Norfolk’s police and crime commissioner is preparing a climbdown over his 11-month national theatre tour after being roundly mocked for claiming he could do it in his “spare time”.
Colin Sutton, the Reform politician, has revealed he is in urgent talks with the tour promoter “to find a solution acceptable to all” after the announcement of the tour was met with widespread criticism.
The 127-date schedule runs from January to November next year, with Mr Sutton due to perform at venues across Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, as well as the Channel Islands, on average every two and a half days.
Ninety five of the 127 scheduled dates are on working days, yet Mr Sutton has insisted he will be able to carry out the tour in his “spare time” with no impact on his £79,000 taxpayer-funded day job.
He stands by this claim, but in a new statement said he was concerned about the "perception" of his decision.
He said: "Whilst I firmly believe that my proposed talking arrangements could be completed without detriment to my duties as Police and Crime Commissioner, I have listened to the people of Norfolk.
"The residents of this county are my first priority, and their perception matters enormously to me.
"Accordingly, I am in urgent talks with the promoter of the tour to find a solution acceptable to all and I will issue a further statement when a decision is made."
Under its current schedule, Mr Sutton's ‘Makings of a Murderer - Double Jeopardy' true crime show contains more dates than recent tours by Harry Styles and Beyoncé.
Tickets are around £40 a head and the shows are set to generate the police and crime commissioner (PCC) significant income beyond his £79,000 a year salary.
The tour had raised questions about whether he will be able to attend crucial meetings, after it emerged that he will be hundreds of miles away around dates where he is due to face a county council panel which will scrutinise his performance.
Political opponents have also queried whether Mr Sutton knew about the tour in the run up to the election in July and if he should have disclosed his ambitious plans before he won the vote.
The EDP understands that deals with theatres were finalised in July, and that negotiations would have begun months before this.
A spokeswoman for his office has said she was confident there would be "no adverse impact" on the performance of Mr Sutton during the tour.
'SPARE TIME SUTTON'
Kay Mason-Billig, the former leader of the county council, said Mr Sutton had "misled the public" by not revealing his plans for the tour before he was elected.
"Of course he knew before the election. You don't book theatre dates unless they're a long way in advance," she said.
"He didn't tell anybody he was going to do this before he stood. He's misled the public, really.
"Most people would expect a PCC's role to be full-time. He's collecting a considerable amount of taxpayers' money for that role.
"I don't think anybody looking at the number of tour dates and distance he's got to travel would consider that to be something you could do in your spare time."
Mrs Mason-Billig also sits on Norfolk's Police and Crime Panel, a cross-party county council group which scrutinises the work of the PCC.
However it appears Mr Sutton may struggle to appear at the first two meetings of the year, due to be held in February and April.
On February 2, the Police and Crime Panel is due to meet in Norfolk. That same day, Mr Sutton performs in Leeds while he is in Llandudno, Wales, the night before.
On April 29, the panel meets again and Mr Sutton is performing in Farsley, Yorkshire that evening.
He is due in Stevenage the night before.
Mrs Mason-Billig has questioned whether Mr Sutton has "thought it through".
She said: "He will have to spend a lot of time driving or hire a helicopter or beam himself up if he is going to fulfil his duty to the Police and Crime Panel and meet his obligations to his audience. I'm not sure he has thought this through."
DID HE KNOW BEFORE?
Rupert Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP, accused Mr Sutton of "betraying the trust" of voters.
"Sutton needs to be upfront and honest with the people of Norfolk now," he said.
"If he was aware of this tour during the election campaign yet failed to be honest with voters, that is very serious indeed.
"He has betrayed their trust.
"He is entitled to make money in his own time, but this goes beyond that and the failure to inform the electorate is arrogant and insulting."
Mr Sutton has declined to comment on when the tour was first planned.
THE WEEKDAY ODYSSEY
Mr Sutton will perform on Monday three times, Tuesday 19 times, Wednesday 23 times, Thursday 27 times, and 23 times on Friday.
He is performing just 32 times on the weekend.
He has also given himself most of August off, performing just one date.
The tour - which has just 22 fewer than Taylor Swift’s Eras tour - is vast.
One stretch in February will see him visit Consett in County Durham, Tamworth in Staffordshire, Hunstanton in Norfolk, then Llandudno in north Wales and Leeds over five consecutive nights.
A drive from venue to venue in that run would cover almost 700 miles.
Another punishing section in April will see him perform on consecutive nights in Altrincham near Manchester, Newbury in Berkshire, Sunderland, and then Grimsby.
This four day run would involve at least 600 miles of travel.
THE DEFENCE
Before Mr Sutton announced a potential climbdown, David Bick, the Reform leader of Norfolk County Council, had stood by the PCC.
Mr Bick said Mr Sutton had assured him that he would be taking leave for the events that required him to leave work early on weekdays.
"He discussed it right at the beginning with his office and they had no issue with it," he said.
When challenged on how Mr Sutton planned on reaching places like Jersey, Aberdeen, Belfast and Edinburgh in a single evening, Bick said: "You can, but that depends on how he organises his transport.
"I haven't seen the schedule of events, but I think you'll find a lot of them are things that you'll get to and back from in an evening."
He added: "I've got every confidence in Colin. My experience with him has been everything I've asked him to do so far, he's done it. If I've asked him to go to meetings or asked him to attend an event, he's 100pc responded to that.
"I always find I can get him on the phone. And I know he's got a very prodigious work ethic.
He added: "Look, the bottom line with Colin is you're not going to get a better police commissioner than him. We are genuinely fortunate to have him, not just because of his experience, but because he really puts heart and soul into it."
"You've got to think in terms of what the commissioner role actually is. My role is much more to be on the spot than his is. His view is to monitor the police force.
"He's not serving, he's not policing, he's monitoring what the police are doing, and no one better to do that than him."
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