Tory Ryan Houghton drops bid to be Aberdeen council co-leader

Ryan Houghton was chosen to be the leader of the Conservative group at Aberdeen City Council

A Conservative councillor has withdrawn a bid to become the co-leader of Aberdeen City Council after a row about alleged inappropriate comments.

Ryan Houghton was set to take on the role after being chosen as Tory group leader by his party on Sunday.

However objections were raised as he was previously suspended by the party over alleged anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and homophobic comments.

Mr Houghton said his nomination had now become a "distraction" in the city.

His suspension from the Conservatives was lifted last year.

• Conservatives select new group leader on council

• Tory suspension lifted for 'unacceptable' comments

At the time, Mr Houghton, who is now 29, said the comments which led to his original suspension from the Conservatives were taken out of context and made nearly a decade before.

'Political football'

Following his decision to withdraw from the process to become Aberdeen City Council co-leader, Mr Houghton said on Tuesday: "Over the last 24 hours I've been incredibly grateful for the messages of support and congratulations from across Aberdeen.

"However, it is now clear to me that my nomination as co-leader has become a political football between parties and a distraction from the priorities which we are elected to serve the public working towards."

Mr Houghton is currently the councillor for the George St/Harbour ward after being elected in 2017.

He was chosen as Conservative group leader to replace Douglas Lumsden, who was elected as an MSP from the North East regional list last week.

Aberdeen City Council is run by a coalition of Conservative, Labour and Independent councillors.

Aberdeen Labour leader Jenny Laing said, "The Aberdeen Labour Group supports the decision Councillor Houghton has taken and agrees that the city's socio-economic recovery from Covid-19 must come above all else."

Mr Lumsden - who intends to remain a councillor until next year's local elections - was elected as a list MSP for North East Scotland.

• RESULTS: Full details from across Scotland

• KEY POINTS: What you need to know about the results

• PICTURES: Moments from across the counts

• A to Z: Details of all Scottish constituencies