THE new leader of the Southend Conservatives has promised to “reform” the party after ten days of chaos left the party in disarray.

Claims of bullying and a leadership challenge have sparked a war of words within the party and long-standing leader Tony Cox resigned last Monday.

Now James Courtenay, councillor for Chalkwell ward, has been elected as the new party leader and promised to unite the group with the “ultimate goal” of making the best decisions for Southend.

It follows the Tory party losing control of Southend Council in May and two Labour MPs ousting the Conservative party at the General Election.

Mr Cox resigned after claiming his political colleagues had “behaved like savages”, as did councillor Darryl Jones, and they have now formed the Southend Independent Group.

Before Mr Cox’s resignation, Mr Courtenay was suspended amid the leadership challenge - however it was lifted after just 12 hours.

He said: “I am really pleased to take over leadership of Conservative Group. I am slightly sad in the circumstances and the way it happened.

“Change is never easy, we have been able to move on swiftly and elect new leader to help us reform and rebuild trust with residents locally, so we can offer good and effective opposition to the administration and present reasons as to why people should vote for us in 2026, so we can take control of council.

“We are back as a group of 16 and progressing forward. I thank councillor Cox for his service.”

Mr Courtenay has represented the Chalkwell Ward as a councillor since May 2021.

Mr Courtenay added: “Both locally and nationally, short-term our role is to offer effective opposition and I propose to do that with a more collaborative approach working for the better of Southend.

“I am pleased I have already spoken to the leader of the council, Daniel Cowan, and agreed to have regular conversations and meetings to see how we can work together.

“Despite a change in administration, there are big projects across the city that need to continue and having everyone involved helps, like with the Southend United saga. There is also Queensway, and big housing projects, that we will have to work together on.”