak has already been exposed in the law courts, over the mistreatment of David Campanale, their ousted parliamentary candidate, described as a “Christian sacrifice” in the latest edition of Private Eye magazine following the collapse of Sir Ed Davey’s party’s legal defence over the prejudicial deselection.
The rumblings of discontent are already coming from within Basher’s own 51-strong council LibDem group, with murmurings of dissatisfaction over the divvying up of committee seats – and the valuable Special Responsibility Allowances that go with the chair positions – with manouevrings already underway for a possible leadership coup.
And Basher hasn’t even been allowed the opportunity to bathe in the faint glow of success surrounded by all his party’s new councillors at the annual council meeting, which is next Tuesday.
Having maverick independent councillor Nick Mattey as the job-share co-leader of the opposition – all four of them – is looking like being the least of Basher Lewis’s problems.
Sources inside the Civic Centre have told Inside Sutton that internal factional rifts had appeared in the LibDem ranks before polling day. During what turned out to be his final speech at a council meeting, Tom Drummond, the leader of what used to be the Conservative group, directed a pointed remark across the chamber.
“On the Liberal Democrat side there are multiple theories about who is really in charge,” Drummond said, cryptically.
“The one person who seldom features in those conversations is the individual who formally holds the title of leader.” Ouch.
Basher looked pained, but not entirely shocked. Drummond had hit a nerve.
Christian sacrifice: how Lord Gnome followed up on Inside Sutton’s story
It is going to be more difficult for Basher to keep his much-expanded group happy. The LibDem practice of keeping councillors loyal by giving them positions carrying additional allowances (all paid for out of the public’s Council Tax, natch) faces a problem: there are now more LibDem councillors than special responsibility allowances to go around.
In the class of 2022, with 29 councillors, Liberal Democrats received on average £26,500 in council allowances.
In 2026, with 51 LibDems with their snouts in the trough, the average allowance is now a mere £21,883.
And pulling the strings behind the scenes to try to exploit any discontent among councillors who got passed over for one of the more lucrative committee roles is someone who is not even a Sutton councillor any longer: Luke Taylor, the Sutton and Cheam MP at the centre of the simmering Campanale scandal.
Taylor retains strong influence over his erstwhile LibDem council colleagues. His critics say that, despite his unlawful conduct having cost his party at least £250,000 in legal fees in the Campanale case (damages are yet to be determined by the judge), Taylor’s reach extends deep into the local party structure.
One of Taylor’s rapidly diminishing band of supporters is Sam Martin, a councillor for Wallington South. Martin has been Basher’s deputy since he became council leader. He is generally regarded as capable, but also highly ambitious.
Et tu?: Sam Martin is Basher’s deputy
Another of Taylor’s merry band is Councillor Ed Parsley, who in 2024 contributed £3,000 to Taylor’s General Election campaign fund, and then somehow landed a (tax-payer-funded) job in the MP’s office. Nice work if you can buy it.
Parsley has made some prominent speeches at council since 2022, winning favour with many of the younger councillors. He would be a good ally in the council for the troubled MP.
But there are also rumblings from the older wing of Sutton’s LibDems, “unhappy with the direction the party is taking”, according to one senior councillor. The insider went on to say the message is simple: “Nothing happens in year one.”
So as pliant council officials place the orders for cases of chilled Prosecco and posh canapes for Tuesday night’s big do to celebrate Basher’s big win, Lewis will know that he, and his cushty £51,000 per year leader’s allowances, are on borrowed time.
Unless, of course, Basher comes out fighting…
Read more: Orangewash: Reform Ltd hands Sutton council to the LibDems
Read more: LibDem Taylor rattled as questions of religion won’t go away
Read more: Now ‘Basher’ Lewis knocks out debate on polluting incinerator
Read more: Sutton council leader denies punching colleague at meeting
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
“The insider went on to say the message is simple: “Nothing happens in year one”.”
In Croydon under Perry and the Commissioners, it’s “Nothing happens in years five, six, seven or eight”
lewis is a useless light weight who didn’t sort out my relatively simple dispute with the Sutton council. he said I should get legal advice, i.e. that’ll cost the council 6 figures, is HE going to pay THAT? Instead of having a proper word, as a true leader would have – he couldn’t be bothered, or he’s totally out of his depth? – he has lined up the council to pay costs plus damages. That’s ok to him, he doesn’t have to pay, just the mugs in the borough who voted for the likes of him.