The deadline for Mr Gullis to have tendered his resignation in order to meet the 15th November date was 5pm last Thursday. He actually resigned at 8pm—three hours past the deadline.
Last night Mr Gullis said he had been given the impression by council officials that the deadline was in fact 5th October, so he was in no hurry on 11th October to resign because he thought he was already several days past the deadline.
He added: “I was led to believe the deadline was 5th October as long ago as early August. The Conservative Party never made me aware it was 5pm on 11th October. I thought I had already missed the deadline for 15th November.
“I was completely shocked that I’d so narrowly missed the deadline. It was like a bolt from the blue. It has left a very bad taste in the mouth that the by-election isn’t now taking place on 15th November.”
Mr Gullis’s resignation came on the day that the Herald referred to Conservative politics in Shipston as having entered the world of Catch 22, with Mr Gullis saying he would resign when they found someone to replace him and the local party saying they couldn’t replace him until he resigned.
The situation triggered by Mr Gullis’s missed deadline is now the subject of an internal Conservative Party inquiry to find out how this debacle occurred.
Conservative Party spokesman Trevor Russel —himself a former district councillor for Shipston—told the Herald: “We are disappointed that Jonathan has resigned as district councillor for Shipston. We are also disappointed by the timing and the fact that the deadline for a by-election on 15th November was narrowly missed.
“Clearly 15th November would have been in the best interests of residents, taxpayers and the political parties. Jonathan's decision to resign was his alone. So was the timing of his resignation. We regret that once he had decided to step down, he did not do so within the time limit.”
When told that Labour were saying Mr Gullis was not made aware of the resignation deadline and were claiming that it showed that the Tories were “in as much of a shambles at local level as they are at national level,” Mr Russel responded: “I repeat that we are disappointed that once he’d decided to resign Jonathan didn’t submit his resignation in time for an 15th November by-election.
“Obviously the situation is unsatisfactory, especially as a separate by-election will cost extra money, and officers of the Stratford Conservative Association are looking urgently into what happened and where we go from here.”
Last night (Wednesday) on hearing of Mr Gullis’s endorsement of Labour at the forthcoming by-election, Cllr Chris Saint (Cons, Tredington), the leader of Stratford District Council, told the Herald: “I am amazingly disappointed he should make that comment after all the help the Conservatives have given to him.”