A stalwart of the Conservative Party in Sandwell who stayed with it even when he was one of its only councillors has quit – to campaign for Labour.

Bill Archer, who recently stood down as a councillor at the age of 83 to care for his wife, has now resigned from the Tories completely.

His daughter Elaine Costigan, a fellow councillor in Wednesbury North, grabbed national headlines when she defected to Labour over the cancellation of the borough’s school rebuilding programme.

Mr Archer is going to help her campaign to keep her seat when  it is up for re-election in May.

His resignation comes days after the Tories suffered a devastating blow when the seat he vacated was won by Labour.

Conservative leader Councillor Ray Nock said: “He obviously has his own personal reasons but I feel it’s a sad end to many years of being a good Tory councillor.”

Labour has 58 elected members on Sandwell Council compared to just nine opposition Tories.

Mr Archer, of Churchfields Road, has held a seat in Wednesbury for the Tories for 36 years, even during the party’s darkest hour in 1996 when it had just two councillors in Sandwell.

But today he said he put his duties as a supportive parent first.

Councillor Mrs Costigan has already faced criticism from members of both the Labour and Tory parties for not submitting herself to a by-election when she defected and letting voters decide.

Mr Archer said: “I’m going to be out there campaigning, all being well, for Elaine to carry on and do the good work she has been doing.

“It would not have been right for me to remain a member of the Conservative Party and have been out there trying to help a Labour candidate.”

Mr Archer said he had not fallen out with the party and that his decision was purely because he was putting his daughter first.

But his decision comes following a poor turnout in support for the Tories in the May local elections which saw the party lose two seats to Labour.

Labour strengthened its grip on Sandwell Council taking both seats off the BNP, one from the Liberal Democrats and the two seats vacated by former independent councillors.