Norfolk’s police and crime commissioner has been accused of “playing the victim” after claiming to have been subject to a “pile-on” over his plans for an 11-month, 127-date theatre tour.
Colin Sutton has been forced to scale back on his schedule following a furious reaction from the public who did not accept his claim he could carry out the performances - three quarters of which are scheduled on weekday evenings - in his "spare time".
He appears to blame the EDP for the strong criticism he has faced from members of the public over his decision to go on tour and accused it – without evidence – of having a history of antagonism to the police and Reform.
He has declined to speak with the newspaper but told the BBC: “There's a newspaper which in my view has a long history of being antagonistic towards Norfolk Constabulary and to Reform UK and I'm in a section of those two things so I expected to be a target for them.
“They’ve caused this pile-on of similar thinking people which doesn't bother me too much.”
Political opponents have criticised his response as petulant and told him to “stop playing the victim”.
The former Met Detective’s tour plans have unravelled spectacularly since they emerged on Friday.
Under the exhausting schedule, Mr Sutton was due to perform every two and half days, with 72pc of his one-man, true crime Makings of a Murderer shows due to be on a weekday.
Several stretches on the £40-a-ticket tour would require Mr Sutton to travel up to 700 miles in less than a week, with venues spanning England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as the Channel Islands.
The Reform politician initially insisted the tour would be carried out in his spare time with no impact on his £79,000-a-year, taxpayer-funded job, which he started two months ago.
This defence was ridiculed, however, and on Monday afternoon Mr Sutton announced he was in talks with his promoter about reducing his commitments.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday morning, Mr Sutton said the tour would be cut back or cancelled completely.
“I'm talking with the promoter as to whether or not we just cancel it entirely, or whether we drastically curtail it,” he said.
“So rather than doing something like 8 or 10 dates per month, it might be something like two or three. And that, I think, is very much welcome."
The current plans would see Mr Sutton perform 12 times a month.
He added: “I don't want anybody to think that I am going to let them down in what I'm doing in terms of the PCC job.
“Even if it was perhaps misguided enough in myself to think that I could do the hard work and it wouldn't make a difference if people perceive that there's going to be a difference, that's the problem, and I don't want to have that problem.
"So, I want to reassure them that I will give all the effort that I can.”
Despite his earlier confidence about being able to do the job and the tour, he acknowledged in the BBC interview that the PCC had not been as "easy as I thought it would be".
However, Mr Sutton - who lost out to the Greens in a bid to become a county councillor in May, and is also the Reform national policing and crime advisor - accused critics of not understanding the PCC role.
“I'm not under house arrest in the county of Norfolk just because I have to be the PCC. I'm still entitled to go away sometimes."
“If you understand the PCC role, it is about building bridges and talking to people and organising things and setting strategies and budgets. It's not responding in blue lights to emergencies.”
He also confirmed that the tour - which follows several previous tours - had been in the pipeline since last year.
However he said he had “held fire” until after the election in July, where he then spoke to his new PCC office and chose to press ahead.
He said: "When I was elected I then very quickly spoke with the team at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, outlined to them exactly what it entailed and they said 'we don't see there's any conflict at all' so I said I'd go ahead with it."
Those comments have led opponents to accuse him of trying to deflect responsibility for his decision on to his staff.
Steff Aquarone, the North Norfolk MP, said: "Colin Sutton asked Norfolk to elect him to a role to be accountable for our police force, but can’t even be accountable for his own poor choices," he said.
“If you have to defer a simple decision like 'should I run away on tour for 11 months?' to your staff, it raises some worrying questions about his ability to take any decisions at all.
"It's not the responsibility of the staff in the PCC office to remind him that he ought to focus on the job he's elected to do.
“Mr Sutton needs to take responsibility for his actions – he doesn’t seem sorry for booking this tour, he only seems sorry that he’s been caught and people are angry with him.
“He’s not a hard-worker, he’s a responsibility shirker and a part-time PCC.”
Rupert Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP, said: “Sutton is now a politician. That means scrutiny of what we say and what we do. I certainly get enough of it.
“He made the decision to go on the tour, he needs to live with the consequences. Stop playing the victim."
"Nobody is saying that Sutton should be under house arrest in Norfolk.
“People are angry because he withheld this information from Norfolk voters during the election campaign. It's deceitful at best. He knew the tour was happening, or at least very likely happening, he should have been honest about it.
“That is why people are angry.”
Kay Mason Billig, a Conservative Norfolk County councillor and former leader of the authority, said: "It’s difficult to understand why the PCC seems to think he has been victimised over this.
"He should have realised when he stood for election, that this was not going to be acceptable to people.
"It shows a level of naivety about public life that is very worrying, considering how important the role of a PCC is.
"This is entirely his own fault, he has got into a right muddle and only has himself to blame. He needs to own that and do the right thing.
“Anyone with any common sense would have realised that double booking themselves and expecting Norfolk taxpayers to stump up anyway was not going to work.
“It casts serious doubts on his integrity and understanding of the role of a PCC.
"He's now stamping his foot like an overgrown child."
A Reform spokesman said: "What Mr Sutton chooses to do with his weekends and evenings is entirely a matter for him."
THE EDP SAYS
Reform promised us representatives with a difference – people with real life experience rather than career politicians.
And with Colin Sutton, we got one: a man with a brilliant policing career and little political baggage. Alas, he seems to have no political nous either.
The police and crime commissioner (PCC) thought he could undertake an 11-month, 127-theatre tour of the UK with his one-man, true crime stage show without any consequence.
He claimed the shows – three quarters of them on weekday evenings – would be done in his “spare time”, with no impact on his £79,000-a-year taxpayer-funded job.
He seems to have been genuinely surprised the voters of Norfolk were not so sanguine and have clearly told him in no uncertain terms to stick to his day job.
To his credit, he has listened and is now trying to back out of much or all of his theatrical commitments.
A few missteps from a beginner politician can be expected and excused.
Alas, the manner of Mr Sutton’s u-turn shows that he seems to have already picked up all the worst traits of the career politician.
For his reaction to this affair has been depressingly familiar.
The thin-skinned Mr Sutton appears to avoided any self-reflection in favour of self-pity.
Rather than show any humility, he has sought to play the victim, claiming to have been the subject of “a pile-on”.
It is quite clear he blames the EDP for this and seems to have taken comfort in what can only be described as a crazed conspiracy theory: that this newspaper somehow has it in for Reform and the police.
Not true: We have it in for politicians and public services which do not meet the standards expected of them.
It was hard to imagine a worse PCC than Sarah Taylor, who stood down in the middle of her term earlier this year. Mr Sutton then arrived on the scene, saying “hold my beer”.
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