The leader of Greenwich Conservatives has stepped down after seeing off Reform’s challenge in the south of the borough during May’s council elections.
In an email sent to local party members on Friday, August 7, Matt Hartley announced a new Tory leader would be elected at the party’s next meeting on Monday, August 17. Cllr Hartley said it was a “real privilege” to lead the Greenwich Conservatives, a role he has taken on for a total of nine years over two different stints.
He said: “Four years ago I took on the task of turning around our political fortunes in the borough, in the wake of our election losses in 2022. I think we can all be proud of what we’ve done for people in Greenwich since.”
Listing achievements he was proud of, Cllr Hartley claimed the Greenwich Tories had removed “millions of pounds of wasteful spending” from the council’s budget, brought back loop trains to the Elizabeth Line from stations in the south of the borough and secured stronger protections for family homes in the new Local Plan.
He also said the Conservative group had successfully saved Coldharbour police base from closure and campaigned for residents against council proposals such as the Equestrian Centre closure, play centre cuts and low traffic neighbourhood introductions.
Cllr Hartley added: “These have all been great team efforts, which the voters have rewarded. Firstly with our two stunning by-election victories in 2024, when we bucked every national trend going.
“And then when we continued our winning streak on May 7th, doubling the size of the Conservative Group, seeing off the challenge from Reform and gaining 2 more seats from Labour.
“Our new, bigger, stronger, Conservative Group is now up and running, and is already making an impact at the Town Hall. We have great talents in the group from both newly-elected and returning councillors. So with our turnaround complete, this feels like the natural moment for me to step back and make room for others to lead us forward.”
During May’s council elections, the Greenwich Conservatives consolidated their control of much of Eltham though the council is still controlled by Labour overall. The Tory group grew from four to six members and took two seats from the ruling Labour party while Reform took one seat from Labour as well.
Despite May’s election victory, Cllr Hartley lost his title as leader of the opposition at Greenwich Council following the surge in support for the Green Party. The Greens grew from two members to 13, with Cllr Tamasin Rhymes the current opposition leader.
Within his announcement email, Cllr Hartley thanked Cllr Charlie Davis for being “simply an outstanding” deputy leader as well as the rest of his party and Greenwich Conservative supporters.
He also said he looked forward to supporting the new leader and continuing his work as a back bench councillor for Mottingham, Coldharbour & New Eltham.
