TORY voters in Bolton North East are ruing their election decision, a focus group has claimed.

The focus group, which was comprised of both people who chose to vote Conservative for the first time in 2019 and long-time Tory voters, came amid recent claims of a series of parties held at 10 Downing Street while the majority of the general public were adhering restrictions imposed by the government.

The findings, published by James Johnson, who formerly ran polling for 10 Downing Street and is founder of J.L. Partners, a British Polling council accredited research company, revealed none of the people in the focus group who voted Conservative for the first time in 2019 would vote for Mr Johnson again.

“I quite liked him at the beginning. I felt confidence during the pandemic, and that he was doing the best for all of us. Now, it’s like, we’ve been made a fool of,” one said.

A combination of long-term Conservative voters from Bolton and a similar marginal Tory seat, Cheltenham, echoed those sentiments. “If there was an election now, and Boris is still here, I wouldn’t vote Conservative,” one said.

“There are better qualified people in the party to run it, with better credibility,” said another.

Cllr Nick Peel, leader of Bolton Council's Labour group, said: “The views expressed by voters in Bolton NE do not surprise me.

“If the Covid pandemic heads into another direction and things become serious enough for new restrictions, how on earth can Boris come onto the television and ask us all to observe new isolation rules. No-one would listen to him.”

“He’s lost all moral authority to give any kind of direction to the people of Bolton, and that is precisely why he really needs to go and go quickly. Boris pitched himself at being a bit of an eccentric clown that people could laugh along with. But the mask has now slipped, and no-one is laughing any more.”

Cllr Nadim Muslim, chairman of Bolton North East Conservatives, said: “At the moment we’re waiting to hear the outcome of the investigation led by Sue Gray. To say any more at this point would be putting the cart before the horse, somewhat.

“We’re just focussed about what we’re delivering locally, such as the Clean Air Zone and fighting that.”