I did not come into public life for a label

On 21 August I wrote a short letter to the party I was elected under and told them I would be sitting as an Independent councillor for Victoria Ward from now on. It was a friendly letter. Nobody fell out. I want to explain, in plain English, why I did it and what it means for you.

What it does not mean

It does not mean I am joining another party. I have no plans to. It does not mean I am stepping down. I was elected in May 2025 to serve a full term for Victoria Ward, and I will. And it does not mean my priorities have changed. Crime and anti social behaviour, a town centre that deserves better, school places, health services and the roads and infrastructure to keep up with a town that is growing fast. Same list, same me.

What it does mean

A town council is not Westminster. Nobody in Victoria Ward has ever stopped me in the street to ask about the whip. They stop me about the alley behind their house, the pothole on the way to school, the bins that were missed again, the group of lads outside the shop at ten at night. Not one of those problems has a party.

As an Independent, the only people I answer to are the residents of this ward. Every vote I cast on the Town Council is now judged by one test only, whether it is good for the people of Victoria Ward and for Wellingborough. When a resident tells me something I do not want to hear, my only job is to fix it.

Whatever you vote, whoever you are, whichever part of this town you live in, you are my job.

What I told the Northants Telegraph in August 2026

How I got here

I came to this country in 2019 with an engineering degree and not much else. Wellingborough took me in, and in 2025 it did something I still find hard to believe. It elected a farmer’s son from Mirzapur to its council, and then made him Mayor. I spent that year in every corner of the town, at the veterans’ breakfast, the food bank, the Hindu temple, the tennis courts, the Remembrance service at Broad Green, the Premier on the corner. I learned that the people who hold this town together mostly do it for nothing, and that they are tired of being talked at.

So I did not come into public life for a label. I came into it because I like solving problems and I could not stand watching the same ones go unsolved. Being Independent is simply the most honest way I can do that job.

What happens now

Now that I am no longer Mayor, I have my evenings back, and I am spending them on your doorstep. If you live in Victoria Ward you will get a leaflet from me over the coming weeks with a QR code that brings you straight to this site and to the Victoria Ward WhatsApp group. If you see me, please do not be a stranger. Stop me. Tell me what is on your mind. That is the whole point.