London Councillor Jonny Bucknell sleeps in his car at Tory conference in protest at 'sky-high' hotel costs

Hardy: Camden councillor Jonny Bucknell in his Volvo back in 2013 (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)
Kiran Randhawa4 October 2016
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A London councillor is spending the Tory conference sleeping in his car for the ninth year in a row after refusing to pay “sky-high” hotel costs.

Jonny Bucknell said in the age of austerity it is more sensible to camp out in his car for the three-day conference in Birmingham.

The Camden councillor said: “We the Tories are trying to be a broad church, but there are people who are members of the party, maybe people who are even unemployed, who could never afford to attend the conference.

“So I’m making a little stand against it. I remember when I spent a tenner a night staying at a B&B in Blackpool for the conference.

"That’s what we should be encouraging, not the prices we are forced to pay in the bigger cities which excludes ordinary people from coming along.”

Instead of paying around £350-a-night like many of his Tory colleagues at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the city centre, the 59-year-old has found a parking space for free in the city’s area of Balsall Heath, two miles away from the conference centre.

He then gets on his bike and cycles to the International Convention Centre.

Mr Bucknell, who lives in Primrose Hill, added: “It gets a little cold at night, but I’ve brought a nice warm blanket along. The car just becomes a little tent.”

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