David Pugh

“Along with many councillor colleagues, I would find it impossible to continue to serve as a Conservative if the man who wrecked the Island’s education system so comprehensively were elected Association Chairman. It would be an insult to a generation of children and their parents. We’re still undoing the damage he did – damage so bad that the entire Island school system was put into special measures by the national Government. This wouldn’t be a joke, it would be a nightmare and would divide and risk completely destroying the Conservative Association. I’m not surprised Pugh has kept his plan secret until the very last minute. It’s bl**dy typical.”

On 29 March 2018, Pugh was elected by the Isle of Wight Conservatives as Association Chairman, leading one member to state that he would leave the Conservative party or association if Pugh were elected chairman. Chris Whitehouse, a controversial Isle of Wight Conservative Councillor, said:

On 31 March 2018, Chris Whitehouse suspended all his involvement with the Conservative Association for 6 months due to Pugh's appointment as chairman.

Pugh noted in his public letter, dated 25 April 2014, that he considered one of the Islands Council's officers "bore operational responsibility alongside the Chief Executive", and questioned the appropriateness of their exoneration and the use taxpayers' money to pay them a settlement. According to the Council, the settlement was agreed to avoid "the potential costs of defending the cases at tribunal and the costs of any potentially successful claims for compensation" over a process started under Pugh's leadership.

After being unelected from office, Pugh refused to return to the IOW council offices to answer questions about Cowes Enterprise College, a school building project which ran over budget and is currently uncompleted. Pugh stated "...it is for the independent leadership of the Council to explain on what grounds they exonerated the two senior officers on whose watch this major project was not delivered on time, on budget or fit-for-purpose, leaving this legacy of problems...". He stated that he was 'no longer publicly accountable' as he ceased to hold public office in May 2013; although the issues surrounding Cowes Enterprise College arose during his tenure as Council Leader.

During his time as Council Leader, Pugh implemented a series of major policy changes, including: an Islandwide reorganisation of schools; the securing of £487m grant funding from the government for Island roads through a PFI scheme the introduction of an award-winning Council pre-apprenticeship scheme to prepare young people for full apprenticeships, and new waste collection arrangements which increased recycling rates but initially caused a record 60,491 phone calls to be made to County Hall in January 2012 following their introduction.

In 2003 allegations of Electoral fraud led to chaos at the Tory party's youth wing conference. Fellow candidate Andre Walker stated "we can now prove head of youth policy David Pugh is a cheating bastard." [Daily Mirror, 11/9/03, p. 20]

In November 2010, Pugh was subject to a vote of no confidence by Unison members who work for the IOW Council after proposing 535 job cuts at the council, and cuts to services such as libraries, swimming pools, and tourist information centres. These cuts later went ahead under Pugh's leadership, amid protests and a court challenge over library closures.

In 2010 Pugh was appointed a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group on the role of local authorities in education and children's services, supporting the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. Pugh was also appointed as a member of the Local Government Association's Children & Young People Programme Board. In 2011, Pugh was appointed as a director of the newly formed Solent Local Enterprise Partnership.

For the Isle of Wight Council election in 2009, Pugh switched wards to contest the new Shanklin South seat, which due to boundary changes incorporated part of his previous seat of Shanklin Central. Despite unveiling plans to reform education on the island which were seen as contentious, prior to the announcement of the results Pugh stated that he had been "Quietly confident securing a majority". When the final results were declared, some key players involved with the education reform plans had lost their seats, but Pugh managed to retain his with a comfortable majority. His party also won a majority of seats on the Isle of Wight Council.

In September 2007, following the resignation of Cllr Andy Sutton, Pugh was elected as Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, a post he held until May 2013. His appointment at the age of 27 made him the youngest local authority leader in the country, and he remained one of the youngest leaders – at the age of 33 – when he left office over five years later having been defeated in local elections.

In 2004 Pugh returned to live on the island and was elected to both the Isle of Wight Council and Shanklin Town Council in 2005. Between May 2005 and April 2007 Pugh served as Cabinet Secretary on the Isle of Wight Council. After April 2007 he was appointed as Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure and Communications.

Prior to work as a local councillor for the Isle of Wight, David Pugh worked at the Conservative Central Office in Westminster holding the position of Head of Youth with the responsibility for Conservative Future. This was a post he held for 4 years between 2000 and 2004. During this time, he visited several Eastern European countries, representing the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

David Pugh (born 1980 in Newport) was a Conservative councillor and served as leader of the Isle of Wight Council between September 2007 and May 2013, making him the longest serving leader of the local authority since its inception in 1995. He was first elected to the Isle of Wight Council at the local elections in May 2005 as a member for the Shanklin Central Ward, re-elected in the June 2009 elections to the Shanklin South Ward, losing his seat in the 2013 local elections after 2 other candidates withdrew, making the election a straight choice between Pugh and Independent, Richard Priest. Consequently he ceased to be council leader.