Conservative PCC candidate pulls out of poll
QUESTIONS HAD BEEN RAISED ABOUT CRAIG ULLIOTT’S POLICE RECORD
THE Conservative party is looking for a new candidate to contest the upcoming Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner election after Craig Ulliott stood down for ‘personal reasons’. Mr Ulliott had been selected as the party’s candidate more than a year ago as a challenger to Labour PCC Keith Hunter before the election was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tories are now set to select a new candidate before Thursday’s deadline for formal nominations ahead of the rescheduled poll on May 6.
Mr Ulliott held a campaign launch at the Hull Humber View Hotel in North Ferriby in February last year attended by party activists from both banks of the Humber.
Since then, Mr Ulliott has continued to campaign for the re-scheduled election and has recently posted several messages of support from local Conservative MPs on his social media campaign pages.
He also featured in a photograph with Home Secretary Priti Patel in one campaign poster.
However, last week he stepped down for “personal reasons”.
It follows questions being raised over his previous role with Humberside Police and claims about his previous employment.
At the time of his selection and in subsequent campaign messages, he repeatedly mentioned having previously worked for 12 years in “frontline policing” for the Humberside force. In his first press release issued in February last year he said: “I feel that my experience in the police force gives me the knowledge and the skills to the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Humberside Police.”
The same official party press release describes him as having “previously worked in frontline policing for 12 years in the Humberside Police force”.
In the same release, Haltermprice and Howden Conservative MP David Davis said: “I have known Craig Ulliott for several years and admire his enthusiasm for making a difference for residents.
“His background in frontline policing, private sector leadership and management and his service as mayor of his community make him an ideal candidate for the role of Police and Crime Commissioner.”
However, it’s understood that Anlaby-based Mr Ulliott only ever served as a volunteer special constable. He also resigned as Mayor of Barton during his year in office in 2017 when he also resigned as a town councillor. The reasons for his resignations at the time are not known.
During a series of recent live question and answer sessions on his Facebook campaign page, he only gave vague answers to people asking him to provide more details about his time with the police and his business career.
When selected as the PCC candidate, Mr Ulliott said he worked in financial services but declined to give any further details about his employment record when asked by people during the Facebook Q&A sessions. A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Craig Ulliott has stepped down as the Conservative candidate for the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner election for personal reasons.
“We thank him for his hard work in the role and a new candidate will be announced in due course.”
Since the announcement, Labour’s police and crime commissioner candidate Keith Hunter has called on his eventual Conservative opponent to denounce statements made by Craig Ulliott.
He said: “I don’t welcome any distraction from the issues at hand, about how we ensure Humberside Police continues to improve and how we bring partners together better to deliver what our communities want, to feel safe and to be safe. Those are important issues.”