Councillor Les Jones resigns his post as Tory group leader
Dudley's former council leader Councillor Les Jones has stepped down from the helm of the borough's Conservative group amid growing tensions within the party.
Councillor Jones said there were personal reasons for his decision to resign as Tory group leader, but he added there was suggestions he had been "failing" in his duties so had decided to go to for the sake of party unity.
The Conservative group suffered the blow of losing last week's council by-election, failing to hold onto the seat of long-standing councillor Malcolm Knowles who passed away last year.
Dudley Council is controlled by Labour after the Tory majority collapsed at last May's council elections.
Councillor Jones told the Express & Star said: "In recent months there has been a lot of noise from smaller sections of our Conservative group claiming that I was failing in my role as leader."
He added that he refuted the claims: "I think that I was an effective and hard working leader."
