A COUNCILLOR has quit the Conservative Party as he believes it is now the 'Boris Johnson fan club'.

Sol Wielkopolski, who is the Cumbria County Council councillor for Newbarns and Parkside, publicly announced he had left the party on Saturday after six years as a member.

Explaining his decision, Cllr Wielkopolski criticised the party's current leader and prime minister Boris Johnson, arguing that the 57-year-old is 'out of his depth'.

He said: "It is the Boris Johnson fan club, he is a nice guy, but I just don’t want to be part of that fan club. I didn’t vote for him in the leadership election, I didn’t vote at all in fact, and I felt the only other serious contender Rory Stewart was ruled out by MPs.

"I think he (Johnson) realises he is not up for it, he is out of his depth, I just feel that he is a man of character, but not necessarily a man of competence and direction

"The guy can barely put a sentence together, he is a smart guy, but I just feel he rides the wave of populism rather than leading strategically."

And the former Conservative has been critical of the Tory government's response to the Covid crisis.

"I don’t think anyone would feel that the last year was a success, they were late to lockdown over Christmas," he said.

"And I don’t think they have been honest and delivered as well as they could and should have done in terms of PPE.

"Elements of it have been very good – such as the vaccination programme – but even that was largely in the hands of scientists."

The vaccination programme has so far seen 69 per cent of Barrow residents receive two jabs.

In light of his exit, Cllr Wielkopolski has confirmed he will be remaining on the county council as an independent, but says he will continue to support Barrow's Conservative MP, Simon Fell.

However, the Newbarns and Parkside councillor did reveal that he may rejoin the Tories if Boris Johnson was to leave his post as leader.

But for now, Cllr Wielkopolski says he feels 'disillusioned' with the party and politics in general.

He said: "If you look previously at the Conservative MPs' decision to have Theresa May as leader, that wasn’t a great choice and David Cameron ran away after Brexit, so I am just a little bit disillusioned with the party really.

"We have got some great people in the party, I like Jeremy Hunt, I like Rishi Sunak.

"I feel disillusioned with politics and a lot of people do, there is not a great deal of choice between Labour and the Conservatives."